JED ANDERSON'S fourth-quarter goal against the Sydney Swans on Friday night not only put the icing on a brilliant qualifying final win for Hawthorn, it also ensured the club reached an unusual milestone.

With the young midfielder's goal, the Hawks, for the first time in their 88-year VFL/AFL history, reached an all-time percentage of 100.

That is, for the first time ever, their all-time 'points for' tally was greater than their all-time 'points against' tally.

By game's end, Hawthorn had scored a total of 167,003 points since its introduction to the VFL in 1925, compared to 166,990 against – a percentage of 100.01.

The curious statistic comes about because the Hawks – or Mayblooms as they were known then – were so poor in their early years.

They conceded the first score in their very first VFL game – against Richmond at Glenferrie Oval – and have been behind on the ledger ever since.

In their first 28 years in the VFL, the Mayblooms collected 10 wooden spoons, and if they weren't last, they were invariably second-last.

It meant that by the start of 1957, the year Hawthorn first made the finals, it had conceded over 13,600 more points than it had scored (39,727 points for, and 53,347 points against).

Over the next five-and-a-half decades, that difference has been steadily clawed back, with the Hawks winning 10 premierships along the way.

At the start of this season the difference between 'for' and 'against' had been cut to 705 points, which has been whittled away to zero over the course of a 20-3 season to date. 

It is another milestone in a season of achievements for Alastair Clarkson's men.

They also compiled an equal-club record 12-game winning streak between rounds two and 14, and their 19-3 home and away season win-loss matched the efforts of the 1971, 1988 and 1989 Hawthorn teams.

In all three of those years, the Hawks went on to win the premiership.