Four of them have been superstars - not just of their club - but also of the game. And the No. 23 jumper is the only number at Hawthorn to appear in all 10 of the club’s premierships.

John Peck. Don Scott. Dermott Brereton. Lance Franklin.

They represent greatness and explain some of the reasons Hawthorn fans have come to love their club. They are the ultimate first four for any Hawthorn fan in any race in any season.

Can any other AFL club boast a better collection of footballers to have worn the same number for the bulk of their career?

The first notable No. 23 at Hawthorn was ruckman/defender Ted Fletcher, who played 129 games from 1948-54. He captained the club in 1953-54 although - as was customary at the time - he wore No. 1 once elevated to the top job. But as the Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers notes, Fletcher was a “vigorous protector” of his club’s smaller players.

If nothing else, Fletcher created the DNA for future players in the No. 23 and, by 1954, Peck, an apprentice butcher from Canterbury, was wearing the jumper. When he played his first game for the club against Essendon at Glenferrie Oval in the first game of that year, he became (and still is) the youngest player to debut for the Hawks.

Peck went on to become Hawthorn’s first matinee idol. He was tough, rough, unsophisticated in play, but dramatic in action. Brave as they come, he was the epitome of the mould John Kennedy created in the early 1960s as the Hawks finally came in from the cold.

Peck was known by several nicknames: ‘Speed’ (because of his occasional bursts of pace), ‘Gregory’ (because of the Hollywood star of the same name and an ability to milk key free kicks at important times) and ‘Elvis’ because he boasted the same slicked back hair and high cheekbones of the rock’n’roll heartthrob of the time.

Read the full story in this week’s edition of the AFL Record, available at all grounds.