A polished Sydney cruised to its fifth consecutive AFL victory, a 19.5 (119) to 7.12 (54) win over a disorganised and error-prone Hawthorn at the MCG.

While the Hawks showed plenty of endeavour and won their fair share of the football, particularly in the first half, the Swans wiped them away with a far superior skill level and the potency of their attack.

Sydney was in charge from the start, kicking the first six goals of the match to establish a buffer and was never seriously threatened.

Two of the Swans' first three goals came directly from Hawthorn errors, with Nick Davis pouncing on an errant Brent Guerra kick in defence to cruise into goal and Amon Buchanan intercepting a Danny Jacobs handpass to do likewise.

That set the tone of the night, with Hawthorn rarely able to move the ball the length of the ground with clean disposals, while most of the Swans' goals came easily.

While the Hawks were still in the match at halftime, trailing by 21 points, the second half was a whitewash, with Sydney winning it 12.2 to 4.6.

That would not have pleased Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett, who attracted plenty of attention this week for publicly suggesting the team had given up in the latter stages of some of its recent matches.

Sydney had some solid efforts from its ball-winners in the midfield, notably Jude Bolton, Brett Kirk and Nic Fosdike, with Kirk's performance also notable for his ferocious tackling.

Running players Adam Goodes, Tadhg Kennelly, Paul Williams and Ryan O'Keefe cut the game open with their pace and precise kicking.

In attack, key forwards Barry Hall (four goals) and Michael O'Loughlin (three goals) were clearly on top of their opponents, with Robert Campbell struggling against Hall, who also gave off several goals to teammates.

Davis also made the most of his opportunities to finish with four goals.

The Hawks had midfielders who were able to win the ball, with Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell, Ben Kane, Jordan Lewis and Rick Ladson all getting plenty of touches.

But they rarely seemed to have the time and composure to gain much advantage from their possessions, with the Hawks often coming undone with short handballs which put teammates under pressure or sloppy kicks.

They were not helped by the lack of any Hawthorn forward to exert a notable influence on the match, with small forward Mark Williams his team's only multiple goal-scorer.

Centre half-forward Trent Croad was well held by Lewis Roberts-Thomson, while Lance Franklin showed some promising glimpses in his first game for the season, without causing any real damage.

The Hawks were missing captain Richie Vandenberg, who was serving the first match of a four-game suspension and Guerra is likely to join him on the sidelines after being reported for a last-quarter clash with Roberts-Thomson.

Guerra knocked the Sydney defender flat, with his elbow appearing to connect to the Swan's head.

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