Two sides with lofty aspirations and both sit at 2-2 through four rounds; Saturday night at Etihad Stadium is set to be a hotly contested affair between North Melbourne and Hawthorn.

The contest and in particular the clearances statistic has been a key sub-plot in previous meetings between the two sides.

In Round 16 last year, the basic clearance numbers were close to even – North with 39 compared to Hawthorn’s 35.

However the total scores from those stoppages proved the difference.

The trend has continued for Hawthorn through the first four weeks of 2015. In its two wins, it has significantly beaten the opposition winning the ball in the contest and then scoring from that advantage, two categories that do not necessarily go hand in hand.

This is because in the Hawks’ losses against Essendon and Port Adelaide, they have actually won more total clearances compared to their victories. However, they’ve been stymied when they’ve won the ball from the stoppage.

Opposition in brackets.

Comparing Hawthorn’s output to North Melbourne’s in wins and losses reveals the Kangaroos have a similar discrepancy in defending from stoppages.

In wins against Brisbane and Geelong, North has done a good job in stopping the respective midfield groups from effectively clearing at stoppages around the ground. It’s no coincidence that the Lions and Cats only kicked 16 goals between them over the course of the two matches.

But in the losses to the South Australian sides in Rounds 1 and 3, both Adelaide and Port Adelaide were able to cut through their forward half of the ground and pile on scoreboard pressure. Again, it’s no coincidence they were able to score a combined 38 goals over the two games.

Overall there are slightly fewer clearances per game at Etihad Stadium compared to AFL games at every other ground, making each scoring opportunity even more valuable.

The Etihad average is 36.2 clearances a game, while across the AFL the number rises to 39.1 per game.

Statistics courtesy of Champion Data.