Footy Flashbacks: Round 19

There are some significant Hawthorn games milestones coming up in Round 19.

Luke Hodge will play his 265^th game this week, which will put him in outright 10^th place for Hawthorn career games, passing Peter Knights.

Meanwhile Jordan Lewis is also moving up the games played list, this week joining club legend Graham Arthur on 232 games and in equal 15^th place.

Also on Saturday night, Cyril Rioli will become Hawthorn’s latest 150 gamer.

He is the first product of the Northern Territory to reach the milestone at the club, which leaves the ACT as the only state or territory not to have produced a Hawthorn 150-game player.

The leaders for each state are Victoria (Michael Tuck 426), NSW (Shane Crawford 305), Queensland (Jason Dunstall 269), SA (John Platten 258), Tasmania (Rodney Eade 229) and WA (Ted Pool 200).

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There is a strong correlation between Hawthorn beating West Coast at Subiaco and going on to win the flag.

Since the Eagles joined the League in 1987, Hawthorn victories against them at Subiaco have come in six seasons (1988, 1989, 1991, 1994, 2008 and 2013), five of which were Premiership years.

It should be noted that the 1991 victory was in a Qualifying Final after Hawthorn had lost a home and away game at the venue.

It should also be pointed out that the Hawks also beat the Eagles in Perth in 1999, but that game was at the WACA Ground.

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Another interesting fact is that four of the six wins against West Coast at Subiaco came when the Hawks were coming off a defeat in the preceding game, as they are this week.

In fact, there has perhaps been no more stunning turnaround from week-to-week in Hawthorn history than when the Hawks ventured to Subiaco to play West Coast in Round 5, 1994.

The Hawks had lost their previous three matches by a combined total of 268 points and thus were given no chance against the high-flying Eagles.

However, the return from injury of Jason Dunstall, Chris Langford and Jason Taylor transformed the team, and, after a slow start, the Hawks stunned the home crowd by taking complete control and winning by 71 points - 19.15.129 to 8.10.58.

Seventy-one points was also the margin in 2008, when the Hawks bounced back from a loss to Richmond with a 19.19.133 to 9.8.62 victory, highlighted by a nine-goal third quarter.

Campbell Brown and Lance Franklin both kicked four goals, while several midfielders chalked up over 30 disposals, headed by Jordan Lewis and Brad Sewell with 33 each.

Hawthorn’s most recent game against West Coast at Subiaco was in Round 2 2013, a week after a 10^th consecutive loss to Geelong in Round 1.

The Hawks beat the Eagles by 50 points with Grant Birchall, Sam Mitchell and Cyril Rioli all outstanding.

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In contrast, the 1999 victory at the WACA Ground was by just two points – 12.12.84 to 11.16.82.

What made the win in the late-season thriller even more meritorious was that the Hawks came from 31 points down at quarter time, 20 points behind at half-time, and two down at the final change.

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

It was one of many games that Brownlow Medal-winning season when Shane Crawford was best-on-ground. Others in the best included Jonathan Hay, Trent Croad, John Barker, Kris Barlow, Craig Treleven and Nathan Thompson.

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Hawthorn’s win against West Coast at Aurora Stadium in Round 12 last season took the overall record between the two clubs to Hawthorn 19 wins and West Coast 24.

Hawthorn has won the last four games between the two clubs equalling the Hawks best ever winning sequence against the Eagles set from 2007 to 2009.

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Last Friday night’s crowd of 66,305 was the biggest ever for a game between Hawthorn and Richmond breaking the previous record of 64,324 in 2013.

The last four games between the two clubs have drawn crowds of over 50,000 doubling the previous numbers of such attendances. Prior to 2012, the previous four 50,000 plus crowds were in 1970, 1980, 1994 and 2001.

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Hawthorn has won 28 and lost 24 in Round 19. There was a Round 19 played from 1945 to 1949 (to make up for games missed during the War) and again in 1952. However, it did not become a permanent fixture until 1968.

Twenty-five years ago, in Round 19 1990, Hawthorn stretched its winning streak to four with a comfortable 36-point win against St Kilda at Waverley, getting revenge for the narrow loss to the Saints at Moorabbin earlier in the season.

Stephen Lawrence got three Brownlow votes for accumulating an amazing 30 disposals in the ruck.

Forty years ago, in Round 19 1975, the Hawks thrashed Geelong by 118 points at Princes Park, in the process kicking a new club record score of 25.23.173. Michael Moncreiff kicked seven goals and Barry Rowlings four.

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Jason Dunstall holds the individual goal-kicking record for Round 19, setting it in 1996 when he kicked 14 against Footscray at Waverley on a Saturday night.

Dunstall also held the record for the most goals by a Hawthorn player against West Coast, kicking seven in both 1988 and 1989, until he was surpassed by Jarryd Roughead’s eight against them in Launceston in Round 12 last season.