Two of the previous three instances were in Preliminary Finals – Allan Jeans on 21 September, 1985 (his 52nd birthday) and Peter Schwab on 22 September, 2001 (his 41st birthday). The other was way back on 4 September, 1926, when Dan Minogue, who had retired as a player after Round 1 of that year (his only game for Hawthorn), celebrated his 35th birthday.
All three had close games. Jeans was able to celebrate a 10 point win over Footscray at Waverley, while Schwab suffered a 9 point loss to Essendon at the MCG and Minogue a 16 point loss to St Kilda at Glenferrie.
Ex-Hawk player Rodney Eade coached the Bulldogs to victory on his 50th birthday (4 April) earlier this season.
In this Anzac Day round, we should remember the eight Hawthorn players who lost their lives in World War Two – Jack Drake, Alf Giblett, Alex Nash, Richard Pirrie, Jack Price, Len Thomas, Max Wheeler and Gus Young.
Hawthorn has won the opening five matches of the season for just the sixth time in the club’s history. The previous five occasions were 1971, 1975, 1976, 1984 and 2001.
On the first four of those occasions, the Hawks then lost in Round 6 - to Footscray in 1971, Carlton in 1975 and 1976 and Richmond in 1984.
Only the 2001 team extended the run beyond five, beating Adelaide in Launceston in Round 6 and then recording two further wins to take the sequence to eight, before suffering a heavy defeat against Essendon in Round 9.
2008 has joined 1979, 1984 and 1988 as a year when Hawthorn has recorded century scores in the opening five matches of the season.
In 1984 and 1988 the century runs stopped at five, leaving the record at the six from 1979. What is odd about 1979 being the record year is that the Hawks had only a 3-3 record after six rounds of that season. They kicked scores of 103, 102 and 108 in the three defeats and 123, 189 and 161 in the three wins.
Just as happened two weeks earlier, Round 5 saw Hawthorn lose top spot despite winning. This has now happened four times in the club’s history – twice in 1978 and twice in 2008.
Lance Franklin has become the 32nd Hawthorn player to have reached the 150 career goals mark.
Also on Franklin, the last time a Hawthorn player led the AFL goalkicking for the first five rounds of a season was Jason Dunstall back in 1992. Coincidentally, Dunstall also had 29 goals after five rounds. It is unlikely that Franklin will maintain Dunstall’s pace over the next two rounds – he kicked 9 in Round 6 and 17 in Round 7 to take his 1992 season tally to 55.
Hawthorn and Richmond have met on 144 occasions, with the Hawks winning 63 and the Tigers 81. The deficit of 18 is wholly attributable to the fact that Richmond won the first 21 encounters between the two clubs. Hawthorn secured its first victory at the 22nd attempt, by a thrilling two-point margin at Glenferrie in Round 16, 1936.
Hawk fans will remember fondly two lengthy winning sequences against Richmond, as the brown and gold strung together 10 consecutive wins from 1959 to 1964 and then bettered that with 16 in a row between 1985 and 1994.
Since the two clubs finished in the bottom two places on the ladder at the end of 2004 and appointed new coaches for 2005, the clubs have recorded two wins apiece against each other.
The Tigers had wins by 14 points and 4 points in Rounds 2 and 21 of 2005, while Hawthorn has won the past two – by 41 points at Aurora Stadium in Round 12, 2006 and by 53 points at the MCG in Round 15 last season.
Hawthorn and Richmond have never met in a final, despite making the finals in the same season on six occasions.
The last time the Hawks and Tigers clashed in Round 6 was in 2004 in a game which resulted in a heartbreaking one point defeat – 13.5.83 to 12.12.84.
Overall, in Round 6 Hawthorn has recorded 34 wins and 46 defeats (having had byes in this round in 1942, 1943 and 1993). Having lost at Docklands in Round 6 for three consecutive seasons from 2004 to 2006, Hawthorn got back on the Round 6 winning track with a 35 point triumph over Essendon at the MCG last season, highlighted by Franklin’s 9 goals, including 5 in the second quarter.
Five years ago this round Hawthorn played its final ever Princes Park match beating Carlton by 11 points – 11.8.74 to 9.9.63. Hawthorn played 230 matches at the venue, which was its home ground from 1974 to 1991, winning 133, losing 96 and playing one draw.
The record number of goals against Richmond is 17 by Jason Dunstall in 1992. The best tally for Round 6 is 9 by Jason Dunstall in both 1992 and 1993 (against Collingwood and Adelaide respectively) and Lance Franklin against Essendon last season. Peter Hudson booted 8 in Round 6, 1970, in the club’s first ever Waverley game, a 7 point loss to Richmond.
