A sensational opening stanza against Carlton at Telstra Dome on Saturday night has put Hawthorn through to the 2008 NAB Cup semi-finals.

The Hawks blasted eight first quarter goals, two of them 'Super' while holding the Blues goal-less en route to a 34-point victory - 4.9.13 (103) to 4.3.15 (69).

Hawthorn led by as much as 72 points early in second quarter but the Blues recovered well to fight the match out right to the finish.

Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson had the luxury of giving his youngsters a run while being able to rest a host of stars including Lance Franklin and Sam Mitchell for the second half.

"We were really pleased with the way that we played in the greater part of the first half and … the risk is you're perceived as being arrogant, but the second-half gave us a great opportunity to play some of our younger players," Clarkson said.

"They made plenty of mistakes … but we're really pleased with the outcome. At that level to expose so many younger players on our list was a real luxury for our club."

Tim Clarke was Hawthorn's leading ball-winner with 23 possessions while Luke Hodge (21), Travis Tuck (21) and Jordan Lewis (20) were also busy.

But the news wasn't all good for the Hawks.

All-Australian defender Campbell Brown was reported for a crunching late bump from behind on the Blues' boom recruit Matthew Kreuzer early in the final term.

And youngster Josh Kennedy had his name taken for making high contact with Marc Murphy.

Clarkson described Brown's report as a "downer" but said "you've got to put yourself in a competitive environment".

Nick Stevens had a match-high 35 touches to show that his comeback from spinal surgery is right on track while Marc Murphy (30) and Andrew Carrazzo (28) also got plenty of the ball.

Carlton set up with a no-name back six - Grigg, Bower, Jamison, Waite, Carrazzo, Austin - which hinted at an experimental mindset, and from the opening bounce they were under siege.

The Hawks harassed, surged in waves from midfield and delivered pinpoint passes to an open forward line that made it easy for the finishers.

The Blues' first option was to scatter kamikaze handballs to team-mates who were either static or backpedalling, and invariably it would finish with a fumble or a crunching tackle to force the turnover.

Headless chooks would have made a better fist of it.

By quarter time Hawthorn had eight majors and 58 points on the board - six more than the 52 that earned them a win over Sydney in Launceston last Sunday - including two Supergoals, the best of them a huge bomb from inside the centre square by Lance Franklin, to Carlton's three behinds.

When Tim Boyle Supergoaled early in the second term and Tim Clarke followed-up with a regulation six-pointer, the Hawks were well on course to repeat their 100-point rout of Carlton the last time the teams met in Round 12 last year at the same venue.

The Blues were poised at the precipice, but they were gradually able generate some system to staunch the bleeding and wrest back the initiative to win the quarter by two points thanks to a pair of Supergoals to Simon Wiggins and Shaun Grigg.

Bret Thornton's return to defence after starting the match at centre half-forward made a big difference also.

The Blues set the tempo in the third quarter with 96 possessions for the period to Hawthorn's 45.

That dominance was reflected on the scoreboard, the Blues replying with three goals and a Cameron Cloke Supergoal to Jordan Lewis' early Supergoal for the Hawks.

The crowd of 20,940 was treated to the unusual sight of rain tumbling through the open roof at the Dome early in the final term as the Hawks coasted to victory which earns them a match away next week against the winner of Sunday's Adelaide versus Fremantle quarter-final.

Carlton coach Brett Ratten told his post-match media conference he didn't see the first-quarter ambush coming and didn't sense in the rooms before the game that the Blues were not primed for the contest early.

"When you have the first five clearances of the game and they score four goals you think yeah, we're not switched on too much," Ratten said.

"That was the start of it and they got their tail up and away they went and they were pretty hard to stop."

Ratten said however he was pleased with the way his players bounced back.

"We need to look at what got away from us and some of that areas that we need to improve on and then we look at the flipside which was some real positives," he said.

"We could have fallen over and just let it go … but at the end of the day the boys stuck to their task after quarter-time but overall, after quarter-time I thought our efforts were pretty good."

The Blues' next assignment is a NAB Challenge series match against West Coast in Alice Springs.

CARLTON: 0.0.3, 2.0.7, 3.3.9, 4.3.15 (69)
HAWTHORN: 2.6.3, 3.7.8, 4.7.10, 4.9.13 (103)

SUPERGOALS: Carlton: Wiggins, Grigg, Cloke, Stevens
Hawthorn: Franklin, Birchall, Boyle, Lewis
GOALS: Carlton: Waite, Hadley, Fevola
Hawthorn: Hodge 2, Rioli, Campbell, Lewis, Boyle, Clarke, Murphy, Brown
BEST: Carlton: Murphy, Stevens, Jamison, Simpson, Cloke, Carrazzo
Hawthorn: Clarke, Young, Mitchell, Tuck, Birchall, Hodge
INJURIES: Carlton: Jackson (corked buttocks)
Hawthorn: Nil
REPORTS: Campbell Brown (Hawthorn) reported by umpire McBurney for unduly rough play on Matthew Kreuzer (Carlton) in the fourth quarter; Josh Kennedy (Hawthorn) reported by umpire Wenn for high contact on Marc Murphy (Carlton) in the final quarter; Lance Franklin (Hawthorn) reported for wrestling Kade Simpson (Carlton) inn the second quarter; Kade Simpson (Carlton) reported for wrestling Lance Franklin (Hawthorn) in the second quarter.
UMPIRES: Wenn, McBurney, Statham, Bowen
CROWD: 20,940 at Telstra Dome