"I don't think you'd ever find a team winning a game of footy with only five marks inside 50."

It was the dominant sentiment from Coach Alastair Clarkson following the side's loss to Melbourne in Round 5.  

The Hawks had been competitive with the still-undefeated Demons for the first three quarters of the game.

But the weight of generating so few set shots in front of goal became too much in a disastrous final term that saw Simon Goodwin's side pile on eight goals. 

The Hawks were forced to address the issue ahead of their clash with Adelaide.

The result?

A highly impressive one.

Hawthorn recorded nearly four times the marks inside 50 tally that they did the week before, finishing with 18 on the day.

Rising Star nominee Jacob Koschitzke was responsible for a whopping eight of those - more than any other player league-wide in Round 6.

That helps!

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Marks inside 50 naturally generate shots on goal, and the Hawks' 27 scoring shots against the Crows were the club's most since Jarryd Roughead's retirement game in Round 22 2019. 

The Western Bulldogs are the league leaders for marks inside 50 so far this season, averaging over 16 per game. 

Unsurprisingly, that statistic translates to a number one ranking for the Dogs for points scored through the first six rounds - going at a rate of over 105 points per outing.

With the Hawks having averaged just eight marks inside 50 over their four-game losing streak prior leading into the Crows clash, it appears this statistic could be a key performance indicator for fans to keep an eye on across the season.