Reflecting on all the topical milestones and achievements, past and present, as we head into Round 19 of the 2018 season. This is 'Footy Flashbacks'....

Optus Stadium in Perth will this week become the 31st venue where Hawthorn has played a VFL-AFL game.

The Hawks will be looking to improve on a poor record in venue debuts, with the club having won just five of the 30 previous first games at venues. 

Having lost at all 12 of the original grounds in debut appearances in 1925-26, the club also suffered defeats at its next six new venues (Kardinia Park 1941, Toorak Park 1942, Yarraville 1942, Euroa 1952, Moorabbin 1965 and Waverley 1970).  Hawthorn finally won a venue debut game at the 19^th attempt at the SCG in 1979 against North Melbourne.

Since then, the Hawks won first-up at Carrara, North Hobart, Docklands and York Park (now University of Tasmania Stadium), but lost at the Gabba, Subiaco, WACA Ground, Football Park, Stadium Australia, Adelaide Oval and Spotless Stadium.

Big margins have also often been associated with these games with the Hawks winning by 157 points (North Hobart), 95 (Carrara), 59 (Docklands) and 51 (SCG), but losing by 143 points at the MCG in 1926 and 86 points at Football Park in 1991.

Read: Howe to miss remainder of home and away season

Hawthorn fans at Docklands last Sunday got to see their team keep an opponent scoreless in the first quarter of a game for the first time in 24 years. The most recent previous occasion was against Adelaide at Football Park in Round 9 1994. Sunday was first time the Hawks had kept Carlton scoreless in a quarter since doing so in the last term of a 2003 MCG game.

With Hawthorn already having kept Adelaide scoreless in the third quarter of their Round 13 encounter, 2018 also becomes the first season since 1994 when the Hawks have kept opponents scoreless in two quarters in the one season.

Hawthorn’s first away game versus this week’s opponent Fremantle featured a scoreless quarter. The Subiaco encounter in Round 10 1996 was even for three quarters, with the Hawks holding a 10-point lead at the final change – 10.3 to 7.11. Remarkably, Hawthorn then added 7.5 to 0.0 in the last quarter to win by 57 points.

Hawthorn holds a commanding 26 to 8 advantage in the head-to-head tally against Fremantle. The Hawks have twice recorded six consecutive wins against the Dockers, from 1998-2001 and 2011-14. After a loss at Subiaco in late 2014, the Hawks have now started a new sequence of wins which so far has reached four, including most notably the 2015 Preliminary Final.

When Taylor Duryea plays his next game, he will become the first player to make 100 appearances in the number 8 jumper since the late David O’Halloran. 

Duryea began his AFL career wearing number 41, doing so in 18 games in his debut season of 2013. From the start of the 2014 season, he has played 99 games in the number 8.

O’Halloran wore number 8 in all 160 games of his illustrious career, from 1976 to 1985 which included playing in the 1976 and 1983 Premierships. Prior to O’Halloran other Hawthorn number 8’s to play 100 games were Stan Spinks, Clive Philp and Kevin Heath. 

Between O’Halloran and Duryea, eight other Hawks wore the number, including three 50-gamers (Dean Anderson, Craig Treleven and Xavier Ellis), but Duryea will be the first centurion for more than three decades. 

One of the highlights of Duryea’s career came against the Dockers, with his brilliant snap from the right forward pocket sealing victory in the 2015 Preliminary Final at Subiaco. 

Hawthorn has won 31 and lost 24 of its 55 Round 19 games. There was a Round 19 played from 1945 to 1949 (to make up for games missed during the War) and again in 1952 (to compensate for the ‘propaganda round’). However, it did not become a permanent fixture until 1968. After losses in 2012 (Geelong) and 2013 (Richmond), Hawthorn has won its last four Round 19 games, against the Western Bulldogs, West Coast, Carlton and Sydney.

In recent decades, Round 19 in years ending in the number 8 have seen big Hawthorn wins, with victories by 69 points (2008), 59 (1998), 74 (1988) and 57 (1978).

10 years ago, in Round 19 2008, Hawthorn celebrated Shane Crawford’s 300^th game with a thumping victory over the Brisbane Lions in Launceston – 16.14.110 to 5.11.41 – courtesy of a nine-goal final term. Lance Franklin kicked six goals, while Stuart Dew accumulated 25 disposals and earned the only Brownlow vote he received as a Hawk. 

20 years ago, in Round 19 1998, for the second consecutive week Hawthorn pulled off a major upset thrashing St Kilda, 19.14.128 to 10.9.69. The Saints led by a goal at quarter-time, but a 7.4 to 1.1 second term from the Hawks turned the game around. Aaron Lord kicked six goals and Shane Crawford was BOG.

30 years ago, in Round 19 1988, there wan an extraordinary final quarter when both teams kicked eight goals, as the Hawks beat Fitzroy, 27.16.178 to 15.14.104. Jason Dunstall kicked eight goals and Peter Curran four, while John Platten accumulated 35 disposals.

40 years ago, in Round 19 1978, Hawthorn defeated Richmond 18.19.127 to 10.10.70, finishing with a powerful 6.7 to 1.0 final term. The best players included Geoff Ablett, Leigh Matthews, Terry Wallace, Norm Goss, Don Scott and Michael Tuck.

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. Mark Williams holds the record for most goals by a Hawthorn player against the Dockers, kicking eight against them in Round 1 2006 in Launceston.