It came just two weeks after the three point win versus Richmond, the first time in 11 years that Hawthorn has scored two wins by under a goal in such close proximity. Late in the 1999 season, the Hawks recorded consecutive two point wins against West Coast and Geelong.
Overall, in games decided by six points or fewer, Hawthorn has won 98 and lost 100, with nine draws. The Hawks have done some serious catching up in close games in recent decades.
When Malcolm Blight missed everything with his shot after the siren to give Hawthorn a one point win at Arden Street in 1977 it was the Club’s 50th win by six points or fewer, which at that time was balanced against 64 losses. So that deficit of 14 has now been reduced to just two, helped by the fact that the Hawks have won six of the last eight in that category. If the Club manages to get ahead in this category it will be the first time that it has led since it held a 2-1 lead way back in 1926.
Hawthorn’s only win at the MCG against this week’s opponent Port Adelaide came in Round 20, 2000. It was the first in a sequence of three late season wins that saw the Hawks clinch a Finals’ spot for the first time in four seasons.
It was a slow grind for the Hawks as they fought back after a poor start, which saw them trail by 14 points at quarter time, and three at half time. They edged ahead in the third term to lead by eight points at three quarter time, and finally ran out 21 point winners - 15.11.101 to 12.8.80. Nobody kicked more than two goals with Anthony Rock, John Barker, Ben Dixon and Glen Bowyer all reaching that number. Two of those four, Barker and Bowyer also got the three and two Brownlow votes, while other good players were Tallis, Woods and Chick. After the game first-year coach Peter Schwab commented that “the one area where we need to improve on is using the ball that little bit better”.
This Sunday will be Hawthorn’s 11th home game against Port Adelaide since the Power joined the League in 1997. The first two were at Waverley where the results were split 1-1. Three of games have been held at Aurora Stadium where the Power won the first two matches (2002 and 2007), until the Hawks pulled one back with a 15 point win in 2008.
There have been five previous games at the MCG, with Port winning the last four matches in 2001, 2003, 2004 and by 30 points in Round 4 last season.
So, overall in home games, the Hawks trail 3-7, and are also behind 2-7 in away games, but of course the Hawks did triumph when it mattered most, by three points in the teams’ only meeting in a Final - the 2001 Semi Final at Football Park. That makes the overall record 6-14 in the Power’s favour. This winning percentage of just 30 is the Hawks’ worst against any rival, the next lowest success rate being against Carlton.
The fact that Hawthorn kept the same team for the Sydney game that had beaten Carlton in the previous round throws up an interesting statistic. There have been ten unchanged Hawthorn teams in the five and a half seasons under the coaching of Alastair Clarkson, one more than there were in the nine seasons under the coaching of Allan Jeans.
For the second time in three seasons, Hawthorn has won a game despite kicking fewer goals than its opponent. The most recent occurrence before Sunday was in Round 6 2008 when the Hawks won by 12 points, kicking 14.22.106 to Richmond’s 15.4.94.
Two of the three draws in which Hawthorn has played in the past 40 years have taken place in Round 11. In this round in 1985, Hawthorn drew with North Melbourne at the MCG, while, in 1999, Hawthorn and the Bulldogs drew at Princes Park.
The 1985 game, a quarter of a century ago this week, was a memorable one, even before the tied result, as it was the first occasion that John Kennedy Snr. coached against the Hawks and indeed against his own son, John Jnr. Kennedy had North playing well and they went into the two clubs’ first home and away clash at the MCG in second place on the ladder, while the Hawks were in third position.
A crowd of 39,084 saw the Hawks begin well, piling on 6.2 before North scored. However, North gradually reduced the lead to 26 points at quarter-time, to 16 points at half-time, to just a goal at three quarter time, before hitting the front by as much as seven points in the final term. A goal to Ken Judge gave the lead back to the Hawks before Phil Krakouer levelled the scores at 17.11.113 apiece where it remained when the siren sounded.
Judge, Dermott Brereton, and Leigh Matthews each kicked there goals for Hawthorn, while the leading disposal getters were Terry Wallace 32, Michael Tuck 26 and Richard Loveridge 24. The umpires favoured the North players with the Brownlow votes, with Chris Mew’s one vote the only to go to a brown and gold recipient. Interestingly, Mew was not in the list of best players published in the following week’s Football Record.
Round 11 is one of Hawthorn’s worst rounds. Overall, the club has won just 32 of the 85 games it has played in the round (51 defeats and two draws). In the ten seasons from 1998 to 2007 the Hawks recorded just one win (versus Adelaide in 2003) and one draw (versus Bulldogs in 1999) in Round 11, but things appear to be trending upwards with Round 11 wins in the past two seasons, against Essendon by 51 points at Docklands in 2008 an example.
The Round 11 individual goal-kicking record is held by Peter Hudson who kicked 13 goals against South Melbourne at Glenferrie in 1969.
No Hawthorn player has got more than six goals against Port Adelaide, that tally being achieved by Aaron Lord in the first game between the two clubs in 1997, by Trent Croad in 2000 and by Lance Franklin in 2008.
