The record after 1,799 games is 846 wins, 10 draws and 943 defeats.
The Hawks will be hoping to improve on the performance in the 1,700th game when in Round 14 2007 they kicked a score of only 4.7.31 away to Adelaide and were thrashed by 71 points.
Also this week, Hawthorn has the opportunity to create a new Club record for most consecutive wins versus Carlton. The 50 point win in Round 10 last season equalled the record of seven which was established from 1984 to 1986.
Overall, Hawthorn has won 55 and lost 102 of the 157 meetings between the two clubs and, after improving its record against Port Adelaide this season, Hawthorn’s winning percentage against Carlton is now its lowest against any club at 35%.
Last Saturday’s game against Port Adelaide produced a multitude of records and other interesting statistics.
The winning margin of 165 broke the previous Club record of 160 recorded against Essendon in 1992. It is also the equal sixth biggest winning margin in VFL-AFL history, the record for which is the 190 points by which Fitzroy defeated Melbourne in 1979.
The 19 years the Club record remained on 160 was the second longest period this record has remained unchanged. The longest period was on 72 points between 1931 and 1968, before it was stretched to 82. It then went quickly to 99 (1970), 115 (1971), 118 (1975), 143 (1982), 157 (1991) and 160 (1992).
The rout of the Power was the 21st time Hawthorn has won by a margin of 100 points or more (compared to 19 losses in that range). Interestingly, five of these wins have been in Round 21 - in 1983 (Melb), 1986 (Geel), 1991 (Fitz), 2010 (Frem) and 2011 (PA).
The Hawthorn score of 31.11.197 was the sixth highest in the Club’s history. It was also the first time any VFL-AFL history that any team had recorded a total of 197, leaving four as the only score between one and 200 to have never been recorded. It was also the 100th time Hawthorn has kicked a score of 150 or above.
Port Adelaide’s score of 5.2.32 was the lowest to which Hawthorn has kept an opponent since restricting the Brisbane Bears to 2.5.17 in 1988. Port Adelaide’s seven scoring shots was the equal second lowest number against the Hawks, only bettered by Footscray’s tally of six in a score of 3.3.21 in 1964.
The final quarter was the first time Hawthorn had kept an opponent scoreless in a quarter since the final term of Round 21 2003 when Carlton failed to add to its three quarter time tally of 10.4 (exactly double Port’s score).
Hawthorn had 15 individual goal-kickers against Port Adelaide, only one behind the Club and AFL record of 16.
Hawthorn had 16 individual goal-kickers against St Kilda in Round 14 2000, equalling a record set by Essendon in 1988 and subsequently also equalled by West Coast in 2005.
Lance Franklin kicked more than six goals in a game for the first time since he booted eight in the 2008 Qualifying Final. In the process, he moved into sixth place on the Club goal-kicking list, his career tally of 431 now relegating Dermott Brereton (427 goals) to seventh.
Other notable individual goal-kicking feats last Saturday were Cyril Rioli kicking a career-high six goals, beating the tally of five he booted against Fremantle in Round 11, while Max Bailey kicked his first career goal in his 17th game. Bailey became the ninth Hawk to kick his first goal for the Club in 2011, the highest number of new goal-kickers in a season since there were ten in 1978.
Hawthorn’s eighth goal against Port Adelaide was the Club’s 23,000th in VFL-AFL football.
The last time Hawthorn and Carlton met on a Friday night at Docklands they set a new record attendance for the ground. In Round 12 2007, a crowd of 53,459 saw Hawthorn beat Carlton by 100 points.
Round 22 was first contested in 1970 and, in the 41 seasons since, Hawthorn has won 26 and lost 15. For the past six seasons Round 22 results have alternated with wins against Geelong, Carlton and Collingwood in 2006, 2008 and 2010 respectively, following losses to Sydney in both 2005 and 2007 and to Essendon in 2009.
Only in 1991, 1992 and 1994 has Round 22 previously not been the final round.
20 years ago, the 1991 Hawks travelled to Subiaco to take on the seemingly invincible West Coast which was sitting on top of the ladder having lost just two games for the season. While Hawthorn lost by 24 points the competitive performance gave them belief that they could beat the Eagles in Perth a feat they managed three weeks later in the Qualifying Final.
In particular, Stephen Lawrence who received two Brownlow votes in this game, for his 21 disposal and 21 hit-out effort, went onto produce an even more outstanding performance in the Final as he had 30 disposals, 14 marks and 26 hit-outs to secure best-on-ground honours.
Both Peter Hudson and Jason Dunstall regularly kicked large tallies of goals in Round 22. Hudson kicked 11 in 1970, 10 in 1971 and 7 in 1977, while Dunstall contributed 10 in 1988, 11 in 1989, 12 in 1992 (not the final round), 10 in 1993 and 10 in 1996.
Dunstall’s 10 in 1996 is the last occasion that a Hawthorn player has reached 10 in any round. The 14 season gap without a 10 is the third longest in the Club’s history, only exceeded by the 23 year period from 1945 to 1967 and the 15 years from 1925 to 1939.
However, Hawthorn’s great goal-kickers never managed big bags against Carlton.
Peter Hudson, Leigh Matthews and Jason Dunstall all had a top score of seven goals against the Blues - in 1968, 1978 and 1989 respectively. The best individual tallies for Hawthorn against the Blues are nine by Peter Knights in 1985 and eight by Garry Young (in a losing side) in 1959.
