The previous occasions were 1940, 1978, 1990 and 2008. Two of the previous four instances (1978 and 2008) have also come after playing Melbourne and, for those who like omens, those were also the two years when Hawthorn went onto win the Flag. The other two ladder-toppings after Round 1 followed wins over North Melbourne (1940) and Geelong (1990).
Intriguingly, two came after Hawthorn had been on the bottom after Round 1 of the preceding seasons, 1939 and 2007. In total, the Hawks have been on the bottom eleven times after Round 1.
In 1940 and 1990, the Hawks lost in Round 2, while in 1978 the Hawks fell back two places on the ladder, despite winning, as other teams went past it on percentage. 2008 is the only one where Hawthorn remained atop the ladder.
For the third time in six seasons, Hawthorn’s Round 1 team had ten changes from the final game of the previous season. Players who appeared against Essendon in Round 22 last year, who were not there on Saturday, were Bailey, Bateman, Dowler, Kennedy, McGlynn, Milne, Muston, Rioli, Savage and Sewell.
Interestingly, prior to 2005, one has to go back to 1949 to find as many as ten changes between seasons. Back in 1948, Hawthorn lost the final match of the season to St Kilda by 13 points to finish in 11th position with 5 wins and 14 defeats. The new-look team in Round 1 1949 fared no better going down to Essendon by 63 points in a game best remembered for John Coleman’s 12 goal debut.
However, the ten changes in 1949, 2005, 2006 and 2010 are a long way behind the all-time Club record which is 13 (of 19 men teams) set across the ‘Bodyline’ summer of 1932-33. Only six members of the team which lost to Essendon in Round 18, 1932 fronted up against St Kilda in Round 1, 1933 (George Bennett, Bert Hyde, Leo Murphy, Jack Ryan, Stan Spinks and Stuart Stewart). The changes worked, as the Mayblooms led at every change to beat the Saints by two points at the Junction Oval.
Between 1949 and 2005 the highest number of changes was nine in both 1966 and 1996. The former included six new players, four of whom went on to play in the 1971 Premiership team - Peter Crimmins, Des Meagher, Ray Wilson and Michael Porter.
The four debutants last Saturday was the most Hawthorn has had at the start of the season since 1997 when Justin Crawford, Jon Hassall, Aaron Lord and Brad Scott made their first appearances for the club.
In making his debut for Hawthorn last Saturday, Josh Gibson became just the fourth player from North Melbourne to shift to Hawthorn and play a Senior game, following Terry Moore (1979), Andrew Demetriou (1988) and Anthony Rock (1999).
The fact that it took till 1979 for Hawthorn to recruit a player from North is remarkable, given that they had given games to players from the other ten clubs as early as 1931 and that Moore was the Hawks’ 110th player from a rival club.
Eleven players have shifted in the other direction, from Hawthorn to North. Indeed, eight of them had done so by the time Alec Albiston went there in 1950, after his famous falling out with Hawthorn. There was then a gap of more than 50 years before, in recent times, Lance Picioane, Nathan Thompson and Jon Hay headed to Arden Street.
Rhan Hooper is the third player from Brisbane Lions to shift to Hawthorn following Nathan Chapman and John Barker, both in 1998. Six players have made the reverse journey (Rodney Eade, Rod Lester-Smith, Peter Curran, Robert Dickson, Andrew Gowers and Brad Scott).
Hawthorn has played four previous home games at the MCG against this week’s opponent, Geelong, winning two (2000 and 2002) and losing two (2008 and 2009). The two teams have played four Finals at the ground, also splitting the results 2-2, with last year’s Round 17 loss in an away game meaning overall the Hawks trail 4-5 in their head-to-head battle at the ground.
In total, Hawthorn and Geelong have played each other 143 times, with Geelong holding a eight win lead in the head-to-head 75 to 67 (with one draw). The Hawks have won 4 of the last 7 meetings, with two wins in 2006, the only clash in 2007, and the 2008 Grand Final. Geelong’s successes were by 11 points in Round 17, 2008, 8 points in Round 1 last season and 1 point in Round 17.
Hawthorn and Geelong have never previously met on Easter Monday. Their most recent meeting on a public holiday was on Queen’s Birthday, 1982 when in a Round 12 encounter at Waverley, in front of 38,086, Hawthorn 17.10.112 defeated Geelong 6.17.53. Leigh Matthews kicked 5, Gary Buckenara 5 and John Kennedy Jnr. 3. Those three were listed in the best, along with Chris Mew, Michael Tuck, Kelvin Moore and Terry Wallace.
Hawthorn has won only four of its past 15 Round 2 matches - in 2001, 2003, 2007 and 2008. Overall, the round is one of the club’s poorest with 34 wins, one draw and 50 losses.
Hawthorn has a much better record on this coming Monday’s date, 5 April, having won all four previous matches played on it. All of these were on Saturdays, against Collingwood (1969), North Melbourne (1975), St Kilda (1980) and North Melbourne (2008).
The individual goal-kicking record for a Hawthorn player versus Geelong is 12 by Jason Dunstall in 1990 and 1992, while Wally Culpitt kicked 10 against them in 1944. Dunstall also holds the club’s Round 2 record kicking 9 twice - in 1988 v Richmond and 1991 v Sydney.
