Hawthorn’s losses in the past two rounds would not have come as too much of a surprise to anyone who has looked at Hawthorn’s historical record in away games interstate.
In the past 16 seasons (since winning all four interstate games in 1994), the Club has won just 16 and lost 50 when playing away to non-Victorian teams in the home and away season. Many of the 50 defeats have been by hefty margins, with 12 being by more than 10 goals, 16 (the same number as wins) by more than 50 points and 22 by more than 40 points.
The record looks even worse if one excludes the premiership year of 2008 when the Hawks completed a clean-sweep (4-0) on the road. More depressing still is the record if games away to Fremantle, in which Hawthorn actually has a 7-4 positive record, are not counted. Against the other five non-Victorian teams Hawthorn has a 9-46 record on their grounds in the past 16 seasons.
Ben Stratton scored his first career goal in his 17th game last Saturday. A number of his team-mates actually took longer to get a goal on the board - Brad Sewell doing so in his 40th game, Stephen Gilham in his 22nd and Brent Renouf in his 20th. The Club record is held by Len Crane (1951-57) who kicked his first goal in his 98th game for the Club.
The strong likelihood that West Coast will take out the wooden spoon means that there will now be 11 of the current clubs which have finished on the bottom of the ladder since Hawthorn last did so in 1965. The ten to have already done so (with most recent occasion in brackets) are Melbourne (2009), Richmond (2007), Carlton (2006), Western Bulldogs (2003), Fremantle (2001), St Kilda (2000), Collingwood (1999), Brisbane Lions (1998), Sydney (1993) and North Melbourne (1972).
Two small pieces of percentage are all that have stopped Hawthorn being the Victorian club to have secured the wooden spoon least recently. In 1965, Hawthorn finished last, level on 16 points with two other clubs, one of which Fitzroy was ahead by just 1.6 per cent. If the Hawks had finished 11th rather than last, it would mean the Club’s last spoon was in 1953 taking it back beyond Geelong’s last one in 1958.
That would leave just Essendon, whose most recent spoon was way back in 1933, with a better record. However, Essendon went within 7.7 per cent of finishing on the bottom in 2006, when sharing the cellar of the ladder with Carlton on 14 points.
Hawthorn has won its last five games against Melbourne.
Hawthorn was behind in the head-to-head battle with Melbourne, from 1925 until 2008. However, the Hawks’ massive 104 point win in Round 1 2008 squared the ledger at 74 wins apiece and three subsequent victories have put Hawthorn in front - 77 to 74, from 151 games.
Hawthorn lost the first nine meetings between the two clubs and the deficit grew as big as 36 (after a 4 point loss at the MCG in Round 7, 1968) before the Hawks began to reel it in. When the deficit was 36, the two clubs had played 74 games, with the Hawks winning 19 and losing 55. It took exactly the same number of games, and a 55-19 record the other way, for the Hawks to level the tallies at 74-74.
The Hawks did some serious catching up when putting together the Club’s greatest ever winning sequence against another club, the run of 22 consecutive victories against Melbourne from Round 13, 1973 to Round 3, 1984.
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 war-time 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 eight goals in each game, to finish with 125 and 120 for the seasons.
Overall in Round 20, Hawthorn has won 23 and lost 20. The Hawks had a pair of Round 20 wins versus Essendon in 2005 and 2006, but that has been followed by losses in the past three seasons - to Port Adelaide in Launceston in 2007, to Richmond at the MCG in 2008 and to Adelaide by 27 points at the MCG last season.
Memorable Round 20 wins include:
1972: Hawthorn 15.16.106 d. Essendon 12.15.87 at Waverley
1972 had seen the introduction of the Final Five and the competition for the last couple of spots in it was intense. With two tough games to come, Hawthorn had to beat Essendon at Waverley in Round 20 to remain a realistic chance. A crowd of 36,749 saw the Hawks begin brilliantly with a 6.5 to 0.5 opening quarter. The Dons gradually worked their way back into the game and actually hit the front in the third term. However, the Hawks steadied and ended up winning this tough encounter by 19 points.
The star of the day was 20 year old Hawthorn full-forward Michael Moncrieff, who booted 10 goals. He helped ease the pain Hawk fans were still feeling about the absence of Peter Hudson, who had seriously injured his knee in the first half of the opening round of the 1972 season. Peter Crimmins chipped in with three goals, while the singles came from Des Meagher and Gerry McCarthy. As well as Moncrieff, Crimmins and McCarthy, also included in the best players were Alan Martello and, until he got injured, Kelvin Moore. Unfortunately, this was to be Hawthorn’s final win of the season and it was Essendon who snuck into the first Final Five after Round 22.
1977: Hawthorn 15.15.105 d. Collingwood 13.21.99 at Victoria Park
The top teams after 19 rounds turned on a classic in front of 30,184 at Victoria Park. While Hawthorn had a handy break at quarter time, the margin was less than a goal at both half and three quarter times. The home fans were very frustrated both by their own teams inaccurate kicking for goal and the umpiring in the final term, but Hawthorn had the steadiness to clinch the win. The Hawks had ten individual goal-kickers with the only multiples being Peter Hudson and Barry Rowlings each with three and Leigh Matthews with two. Best players were Scott, Tuck, O’Halloran, Moncrieff, Eade, Trott and Welsh. It was only Hawthorn’s sixth ever win at Victoria Park
1979: Hawthorn 10.14.74 d. Essendon 9.16.70 at Windy Hill
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 in Round 20, 1979. 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.
1990: Hawthorn 26.7.163 d. Collingwood 12.8.80 at Princes Park
After reaching Round 15, with a mediocre 8-7 record, the Hawks had stormed back into Finals contention with a run of four straight wins and were up into fifth on the ladder and so went into this battle with second placed Collingwood with renewed confidence. Hawthorn controlled the game from the start, establishing an 18 point quarter time lead that grew to 26 by the long interval. It was the second half which was truly stunning as the Hawks added 16.2 to 6.5. Jason Dunstall was outstanding with 11 goals, his first big bag of goals since the serious head injury he had suffered in Round 9.
There was a lengthy list of other good players headed by Mew, Ayres, Jencke, Lawrence, Brereton, Collins and Pritchard. It was Hawthorn’s second win over Collingwood for the year and formed part of a sequence of six consecutive wins (1989-92). One wonders what would have happened had the two sides met again in the Finals. However, it was not to be, as Hawthorn lost the Elimination Final to Melbourne, while Collingwood went on to end their 32 year Premiership drought.
1992: Hawthorn 32.24.216 d. Essendon 8.8.56 at MCG
Having failed to kick a goal in the second half the previous week against St Kilda, Hawthorn returned to its brilliant best with a stunning, eight goals in every quarter, demolition of Essendon. Jason Dunstall booted 12.8 to take his tally for the season to 119. On debut Richard Taylor booted three before half time, while Tony Hall was brilliant in the centre, Chris Mew dominant at centre half back and Darren Jarman was superb. Chris Langford was acting captain and the win kept his 100% record as skipper intact. The winning margin of 160 points was a new record for Hawthorn and is one which still stands.
The leading individual goalkicker against Melbourne is Peter Hudson who booted 16 in Round 5, 1969. The Round 20 Hawthorn record is held by Jason Dunstall who kicked 12 against Essendon in 1992 (see above). Other 10 goal-plus Round 20 hauls were Dunstall’s 11 versus Collingwood in 1990 and Michael Moncrieff’s 10 against Essendon in 1972.
