There's a reason why they play footy games on grass and not on paper.
If one were to look over the stats sheet without knowing the final score of Sunday's clash between Hawthorn and West Coast, he or she would be forgiven for suggesting it was a much more even contest than it was.
A number of the standard fan complaints following a loss simply could not have been backed by the numbers.
VFLW match report R10: Hawks defeat Darebin in stunning victory
"We just couldn't get our hands on it enough."
But that's not quite right. Hawthorn had more of the ball than its opposition, recording 401 disposals to the Eagles' 382.
"OK, that may be true, but we wasted the ball - we couldn't hit targets!" we hear you rebut.
But, somewhat surprisingly, that is also incorrect. Albeit narrowly, the Hawks' 76.6 per cent disposal efficiency bettered the Eagles' 76.2.
"Our efficiency going inside 50 cost us though."
Again, not quite.
The Hawks operated at an impressive 48.6 percent scoring rate when inside 50, well above the season average of 42.9 per cent, as opposed to the Eagles' 44.4 percent.
"They wanted it more."
Despite Hawthorn having more of the ball, it also tallied 14 more tackles than the Eagles on the day too. The desire was there.
How about the old trusty?
"The umpires killed us."
Sadly, also not an option. The umpires awarded the Hawks 16 free kicks to the visitors' 10.
So, how do we explain the loss?
How does this culminate into the Hawks leading for just seven-and-a-half minutes of the games? (The opening seven-and-a-half minutes after registering the first two behinds of the afternoon!)
Well, for starters, the efficiency inside 50 numbers are somewhat deceiving given the Hawks recorded just 35 entries compared to the Eagles' 63.
Without looking through each one of Hawthorn's 2,023 games across its history, we'd doubt the club has overcome a discrepancy of 28 less forward 50 entries to post a win too often.
The aforementioned numbers are by no means supposed to create excuses.
Ultimately the Hawks lost all four quarters, making that eight consecutive lost quarters in a row since that epic comeback win over Adelaide in Launceston.
The Hawks' inability to generate scoring opportunities was glaring.
But, if nothing else, these stats should trigger a level of hope in the brown and gold faithful - however minor that level might be.
West Coast is a strong side, a finals contender setting its sights on much bigger things in 2021.
The scoreboard might not have left you overly optimistic at the final siren, but there are little nuggets of hope there that are equally indisputable.
Stick with us!
