Collingwood's AFL finals hopes took another hit as a Hawthorn side fuelled by Sam Mitchell and Lance Franklin handed them their third straight loss, a 17.14 (116) to 8.14 (62) defeat at the MCG.

The Hawks, coming off two straight losses, blitzed the Magpies with three goals in the opening seven minutes on their way to outscoring them six goals to one in the first term and Collingwood never really recovered.

After trailing by as much as 39 points early in the second quarter, the Magpies were at one stage able to close to within 10 points early in the second half.

But Hawthorn kicked the final three goals of the third quarter, then blew the Magpies away in the final term, with Franklin kicking the last three goals of the match to cap an eight-goal haul.

The loss left the Magpies, who started the night in sixth place, with a 9-9 record, and in danger of slipping out of the top eight by the end of the weekend if results of other matches go against them.

Captain Mitchell was magnificent in the midfield for the Hawks, setting his side up with his early work in the packs, with the Magpies barely touching the ball in the opening few minutes.

The skipper was able to roam the ground, gathering telling kicks throughout the night, to ensure the supply to the Hawthorn forwards never dropped off.

Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse had predicted in the lead-up to the match that if Hawks tall forwards Lance Franklin and Jarryd Roughead were allowed enough of the ball they could "monster" his side and so it proved.

The two big men finished with 12 goals between them against an inexperienced Magpies defence.

Franklin was too big, strong and talented for Collingwood's Nick Maxwell, his opponent for most of the night.

Only the Hawks superstar's erratic kicking prevented him landing an even bigger bag, as his tally included six behinds.

In defence, the ever-reliable Luke Hodge was again superb, regularly floating across packs to take timely marks, as well as setting up play with his beautiful, long left-foot kicks.

The Hawks were also very well served by Jordan Lewis through the midfield.

The only concern for them was an injury to key defender Trent Croad, who left the ground in the third term, after hyperextending his left knee in a marking contest.

But the Magpies' worries are bigger, having shown disappointing form to lose to North Melbourne, Essendon and now the Hawks in the past three rounds.

For most of the match they played sloppy football, struggling to get their hands on the ball early and regularly giving it away with poor kicking when they had it, either into attack or when shooting at goal.

Captain Scott Burns battled very hard for the losers in the midfield, while Alan Didak provided a spark across half-forward and Heath Shaw gave them some run and drive as they briefly worked their way into the game through the middle stages.

Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson said it had been vital to get off to a quick start, given both sides would have been desperate to bounce back from their recent losses.

Clarkson was also satisfied with the way the Hawks responded to the brief challenge from Collingwood early in the third term.

"The game was right on there at the eight or 10-minute mark of the third quarter, there was only a couple of goals in it," Clarkson said.

"To respond in the manner they did was really pleasing, because we knew it would be a really tough contest.

"Collingwood with their backs against the wall are probably the most dangerous side in the competition and to get a convincing victory like that in the end was a real credit to the way our guys carried out the game."

Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse said the Magpies were most hurt by the Hawks' control in the centre and it made for an enormous task for their defence.

"(Hawthorn's attack) have got the capabilities, I'm not going to be surprised that one day Franklin breaks that record for the number of goals (18) kicked in one game - that will never surprise me," Malthouse said.

"You can't give him opportunity, if it's not him it's Roughead, they kicked 12 goals out of 17."

He said Maxwell had battled as hard as he could.

"Franklin's better than any of our defenders, but that's not a slur on Nick Maxwell, I thought that he showed enormous courage in the third quarter onwards," Malthouse said.

"He could have easily gone into his shell, he just attacked the football ... it wasn't through lack of effort from Nick Maxwell, he'll gladly come in here and say 'I was beaten' but he went out trying to do something about it."

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