One of the instrumental aspects to Hawthorn’s win over Sydney on Friday night was their aerial dominance, with the Hawks taking 16 more contested marks than the Swans.
This is an enormous discrepancy when you consider that 12 Hawks took a contested mark in the game to tally 21 in total, while only three Swans had a share in their five grabs.
Hawthorn ruckman Ben McEvoy led the way for his side in the marking department, hauling down a game-high and career best five contested marks.
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The statistic has not been a strong suit of the Hawks this season, ranking a lowly 13th in the category on the season.
Port Adelaide are the number one side in the competition in this area, averaging 14.3 to lead the next best, West Coast, by over a mark and a half.
While the Adelaide Crows registered the highest count in a single game this year when they took 25 catches in their Round 6 demolition of Richmond.
Carlton’s Levi Casboult is the league’s leading contested marker, having taken 45 grabs this season at an average of 2.5.
Interestingly, although McEvoy leads the Hawks for total contested marks this year, James Sicily shares the same average of 1.7 per game, having played three less games than ‘Big Boy’.
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