Adelaide's inspirational captain Mark Ricciuto and his band of elder statesmen have combined to crush Hawthorn by 71 points in their AFL match.

Ricciuto kicked four goals as the Crows flew from ninth place on the ladder to fifth with the resounding 15.12 (102) to 4.7 (31) victory at AAMI Stadium.

The second-placed Hawks were outplayed in all facets and face further anxiety with star utility Luke Hodge certain to face scrutiny for an apparent strike on Crow Michael Doughty.

Hodge and his Hawthorn teammates suffered a lamentable night, unable to crack the code of Adelaide's miserly defence led by a sublime Andrew McLeod, who remarkably cruised through large chunks of the match without an opponent.

McLeod simply lapped up the freedom in an instrumental 39-possession best on ground performance.

His fellow 30-year-old Tyson Edwards amassed a stunning 41 possessions, and with the 31-year-old Ricciuto's bag of goals, the veteran trio crushed Hawthorn from the outset.

The Crows notched the initial four goals of the game, despite kicking into a strong wind, and their 4.2 to 1.2 quarter-time lead was a sign of things to come.

Adelaide's tackling pressure suffocated the Hawks, whose skills wilted as they fell 33-points behind at halftime.

Hawthorn's hopes of a wind-assisted revival in the third term were snuffed as the home side delighted a parochial 34,733 home crowd with three consecutive majors which established an irreversible 55-point advantage.

Ricciuto, in his fourth game back from a nine-month injury absence, kicked the first goal of the match and his four majors matched the entire tally from an error prone Hawthorn.

Playing at full forward, the Brownlow medallist led and marked strongly and found able attacking allies in Ken McGregor, Nathan Bock and Scott Welsh, who each chipped in with two goals.

The Crows forward line feasted on a frequent supply from the likes of Edwards and his onball colleagues Scott Thompson, whose 100th game reaped 39 disposals, and Chris Knights (33 touches) and Simon Goodwin (33 disposals), who was a creative force in his return from knee injury.

Adelaide coach Neil Craig hailed his side's defensive performance in restricting Hawthorn to just four goals.

"Our execution was very good under the conditions and I thought defensively we were exceptional," Craig said.

But he said the challenge for Adelaide, which faces St Kilda at Melbourne's Telstra Dome next Friday night, was consistency.

"Clearly we are at the moment an inconsistent club," he said of his side, which has eight wins and six losses this year.

"We need to change that.

"So whilst it has been a great victory for us tonight ... our real test is over the next few weeks, to see if we can continue to play at that level."

In stark contrast, Hawthorn's gun goalsneak Lance Franklin was starved of opportunities and held to just one goal by his unheralded opponent, Kris Massie.

Veteran Shane Crawford gave a spirited display while Rick Ladson, Jordan Lewis and Ben McGlynn were other Hawks who battled gamely against an overwhelming Adelaide outfit.

Hawthorn coach Alistair Clarkson attempted to deflect the spotlight from his side's insipid display on to the brilliance of Adelaide.

"We faced a big hurdle tonight and we were unable to get over it," he said.

"We acknowledge that they were outstanding and we were outclassed.

"They are a much classier outfit than their win-loss ratio ... they have got an outstanding array of talent."

The Hawks lost Chance Bateman and Danny Jacobs to what Clarkson termed as heavy knocks, but he expected both to be fit to confront Richmond next weekend, while Adelaide forward Jason Porplyzia strained a hamstring.

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