Hawthorn star Lance Franklin reached his AFL "ton" as the Hawks tuned up for the finals with a 78-point whipping of Carlton at Telstra Dome.

Blues spearhead Brendan Fevola nearly made this a tale of two tons with seven goals in the second half, but despite some desperate efforts he went one short of also reaching 100 goals for the season.

Franklin's second goal at 25 minutes into the first quarter made him the first player since 1998 to kick 100 goals in the regular season as the Hawks won 24.15 (159) to 12.9 (81).

Excitement grew in the last term as Fevola closed on the century.

He kicked his seventh at 27 minutes, but then gave away a free and with only seconds remaining, four Hawks defenders stopped him going for a mark.

Franklin, arguably the game's hottest star, finished with 4.5 for the game and 102 for the home-and-away season.

The Hawks will now meet the Western Bulldogs next weekend in a qualifying final.

With the game decided by halftime, the only remaining interest was whether Fevola could also reach triple figures.

Fevola started the night on 92 and if he had reached 100, it would have been the first time in AFL history that two players had passed the milestone in the same game.

Fevola's first-half inaccuracy - four shots for two behinds, one out on the full and one shank that failed to make the distance - cost him.

He finished with 7.3 for the night and was a dejected figure at the final siren.

Team-mates were clearly trying to deliver the ball to Fevola in the final quarter.

Blues fans could not remember Fevola chasing defenders as hard as the pressure he put on Hawks opponents late in the game.

While the game had no bearing on the top eight, the anticipation surrounding "Buddy" Franklin and Fevola meant it attracted more than 49,000 fans.

Franklin's 100 milestone sparked chaotic scenes as thousands of fans ran onto the ground, ignoring pre-match threats of fines and evictions.

Franklin and several other team-mates were quickly taken from the field, while other Carlton and Hawthorn players huddled in the midfield.

Play was held up for eight minutes until the fans left the field.

There were many more security staff than usual, but there appeared to be no arrests.

The game finally resumed when Franklin emerged from the southern race, accompanied by another ovation.

Several security staff ran onto the field with him in case more fans tried to congratulate Franklin, but the game went ahead without further incident.

Tony Lockett, the AFL's all-time leading goalkicker, was the last player to kick 100 in the regular season.

Franklin, 21, also became the first Hawk to reach the milestone since Jason Dunstall in 1996.

While play was stopped, fans held up banners saying "Buddylenko - You Beauty" - in reference to Carlton great Alex Jesaulenko - and "Lance 'Buddy' Franklin - Coleman Medal 2008".

Franklin is set to win his first Coleman Medal as the league's top goalkicker for the season.

Franklin said he could not clearly remember the moments immediately after kicking his 100th goal and thanked team-mate Jarryd Roughead for keeping the fans away.

"To be honest, it was a little bit of a blur, I can't really remember," he said.

"It was good to get it out of the way in the first quarter and just worry about getting the win - it was awesome to get it out of the way.

"It was under control - 'Roughy' was blocking them, which was good, I will have to thank him, he's a big boy.

"It would have been great for 'Fev' to get the 100 too, with the two of us it would have made history."

Franklin went back into the Hawthorn change rooms once he left the field and admitted it was a special moment to run back up the race to another round of applause.

"It was really exciting, it's a good part of the game, to kick a 100 and then run back on in front of everyone - really exciting," he said.

Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson pointed out Franklin is the first indigenous player in AFL history to reach the 100 milestone.

"Buddy kicking his 100th was a special achievement for him, the first indigenous player ever to so and it's a fair effort when the game's been going for over 100 years," Clarkson said.

"We're really pleased that's been achieved now and we can really focus on going into September as deep as we possibly can."

Carlton coach Brett Ratten felt for Fevola, saying: "You think how many times he's hit the post during the season and even in the game, he hit the post early.

"It's just a tremendous effort for him personally and I think you've seen the spirit of the team trying to get him over the line towards the end.

"To be one short, it was a double blow - (because) we got absolutely smashed."

But Ratten bit his tongue when asked about Hawthorn's defensive pressure on Fevola as he drew close to the century.

As much as the Blues tried to set up goals for Fevola, the Hawks at times had three or even four men on him late in the match.

"There's a bit of a romance - he's played a lot of footy for Carlton, he's won games off his own bat and if we could go out of our way to maybe see if we could get him there, for one quarter I think it's fair enough," Ratten said.

Asked about Hawks concentrating on Fevola, Ratten replied: "I suppose maybe we could have done that at the start (on Franklin), I suppose that's the way he (Clarkson) has seen it."

Pressed on the subject, Ratten said "they were only 70 points up".

Ratten was then asked what he would have done in the same situation.

"I won't answer that," he said.

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