A week after their dismal showing against Golden Square, the Dragons beat the Hawks 17.12 (114) to 10.4 (64) at Canterbury Park.

With the win, the Dragons end the home and away season third with a 14-4 record, while the Hawks – who would have climbed to third with a victory by at least 45 points – stay fourth at 12-6.

In a blow on the eve of the finals, both sides suffered injuries to key players in the first quarter.

Eaglehawk full-forward Matt Gretgrix – who has won his first Ron Best Medal with 82 goals - limped off 10 minutes in with a knee injury after landing awkwardly in a marking contest.

“He’ll have scans on Monday, so it’s unclear at this stage how serious it is for Gerta,” Eaglehawk coach Luke Monaghan said

And Sandhurst midfielder Alex Pollock reinjured his knee in his first game back since round 12.

“It doesn’t look real good for him, but we’ll see during the week. It was disappointing for him because he was going well,” Sandhurst coach Brett Fitzpatrick said.

The Hawks failed to capitalise on the breeze to the Simpsons Road end in the first quarter when they kicked just two goals from 15 inside-50 entries, while three shots sprayed out on the full.

The lack of scoreboard pressure in the first term – the Hawks led 2.0 to 1.1 at quarter-time - proved costly as Sandhurst assumed control of the contest, with its midfield brigade that was soundly beaten last week leading the charge.

From the start of the second quarter to the 20-minute mark of the third term the Dragons kicked 11.6 to 4.3 to build a 40-point lead.

The Hawks gave themselves a sniff when they kicked the last two goals of the third term and the first of the last quarter to close within 22 points.

However, a set-shot goal from Sandhurst’s Joel Wharton stemmed the momentum for the Dragons, who kicked five of the last six goals of the match to blow the margin out to 50 points and inflict the biggest loss of the season on the Hawks.

The best for the Dragons included Andrew O’Connor, who was superb off half-back, captain Blair Holmes, who slotted one of the goals of the day from 45m from the boundary in the third term moments after a head clash with Ben McPhee, fellow onballers Koe Ngawati and Nick Stagg, and ruckman Tim Martin, who played the best of his six games of the season.

Holmes and Tom Calvert, who spent the day forward, both kicked three goals.

The Hawks had good players in backman Tyler Miles, onballer Brodie Collins, Chris Hudson, who battled hard in the ruck, and the consistent McPhee. Jarrod Findlay kicked three goals.

Match statistics:

Centre clearances: Sandhurst 15; Eaglehawk 15.

Inside 50s: Sandhurst 58; Eaglehawk 41.

Stoppages: Sandhurst 18; Eaglehawk 18.