Hawthorn brutally overwhelmed the Western Bulldogs by 51 points in their AFL qualifying final as Lance Franklin put on a show.

The newly-crowned Coleman Medallist was at his best and worst, kicking eight goals and giving away three 50m penalties as the Hawks won 18.19 (127) to 11.10 (76).

While Franklin provided many of the game's highlights, midfielders Brad Sewell, Jordan Lewis and Sam Mitchell were at their ruthless best in front of 76,703 fans at the MCG.

The Bulldogs will play the winner of Saturday night's Sydney-North Melbourne elimination final in a semi-final next weekend.

The win came at a price for Hawthorn - key defender Trent Croad did not appear after halftime, while Rick Ladson, Grant Birchall and Cameron Stokes also had to leave the field.

At stages during the final term, they had no fit men on their bench.

But Hawthorn now have a week to recuperate, whereas the Bulldogs must regroup quickly after a night where far too many players were well off their best.

The Hawks simply steamrolled the 'Dogs, taking them out of the contest from midway through the opening term.

After a frenetic opening, Hawthorn took control of the stoppages and starved the skilled Bulldogs of the centre corridor and effective use of the ball.

If the Hawks were not winning the ball out of the centre, Luke Hodge was leading their rock-solid defence.

Ruckman Robert Campbell also played well and small forward Michael Osborne impressed with four goals.

As the scoreline indicates, the only area where Hawthorn let themselves down was in front of goal.

From the time coach Alastair Clarkson took over at Hawthorn in late 2004, he emphasised his goal was to build a premiership combination.

The match laid out Clarkson's criteria - toughness, hard running and skill under pressure.

The Bulldogs kicked four of five goals either side of three-quarter time to pull within 40 points, but Franklin then put through his seventh to snuff out the brief challenge.

Put simply, Franklin was freakish, playing a level above anyone else.

Clarkson dragged him during the second term when he gave away two of his 50m penalties in quick succession and he also put two shots out of bounds on the full.

But that is the nature of "Buddy", the game's most outrageous talent since Gary Ablett Snr.

Best for the Bulldogs were Daniel Cross, who had a game-high 39 possessions, Ryan Griffen and Daniel Giansiracusa, while Josh Hill was not disgraced and Jason Akermanis kicked three goals.

Hawthorn's key utility Campbell Brown played despite a foot injury and Stephen Gilham was a late withdrawal with illness, making way for Cameron Stokes.

Clarkson said the performance was satisfying, particularly given Hawthorn had played so poorly when the Bulldogs beat them earlier this season in Launceston.

"It wasn't the true Hawthorn that turned up on that particular day, but we showed tonight we're a hard, tough unit and I thought our intensity at the ball and the opposition were first-class," he said.

"I'd still like to think we can improve our footy on what we produced tonight, I know that may sound a little silly because we were really pleased with our effort.

"Finals footy quite often isn't won by the team that plays the most attractive brand of footy, it's usually won by sides who are just generally hard and tough."

In praising Franklin, Clarkson pointed out his seventh goal, when he beat opponent Brian Lake one-on-one and then snapped accurately from nearly 50m out.

"He (Franklin) did some pretty special things and we're obviously really pleased that he's on our side and not the opposition's," Clarkson said.

"He gets a lot of reward for a lot of hard work, he's one of the best trainers at our football club.

"That goal he kicked ... about 10 minutes into the last quarter, they'd challenged, kicked the first three goals of the last quarter.

"For him to kick that goal from 45-48m out from goal, hotly contested, was a super effort."

Clarkson said Croad had a foot injury and the Hawks were unsure about the exact nature of the problem.

"He's having trouble putting weight on his foot ... we just need to get it assessed," he said.

Stokes hurt his leg, Ladson suffered a shoulder injury and Birchall received a corked hip.

Western Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade felt stagefright may have been a factor for his side and said his players needed to stand up and be counted in what is now a sudden-death situation next weekend.

"We were just beaten by a far better side. It looked like we got overawed by the whole occasion, which was very disappointing," Eade said.

"There's got to be some accountability. That's not what we want to stand for. It's not what we're about as a footy club."

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