Hawthorn's faint pulse is a heartbeat again after they thrashED Carlton by 50 points on Sunday to prove they're not a spent force this AFL season.

The Hawks entered the game with their season on the line and against in-form opponents, but produced a major turnaround on last weekend's fortunate win over Richmond to notch their third victory of the season, a 16.14 (110) to 8.12 (60) thrashing.

Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson justified his confidence after watching his side prepare well and knew the Hawks had to act in round nine if they were to salvage something.

"At some point in time you've got to make a stand as a footy club and say our season's just going to fritter away unless we do something about it," said Clarkson, whose side is in 12th spot, but still only two games outside the eight.

"It was a pretty strong resolve collectively through the whole group leading into this game that we could play well and try and put some pressure on Carlton, that would allow us to get some opportunities to score goals.

"The game panned out that way, it doesn't always pan out as well as you'd like, but it did today for us."

Hawthorn forwards Lance Franklin (five goals) and Jarryd Roughead (three) relished another chance to upset Carlton's backline and the Hawks' win was their seventh straight over the Blues, a run dating back to 2005.

The Hawks were not the only side on Sunday to put a stop to the rot, as St Kilda beat West Coast 13.13 (91) to 8.8 (56) at Subiaco Oval, and Adelaide beat the Brisbane Lions 13.15 (95) to 11.15 (81) at AAMI Stadium.

The Saints had lost three of their four previous games entering a tricky road trip given their recent inability to cover the loss of hamstrung skipper Nick Riewoldt.

But after a scrappy first half in which they trailed by 17 points at one stage, the Saints kicked nine goals to three in the second half, which pushed Ross Lyon's side back into fifth spot on percentage.

"It was important to bank the four points and we're going to try to do the same next week," said Lyon, facing a quick turnaround to prepare for Richmond on Friday night.

Earlier on Sunday, Adelaide finally found their competitive edge and condemned the Lions to a fifth successive defeat, after Michael Voss's side began the season with four consecutive victories.

Geelong regained top spot on Friday night with a 36-point win over Collingwood at a packed MCG.

The Magpies led early in the third quarter and looked worthy of their premiership favouritism until the Cats responded with eight unanswered goals to relegate the Pies to second spot.

Fremantle are third after breaking another hoodoo this season with a 37-point win over Sydney at the SCG on Saturday.

The Dockers' win was their first in the harbour city since 1996 and proved they were not distracted by last week's arrest of Michael Johnson for possessing cocaine.

The Western Bulldogs are fourth after thrashing North Melbourne by 70 points on Saturday, but face an anxious wait on Monday given Barry Hall's stoush with Scott Thompson will go before the match review panel.

In Saturday night's results, Essendon built on their solid form and inflicted a ninth straight defeat this season on Richmond with a 35-point win at the MCG, while Melbourne upset Port Adelaide by one point in Darwin.

The Demons led well for most of the night but kept their composure amid a Port comeback and posted a fourth win for the season, which equalled last year's tally.

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