Following the round 6 loss to St Kilda, Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson made a declaration about his side that startled the football public.
“We are the worst third quarter team by an absolute mile,” the four-time premiership coach told his post-match press conference.
On the surface, the Hawks’ third quarter statistics are worrying, but they don’t seem to quite reflect the gravity of Clarkson’s comments.
The Hawks have won only one third quarter for the year so far.
But that’s only one less than how many fourth quarters they’ve won, and they have only outscored their opponents three times in their first and second quarters.
These numbers seem somewhat predictable given that the Hawks just achieved their second win of the season on the weekend.
But delve a little deeper, and you will find why there is cause for such alarm.
It is not merely that the Hawks have won only one third term, but more so how much they are losing those “premiership quarters” by.
Opposition sides have scored 44.26 (290) in third quarters against Hawthorn in comparison to the 19.21 (135) that the Hawks have managed.
That is an average of 41.4 points against per third quarter, almost seven goals worth.
Here’s a look at how the third quarters have panned out so far.
Round 1: Essendon 7.4 to Hawthorn 4.4
Round 2: Adelaide 6.6 to Hawthorn 3.7
Round 3: Gold Coast 10.2 to Hawthorn 3.4
Round 4: Geelong 4.2 to Hawthorn 2.4
Round 5: Hawthorn 3.1 to West Coast 2.3
Round 6: St Kilda 8.5 to Hawthorn 1.1
Round 7: Melbourne 7.4 to Hawthorn 3.0
Read: Last time we met Brisbane
Interestingly, despite the Hawks recording a win against Melbourne, the troublesome trend continued.
The silver lining is that this week’s opposition have their own “weak quarter”.
While the Lions have only won one game, their round 1 clash against the Gold Coast, they have been able to match opposition throughout varying periods of each of their seven outings so far.
But their bogey quarter comes in the final term, where they have been outscored 32.27 (219) to 14.14 (98), winning their first final quarter last week, albeit by two points.
Here is the breakdown of the Lions’ seven fourth quarters.
Round 1: Gold Coast 3.6 to Brisbane 1.3
Round 2: Essendon 5.1 to Brisbane 1.3
Round 3: St Kilda 5.7 to Brisbane 2.2
Round 4: Richmond 4.3 to Brisbane 2.1
Round 5: Western Bulldogs 8.2 to Brisbane 2.1
Round 6: Port Adelaide 4.4 to Brisbane 3.2
Round 7: Brisbane 3.4 to Sydney 3.2
But for the Hawks, last weekend’s win over the Demons was nevertheless a step in the right direction.
They will be buoyed by the fact that many of their household names rediscovered their mojo, and were ultimately the match-winners when the whips were cracking in the dying moments of the battle.
The Hawks will hope to build off their positive result this weekend against the Lions, as they look to recover this glaring issue on their year so far.
