Tom Mitchell will play his 100th game for Hawthorn this week.

Mitchell has had a stellar career at Hawthorn, winning the Brownlow Medal in his second season in 2018, having already finished third in 2017, and equal seventh last season.

While Hawthorn has had six Brownlow Medallists, Mitchell is one of just two (with Shane Crawford) to have been the sole winner of the award, with the other four all sharing it with players from other clubs.

Mitchell is also one of only three players to win the club best and fairest in both his first two seasons at the club, joining John Kennedy Snr. and Paul Salmon in achieving that feat. He added a third Peter Crimmins Medal last season.

If the Covid-affected seasons of 2020-21 are excluded, last Sunday’s attendance of 4,812 at Giants Stadium was the smallest crowd to watch a Hawthorn game since late in the 1949 season, when just 4,000 people saw Hawthorn lose to South Melbourne at the Lake Oval.

The crowd against the Giants was marginally smaller than the 4,846 which attended the Hawks’ game against North Melbourne at Arden Street in 1967. From 1967 to 2019, the smallest attendance at a Hawthorn game was 5,741 against Brisbane Bears at Princes Park in 1991.

This Sunday, Hawthorn will be hoping to square the ledger in home games at Docklands, a record which currently sits at 7-8 in 15 games. Hawthorn played eight home games at Docklands from 2000 to 2006, none from 2007 to 2012, and this week will play its eighth in the ten seasons from 2013 onwards.

This will be Hawthorn’s third game against Adelaide at Docklands, but the first as a home game. The two clubs met in a memorable Elimination Final at the venue in 2007, which Hawthorn won with a Lance Franklin goal just seconds before the final siren. Last season, due to Covid-related reasons, the Crows’ Round 19 home game against Hawthorn was moved from the Adelaide Oval to Docklands, and this time Adelaide won by 19 points.

The Hawks have lost their last five matches at Docklands and will be looking to avoid equalling their worst ever run of defeats at the venue, losses in the first six games in which Alastair Clarkson coached Hawthorn at the venue in 2005-06. Hawthorn’s overall record at Docklands is 48 wins, 37 defeats and one draw from 86 games.

Hawthorn has won 11 of its last 14 games against Adelaide, the only blemishes being at the MCG (2017), Adelaide Oval (2020) and at Docklands last season. Prior to the 2017 defeat, the Hawks had won the previous seven games, beginning with a 56-point victory in Round 3 2012 and including two thrillers - the five-point win in the 2012 Preliminary Final and the Paul Puopolo inspired three-point win in 2016.

There was another thriller in Round 6 last season, with the Hawks coming from behind to record a three-point win in Launceston. In total, the Hawks and Crows have played 45 times, with Hawthorn holding a 24-21 advantage.

Hawthorn has played 94 games in Round 17 for 37 wins, one draw and 56 defeats, a deficit of 19, which is the club’s equal worst for any round. This was not helped by the 18 seasons from 1994 to 2011, when the club recorded only two wins and a draw.

Hawthorn won five consecutive Round 17 games from 2012 to 2016 but lost four of its past five in the round, the only success coming in 2019, with the 31-point victory against Fremantle at University of Tasmania Stadium.

The poor Round 17 record was especially apparent in years ending in 2, beginning with a 123-point defeat by South Melbourne in 1932, and continuing from 1952 to 2002. Perhaps fortunately, in 1942 there was no Round 17 with the season being restricted to 16 rounds due to the Second World War. Finally, the most recent Round 17 game in a season ending in 2, in 2012, ended the negative trend.

10 years ago, in Round 17 2012, Hawthorn defeated Collingwood by 47 points – 21.12.138 to 13.13.91. An MCG crowd of 83,714 saw a particularly impressive Hawthorn performance, as both Luke Hodge and Lance Franklin were missing through injury.

Luke Breust and Jordan Lewis kicked five goals each, which was a career-high for the latter. Sam Mitchell’s 33 disposals earned him the three Brownlow votes.

Mitch Lewis’ sequence of kicking at least one goal per game came to an end in the wet conditions last Sunday in Sydney. Lewis kicked at least one goal in 25 consecutive games he played from Round 18 2020 against Gold Coast to Round 15 this season versus Western Bulldogs.

This leaves Luke Breust, who has kicked at least one goal in his last 17 games, as the Hawthorn forward with the best current sequence of consecutive goals. He will be attempting to equal his own best sequence of goals in 30 consecutive games in 2013-14. This is till a long way behind the club record of 72 set by Jason Dunstall in 1987-90.

Again, there is the weekly mention that Hawthorn is poised on the threshold of its 1,000th win, having now missed five opportunities to reach the milestone. And a reminder that there is still a way to go to match the 21 months and 22 games it took to reach the 100-win milestone in 1949-51.

Jason Dunstall holds the Hawthorn individual goal-kicking record against Adelaide, kicking nine goals on three separate occasions – in 1993 and 1994 (both at Football Park) and in 1996 (at Waverley).

Peter Hudson has kicked the most goals for Hawthorn in Round 17, a tally of 10 recorded against St Kilda at Waverley in 1977.