When Luke Breust became the second Hawk in Thursday night's qualifying final to inexplicably miss from about 20m out, he did something he had never done before.

Breust was perfect from 23 previous attempts from that range in his eight seasons in the AFL, including eight set shots.

It came about when he clutched Harry Morrison's centering pass in the second quarter, as Richmond defender Dylan Grimes lost his footing, with Hawthorn trailing by only nine points.

But Breust's unlikely misfire followed Shaun Burgoyne's miss from a similar distance, albeit on slightly more of an angle, in the opening term.

Read: Match report - Hawks v Tigers

Burgoyne poked his kick narrowly to the right of the goalpost after the Tigers slotted two early goals.

The super-veteran, in his 34th final, was operating at 70.8 per cent – 17 goals from 24 attempts, including only four from seven set shots – from that spot before straying wide of the goals.

But interestingly, Burgoyne is only going at 31.8 per cent accuracy this year with seven goals from 20 shots. Only the second time in his career he will finish the season with more behinds than goals. 

Players have kicked a goal 91.2 per cent of the time this year on set shots in Breust's position, and 78.9 per cent from Burgoyne's territory.

Breust sits fifth on the all-time career goalkicking accuracy table for players with at least 300 goals.

His 67.9 per cent conversion rate is behind only Tony Lockett (69.7), Peter Hudson (68.8), Matthew Lloyd (68.6) and Mark Jackson (68.1).

Richmond went to half-time with a 14-point lead, which would have been only four had Burgoyne and Breust nailed their straightforward shots.

The Tigers went on to blow the Hawks away with a five-goal-to-two third quarter and eventually secure a 31-point triumph that advanced them to a preliminary final.