Hawthorn have produced one of their most imposing performances of recent years in thrashing Carlton by 100 points at Telstra Dome.

The Hawks turned on a superb display of hard running, high-scoring football to easily cover the absence of gun forward Lance Franklin and remind a huge crowd of 53,459 of their limitless potential.

Franklin's withdrawal with a calf injury should have turned the contest into an arm wrestle and, at four goals each 20 minutes in, it was headed that way.

But the Hawks then unleashed their irrepressible running game to smash the Blues across the field and slam through 14 of the next 16 goals to post an emphatic 27.18 (180) to 12.8 (80) victory, which moved them alongside Geelong and West Coast on eight wins.

Jarryd Roughead fittingly stepped up given Franklin's absence and booted a career-high five goals, Luke Hodge kicked four, veteran Joel Smith was reborn in the midfield and Robert Campbell dominated the ruck.

Those four were outstanding, but the Hawks boasted winners everywhere.

Grant Birchall, Rick Ladson and Brent Guerra provided drive from the backline, Tim Boyle produced an inspired first quarter with two goals and six marks while the midfield's run, toughness and creativity devastated Carlton.

Sam Mitchell, Shane Crawford, Brad Sewell, and Jordan Lewis circled their opponents like vultures and repeatedly found teammates alone with pinpoint execution, by hand or foot.

The Hawks led by over 10 goals at the final change, but where some sides would ease off, the brown and gold made up for some lost time in giving out a good towelling.

Hodge stepped up and booted three goals in the final quarter and Roughead stepped out of the shadow cast over him by Franklin ever since the pair was drafted together.

Ladson's third goal, seconds before the final siren, stretched the margin to three figures points and sparked a roar from Hawthorn fans probably not heard since the club last tasted finals success, back in 2001.

Remarkably, Hawthorn began the game without forwards Franklin, who shared the lead on the league goalkicking table before the game, and Mark Williams and Ben Dixon, who were the club's leading scorers last year, but are currently injured.

The smashing brought Carlton back to earth with a thud in Denis Pagan's 100th game as Carlton coach, and reminded the young Blues they still have a long way to climb.

Full-forward Brendan Fevola booted three goals and started well, but ended the night ball-watching, like most of his teammates.

The score and winning margin were the highest Hawthorn had posted over any side since they booted 32.24 (216) and thrashed Essendon by 160 points in round 20, 1992.

On a night of records, the game's attendance was the biggest at an AFL game at Telstra Dome, because Hawthorn's members were also allowed in for free to make up for the club's four home games in Launceston.

Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson admitted he wondered whether he would have enough firepower in his side without Franklin, who suffered a kick to the calf at training this week.

"To be able to win the game of footy without him is full credit to the group of guys," Clarkson said.

"We've had Dixon out of the side, Williams out of the side and Franklin out of the side - they were our three highest goal scorers last year - and to be able to still manufacture goals through a different type of forward structure was really, really pleasing."

Clarkson said it was still too early to think about what the Hawks could achieve this season because the club had been "to hell and back" in recent years.

But he did pay tribute to acting skipper Hodge, who won 29 disposals in his 100th game.

"As a group they made a real statement in that they all played a little bit like Hodgey tonight, just desperate and hard at the footy," he said.

"The guys were really on tonight, they really stood behind their skipper and showed they can play a pretty exciting brand of footy."

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