HAWTHORN  5.4   8.8   11.11   14.15   (99)
NORTH MELBOURNE  3.5   7.9    9.15    13.18   (96)

Goals: Hawthorn: Rioli 4, Bailey 3, Smith, Osborne, Burgoyne, Roughead, Hill, Mitchell, Gunston
North Melbourne: Thomas 5, Black 2, Ziebell, Mullett, Adams, Petrie, Gibson, Wells

Best: Hawthorn: Rioli, Lewis, Mitchell, Burgoyne, Lake, Gibson
North Melbourne: Wells, Thomas, Thompson, Cunnington, Swallow, Ziebell

The Hawks got out of jail after winning a thriller against North Melbourne at the MCG on Sunday evening.

In a game that was tight for the duration, both sides refused to lie down when its opponent had the momentum, finding a way to construct a goal when it needed to most.

The Hawks were beaten in all the key indicators, but it was the polish of its stars that enabled the Hawks to ultimately finish the game in front in that that matters most, the score board.

The Rioli factor

He is Hawthorn’s x-factor, the player that stands up and provides a spark when his team needs it and on multiple occasions on Sunday night, Cyril Rioli picked up his team and put them on his back.

Whether it was breathtaking runs on the wing or finding space when there was none or kicking goals when neither side could split the middle, Rioli did it all.

In the third term, the Roos were pressing and had locked the ball inside their forward half, but couldn’t convert the myriad of chances they had created through great pressure.

Then, Lance Franklin missed a crucial shot on goal before Rioli intercepted the Kangaroos’ kick in and kicked a steadying goal for the Hawks when players from both sides couldn’t make their chances count.

Then, a minute later, he fired a handpass out of the congestion to set up another Hawthorn scoring chance before he combined with Sam Mitchell on the southern wing, received the handball and kicked a beauty to give the Hawks back the lead.

Again, in the final term it was Rioli who sparked the Hawks when the Kangaroos got 10 points in front. From the centre bounce the ball was kicked in his direction, he paddled, gathered, straightened and kicked a crucial goal that sparked the Hawks to victory.

It was a disappointing end to his day, however, as he was carried from the ground by trainers with an injury that forced him out of the game. He finished with 20 disposals, six inside 50s and four goals to arguably be best on ground for the Hawks.

The stats sheet

It wasn’t a pretty day for the Hawks on the stats sheet, beaten in all but one of the key indicators coaches look at when measuring the intent of the playing group.

The Hawks were beaten in the contested ball (149-126), clearances (44-25) and inside 50s (63-47), it was only in the tackles that the Hawks had the better of the Roos, 49-44.

The inside 50s, in particular would have worried Alastair Clarkson during the game and in the aftermath, as sides tend to fail to win games when it is beaten badly in the inside 50s.

Hawthorn was even beaten in disposal efficiency (73.1-70.6) , an area in which it prides itself on and has the reputation of being one of the best disposers of the football in the game.

North Melbourne’s inaccuracy

For all its domination in the clearances which allowed it to dominate the inside 50s, North Melbourne failed to the most damaging pressure of all on the Hawks, scoreboard pressure.

The Kangaroos kicked an inaccurate 13.18 for the game compared to Hawthorn’s 14.15, which was the difference in the end.

North Melbourne had a number of opportunities to put the Hawks to the sword, particularly when in was dominating in the third quarter, but failed to out the Hawks away.

The Kangaroos kicked 2.6 to 3.3 in the third quarter.

Majak Daw missed two shots in the third term that he should have kicked, while Sam Wright missed a simple shot as he ran into goal in the final term only to spray his shot wide.

Forward Drew Petrie too, squandered a chance in the final term to reduce the margin to under a goal.

While the Hawks were inaccurate too, with Franklin kicking 0.5, the boys in brown and gold ultimately kicked the goals that mattered in the crucial third and final quarters.

The Hawks defence

Alastair Clarkson and defensive Coach Luke Beveridge would have been happy with the performance of the defence in the final term, as it thwarted a number of chances North Melbourne had to win the game in the dying moments.

Josh Gibson and new backline partner, Brian Lake were impenetrable all day, but in particular, their ability to keep calm under copious amounts of pressure in the dying moments saved the Hawks.

Both are exceptional readers of the ball in the air and their ability to read the game is second to none and that rubs off on their teammates in the backline, particularly Ben Stratton and Grant Birchall.

While Stratton and Birchall weren’t as damaging off half back, their ability to fill the hole and defend their opponents would have pleased their coaches no end.

A special mention to Lake who, in his first game in the brown and gold showed why the Hawks targeted him in last season’s trade period, holding Petrie to just 15 possessions and a goal for the game.

Lake well and truly won that battle.

What the coaches said

Hawthorn’s Alastair Clarkson: “Perhaps North did deserve to win in terms of all the KPIs that they won.

"But to the credit of our guys, we've lost some of those close contests over the journey, so it was pleasing to get one today."

“It's more a process for us of looking at our game; the things we're doing well, the things we need to improve on, and hopefully get as many wins as we can, add them up at the end of the year, see where we qualify for finals, and then hope that we're playing really good footy at the pointy end of the season.”

North Melbourne’s Brad Scott: “We're not delusional. We're not kidding ourselves. There is a very specific reason as to why we're not 5-0 – we're 1-4. We're clear as to what those things are and we're not prepared to divulge those things in the public forum but we're very clear and we've just got to keep working but the fundamentals are very sound.”