By retiring at the end of the season, Stuart Dew will become just the second member of a Hawthorn Premiership team to play just two seasons at the club.

The other was Robert Day, also a South Australian.  Day came to the Hawks in 1971, playing 23 games including the Grand Final, followed by a further 15 in 1972.

While Day’s Hawthorn 38 games will be more than Dew’s final tally, when it comes to Grand Final impact Dew is a long way ahead.  While Dew turned the course of the game in the third quarter of last year’s Grand Final, Day went off injured at half-time in 1971 and it was his replacement, Ray Wilson, who had a significant impact.

Neither Day, nor Dew, will have the record for least games in the brown and gold by a Hawthorn Premiership player.  That record belongs to Jack Cunningham who played 17 games in three seasons, 7 in 1961, including the Grand Final, followed by 6 in 1962 and 4 in 1963.



Hawthorn has played four previous matches against Adelaide at the MCG, winning home games in 2000 and 2003, but losing the 1993 Elimination Final and suffering a thrashing the last time the two teams met there in Round 10, 2004.

Overall the two teams have met 28 times, with Hawthorn winning 12 and Adelaide 16.



Stuart Dew will turn 30 next Tuesday.  He was born on Saturday, 18 August, 1979, the day that Hawthorn played its Round 20 game against Essendon at Windy Hill.

Like 2009, 1979 was a disappointing post-Premiership season, but it was brightened by a four point win in the equivalent round 30 years ago over an Essendon team headed for the Finals.

It is rare to be able to say definitively that one player single-handedly won a particular game of football.  However, it can be said about this match.  Not only did Michael Tuck have 34 disposals and boot four of the team’s 10 goals, but he also kicked the winning goal and took an amazing match saving mark. 



Failing to kick a goal against St Kilda means Lance Franklin has missed out on becoming the third Hawthorn player to kick 300 goals in his first 100 games.

Of course, the club’s two great full-forwards Peter Hudson and Jason Dunstall kicked many more than 300 in their first 100 games.  Hudson’s 100th game was the 1971 Second Semi Final, in which his 7 goals took his career tally to 595, while Dunstall’s 100th was in Round 15, 1989, by which stage of his career he had kicked 419 goals.

The next player behind Franklin on the list of Hawks with most goals in their first 100 games is the underrated Michael Moncrieff, who had kicked 286 goals by the end of his 100th game in Round 20, 1976.



Twenty years ago, Round 20 1989 saw a rare blot in the Hawks dominant back-to-back seasons of 1988-89.  The Hawks lost to the lowly Brisbane Bears by 16 points at Carrara – 9.7.61 to 12.5.77.  However, there were mitigating circumstances as, due to the pilots’ strike, the team had to travel to Queensland in a far from comfortable plane. 

Anyone interested in hearing more about those great seasons of 1988-89 should attend the 88 and 89 Premiership Tribute coming up on 21 August.  Secure your tickets by contacting the Hawthorn Events department on 03 9535 3069.



Hawthorn continued their late season revival in this round ten years ago.  In Round 20, 1999 the Hawks travelled to the WACA Ground in Perth and scored an upset win over West Coast.  Hawthorn 12.12.84 defeated West Coast 11.16.82. 

What made the win more meritorious was that the Hawks came from 31 points down at quarter time, 20 points behind at half-time, and 2 down at the final change.  The major goal-kickers were Joel Smith 3, Aaron Lord 3 and Shane Crawford 2, while the best players were Crawford, Jonathan Hay, Trent Croad, John Barker, Kris Barlow, Craig Treleven and Nathan Thompson.

A crucial moment late in the game was when Michael Collica made a great smother to stop an Eagles attack.



There was a Round 20 played in 1945 and there has been one every year since 1968. In 1945, 1968 and 1969 it was the final round of the home and away season.

In 1945 the Hawks played eventual Grand Finalists, South Melbourne, at their temporary wartime home ground of the Junction Oval, losing by 36 points.  Hawthorn recorded wins in both 1968 and 1969, against Fitzroy and St Kilda respectively, with Peter Hudson booting 8 goals in each game, to finish with 125 and 120 for the seasons.

Overall in Round 20, Hawthorn has won 23 and lost 19.  The Hawks had Round 20 wins in both 2005 and 2006, both against Essendon, followed by losses in the past two seasons - to Port Adelaide by 5 points in Launceston in 2007 and by 29 points in Richmond at the MCG last season.
 


Jason Dunstall had an excellent record against Adelaide. He kicked 9 on three separate occasions – in 1993 and 1994 (both at Football Park) and in 1996 (at Waverley). He also kicked an 8 and a 7 against the Crows.  The best by a current player against Adelaide is 7 – the unforgettable 7 booted by Lance Franklin’s in the 2007 Elimination Final.

The Round 20 Hawthorn record is also held by Dunstall.  He kicked 12 against Essendon in 1992.  Other 10 goal-plus Round 20 hauls were Dunstall’s 11 versus Collingwood in 1990 and Michael Moncrieff’s 10 against Essendon in 1972.