From a contested marking beast to a goal-kicking record, here are some of the interesting stats that emerged from Hawthorn's 20-point win against North Melbourne on Sunday.
The Hawks’ won their fifth consecutive Round 1 match when they took down the Kangaroos in their 2022 season opener.
The match was also Sam Mitchell’s first win as coach, joining the other two new AFL coaches, Carlton’s Michael Voss and Collingwood’s Craig McRae, with victories in the opening round.
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Up forward, Jack Gunston and Mitch Lewis combined as the Hawks target inside 50 on 23 occasions for a return of 11 marks inside 50.
The duo, who haven’t spent a lot of time playing together, finished with three goals each for a combined score of 6.5 (41).
Arriving to the club as pick No. 76 in 2016 NAB AFL Draft, Lewis appears to have taken it up a notch in season 2022.
In a credit to his impressive pre-season, the 23-year-old was selected to play Round 1 for the first time in his six seasons at the club.
He finished with nine marks and three goals, and took six of Hawthorn's 17 contested marks, which was his career-best and a round-high.
Only 13 times in 2021 did any player take six or more contested marks in a game.
Meanwhile, Gunston took six marks inside 50 for Hawthorn, while the entire Kangaroos team took eight in total alone for the match.
His individual effort was the second-best across the competition for the round, equal with Melbourne’s Ben Brown and Fremantle’s Rory Lobb.
He also became the 99th player in the game’s history to kick 400 AFL goals.
In the middle, Tom Mitchell had a productive outing amassing a team-high 29 disposals, five inside 50s, 11 contested possessions, and a game-high six clearances.
Jai Newcombe was also an important player for the Hawks, providing three goal assists – which was an equal-second best for the round – along with three tackles and 18 disposals.
Down back, James Sicily had a strong return game with 27 disposals, seven intercept possessions, and a team-high 538 metres gained.
Sam Frost finished with 12 intercept possessions, which was the second most of any player for the round, while Dylan Moore recorded a league-high four tackles inside 50 in Round 1.
Returning youngster Changkouth Jiath landed the club’s first fan-voted MVP for the year and posted eight coaches’ votes in the AFLCA champion player award.
Jiath has now polled in six of his 24 games, for a total of 23 coaches’ votes – an incredible effort in a short career.
The Hawks will now be looking for a perfect 2-0 start for the first time since 2018 when they travel to Adelaide to take on the Power on Saturday night.
