The Hawks led by just three points after a closely-contested first quarter at Peter Hastie Oval but then piled on 15 unanswered goals to finish 16.19 (115) to 1.5 (11) winners.

A week after blowing away last year’s premiers with a big second half, EWK coach Gavin McMahon was pleased with the way the Hawks finished off again.

“The score at quarter-time was a fair reflection,” McMahon said.

“We were a little bit slow to start, we weren’t working hard enough early and CSU’s pressure was good.

“But after that I think it was just that we started to execute a bit better.”

Marc Geppert led the way with another eight goals while assistant coach Chris Gordon kicked four.

He was outshone only by Nick Baggio who turned in his best game of the year, continuing a purple patch that has seen him in EWK’s best in three of their past four games.

“He is on fire,” McMahon said.

“He’s only starting to realise what we think he can do.

“His intensity and speed at the contest is as good as I’ve seen in a long time.”

Tom Falvey, Rob Herzfeld and Lachlan Shilton were the home side’s best.

The Bushpigs are feeling the effects of university holidays, forced to make five changes for the round 11 game, on top of the four players already missing the previous week.

While CSU’s depth was tested, the Hawks’ was on display: James Creasy and Guy McAlister are still out. Trent Garner and Jake Robinson returned from a week off, replacing Stu Brierty (unavailable) and Chris Jackson.

Jackson returned to reserve grade where he kicked six of EWK’s 35 goals, topped only by Matt Geppert (eight). And Kade Rowbotham, who played nine senior games last year, was their best.