Hawthorn recorded one of its best wins of the season, taking down premiership contenders Brisbane at UTAS Stadium on Sunday.

Despite a late scare, the Hawks took home a stunning 12-point upset against the finals-bound Lions, marking their fifth win of the season.

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Here are some of the interesting stats that suggest where the game was won.

The perfect start

The Hawks were in control right from the opening bounce, with vice-captain Jaeger O'Meara kicking the first goal of the game from Hawthorn's first defensive-50 chain.

The strong first quarter laid the foundations for what would turn out to see the Hawks lead the game from start to finish.

The Lions could hardly get their hands on the footy as Hawthorn got off to a flying start scoring four unanswered goals in the opening term.

The intensity kept Brisbane goalless for the first time this year, with the Lions' quarter-time score of one point its lowest-scoring first term since Collingwood held them scoreless in Round 8 in 2016. 

Brisbane also failed to register a score from a forward half intercept possession in the first half, the first time they have been held scoreless at halftime from this source since the metric was first recorded in 2002.

Fierce tackling pressure

The Hawks’ intensity and effort was unquestionable — their first half tackling efficiency of 82 per cent (45 of 55) was their best first half performance in this category since Round 23 in 2017 against the Western Bulldogs (85.4 per cent efficiency). 

Hawthorn laid 84 tackles for the game to Brisbane's 70 — the most they’ve had in any game so far this season and the most any side has applied on Lions so far in 2021.

The Hawks currently rank third in the league for tackles per game in 2021, averaging 61.8 per game, just behind Melbourne (62.6) and Sydney (62.1).

Inside 50 dominance

Hawthorn's dominance was further demonstrated with the inside 50s count, as the Hawks registered their second-highest number of inside 50s for the year, with 60 entries to Brisbane's 41.

The 19 more forward entries were a massive differential in the Hawks’ favour, their largest disparity between their opposition so far this year.

It was also 12 above their 2021 average of 48.7.

Racking up disposals

Although having broke-even with disposals at 379 apiece, the Hawks had six players in the top ten for disposals in the game, compared to the Lions four.

Topping the list was O'Meara, who recorded the second-most disposals (35) of anyone on the field on Sunday, behind Brisbane's Jarryd Lyons (38).

O'Meara's disposal tally against the Lions was his season-best, with other Hawks rounding out the top ten including Tom Mitchell (34), Chad Wingard (32), James Worpel (26), Jack Scrimshaw (25) and Conor Nash (23).

Albeit narrowly, the Hawks' 73.1 per cent disposal efficiency bettered the Lions' 68.3 per cent.