ON SATURDAY night, Hawthorn became the 54th team this season to lose the inside 50 count and win the game.
The Hawks kicked themselves into the Grand Final, scoring 15.7 (97) to Port Adelaide's 13.16 (94).
In 31 of the 54 games in which the team with fewer inside 50s won, the victor was more accurate from set shots than the opposition.
One of those games was the preliminary final, when Hawthorn kicked seven goals from 12 set shots (58 per cent accuracy from set shots) compared to Port Adelaide who kicked seven goals from 16 set shots (44 per cent).
It was the fifth time in 2014 that Port Adelaide – who was ranked No.1 in the AFL's inside 50 differential this season – was the loser after recording more inside 50s than its opposition.
Only Adelaide (six times) did it more often than the Power in 2014.
In four of those five games Port Adelaide had a set-shot accuracy ratio below 45 per cent. If the Power had kicked straight, they probably would have finished on top of the ladder.
The club's overall accuracy ratio for the season was 49.8 per cent, placing it eighth in the AFL.
Port Adelaide has dropped to below 50 per cent in each of the past three seasons after being the most accurate team in the competition in 2011.
Port is a brilliant team, but set shots are one area the club acknowledged it could improve in 2015.
While it could be argued Port Adelaide continued a late-season trend by kicking itself out of the preliminary final, Hawthorn has worked hard to be a team that takes its chances.
Hawthorn and the Sydney Swans only lost on one occasion each after winning the inside 50 count.
Hawthorn's overall goal-scoring accuracy sits at 57 per cent in 2014, 4.2 per cent ahead of second-placed West Coast (where former Hawk assistant Adam Simpson now coaches).
The Hawks are one of just five teams (the Sydney Swans are another) with an accuracy ratio of 50 per cent or better.
The Swans have remained in front of the pack in that department under the coaching of 1990 Coleman medallist John Longmire.
This is important because three of the past six Grand Finals have been won by teams that lost the inside 50 count, while the Saints forced a draw in 2010 with 27 fewer inside 50s than Collingwood.
Hawthorn kicks a goal 31 per cent of the time it goes inside 50 compared to the Sydney Swans, who travel at 25 per cent.
The Hawks have shown they take their chances.
But they will have to do so again on Saturday in the Grand Final because the Sydney Swans are less likely to leave the same opening Port Adelaide did.
