In that 2002 season, the Hawks’ five wins up until Round 11 also included a run of four consecutive victories, in that case from Rounds 5 to 8. In the second half of the year the Hawks had a 6-5 record and overall the 11-11 season saw the club finish in 10th place.
The 2000 Hawks were also 5-6 at the half way mark, but they put together a 7-4 record in the second half of the home and away season to qualify for the Finals in eighth place, following up with victory over Geelong in an Elimination Final.
For the first time in 30 years, Hawthorn has had seven games decided by a margin of two goals or fewer in the first half of the season.
Back in the 1980 season, the close results went 4-3 in the Hawks’ favour, as opposed to 3-4 in 2010, and this was reflected in being slightly better placed with a 6-5 overall record. In an odd quirk all three close losses were by five points. Perhaps, even more oddly there were no close games at all in the second half of that 1980 season, the narrowest margin being 27 points. Most of these one-sided games were losses as the injury-hit Hawks struggled with just four wins in the run home.
Carl Peterson has now worn the number 48 in more games than any other modern day Hawk.
Peterson has already played 10 games in his debut season, which means he has eclipsed the previous modern day record of seven, held by Glenn Howard, who played those games in the latter part of the 1981 season. In his subsequent 16 games in brown and gold, across several seasons, Howard was elevated to 31 and then 13.
The number 48 did have a couple of famous wearers in the 1970s - famous for contrasting reasons - one being a full-forward who played two games, the other a full back who played 300 games. It was the number worn by Michael Cooke in his amazing two-game career, a career which took in the 1975 second semi (in which he kicked four goals) and the Grand Final. The other was Kelvin Moore who wore 48 in his first two games in Rounds 21 and 22 of 1970, before shifting to number 15 for the remaining 298 games of his illustrious career.
One reader has asked - when was the most recent time a number as high as the 48 worn by Carl Peterson was worn by a Hawthorn player? The answer is that it is the highest since Shaun Rehn wore number 52 in 2001-02.
Having improved the Club’s previously poor record against one of the South Australian teams, Port Adelaide, Hawthorn now has a similar opportunity against Adelaide. Hawthorn has won 12 and lost 17 of the games between the two clubs since the Crows entered the AFL in 1991. Whereas against Port the Hawks have a poor record both home and away, the home record against Adelaide is reasonable, having won eight and lost six of the 14 home encounters, played at Waverley, the MCG and Aurora Stadium.
Three of the 14 home games against Adelaide have been played at this Saturday’s venue, Aurora Stadium, with the Hawks having won two of them.
Adelaide was the opponent in Hawthorn’s first ever home game in Launceston in Round 6, 2001. It was a propitious start as the Hawks stretched their winning sequence at the start of the season to six, with a 13 point win over the inaccurate Crows - 16.8.104 to 12.19.91. Both the goals and the possessions were shared around. John Barker booted three goals, and four players two goals, while six players had more than 20 disposals, with the leaders being Daniel Harford and Tony Woods each with 26.
The other win in Launceston also formed part of an early season sequence of wins being in Round 4, 2008 with the Hawks increasing the lead at every change from eight to 18 to 37 and running out comfortable 44 point winners. Chance Bateman, Lance Franklin (six goals) and Clinton Young received the Brownlow votes, while also under notice was Brent Guerra who racked up 38 disposals.
The one blemish on the record was a loss in Round 15 2005, but even it was quite a meritorious performance, as the 15th placed Hawks managed to get within 10 points of the second placed Crows. It was a game of fluctuating fortunes as having led by 14 points at quarter time, the Hawks only managed to kick 1.3 in the middle two quarters of the game. Trailing by 38 points at the final change Hawthorn then kicked 5.1 to 0.3 in an excellent last quarter which at least gave Adelaide a few worries.
The leading possession getters for Hawthorn were Joel Smith 28, Brad Sewell 25 and Luke Hodge 24, while the unlikely leading goal-kicker was Nathan Lonie with a career-high of three, assisted by Angelo Lekkas and Mark Williams who both booted two.
The crowds for the fixture have declined slightly from 17,460 in 2001, to 16,287 in 2005, and to 15,124 in 2008.
Speaking of crowds, there has been quite a bit of comment that Sunday’s crowd of 21,287 was disappointing and certainly when compared to the 33,274 for the same fixture last season, or the 28,228 in 2001, it was. However, it was far from the worst crowd for meetings of the two clubs at the MCG, actually ranking fourth of six, with the lowest having been the 11,682 diehards who turned up late in Hawthorn’s ‘annus horibilis’ of 2004.
Hawthorn has won 35 and lost 50 of its 85 Round 12 matches.
The Club has had reasonable success in this round in recent seasons with six wins in the past nine Round 12 matches. There were three wins in a row from 2006 to 2008 over Richmond by 41 points in 2006, Carlton by 100 in 2007 and against this week’s opponent Adelaide by 4 points at Football Park in 2008.
Last season in Round 12, the Hawks managed only one goal in the second half as they suffered an ignominious 42 point loss to Brisbane Lions at Aurora Stadium.
10 years ago this round, Round 12, 2000 saw Hawthorn play its first ever game at Docklands, beating Fremantle by 59 points, while 20 years ago, in Round 12 1990, the Club played its first ever game at the WACA Ground losing to West Coast by 23 points.
Jason Dunstall had an excellent record against Adelaide. He kicked nine on three separate occasions - in 1993 and 1994 (both at Football Park) and in 1996 (at Waverley). He also kicked an eight and a seven against the Crows. The best by a current player against Adelaide is seven - the unforgettable seven booted by Lance Franklin’s in the 2007 Elimination Final.
Dunstall also holds the individual goal-kicking record for Round 12 - booting 11 against the Brisbane Bears in the first ever match between the two clubs at Carrara in 1987, later equalling his record for the round against Sydney at the SCG in 1994.
