Adelaide: It may have been a boring movie for the neutral, but the Hollywood Hawks hit the Crows like a cyclone on Friday night.

And there were Academy Award winners everywhere you looked.

Jai Newcombe, the man the entire competition overlooked for so long, was devastatingly good in the middle of the ground. The only midfielder who may have played a better game was Josh Ward, who the coach thought played the best game of his life.

The evergreen Jack Gunston wound back the clock with five big goals.

Josh Weddle celebrates a goal.Credit: AFL Photos

And captain James Sicily put in another workman-like shift, in a supporting role alongside big-boy recruits Tom Barrass and Josh Battle.

And then there’s Josh Weddle – the 191-centimetre defender-wingman who may just be the most important of them all. He’s fast, he’s agile, he can jump and he can kick, although he didn’t kick well on Friday, booting 1.3.

“Yeah, I think I need some goal kicking lessons from Gunners,” he said with a laugh after the game. Luckily, it didn’t matter. But it might next week against Geelong in a preliminary final.

There’s an evenness to this Hawthorn........

© The Sydney Morning Herald