This Sunday, Hawthorn will be trying to keep intact a perfect Round 22 record against Richmond.

The first Round 22 meeting between the clubs was in 1992, when it was the third last round of the season and it saw Hawthorn thrash Richmond by 84 points at the MCG – 25.20.170 to 13.8.86. The performance was highlighted by a 10.2 to 2.1 final quarter.

Jason Dunstall’s 12 goals took his season’s tally against the Tigers to a remarkable 29, after his 17 earlier in the season. Dunstall also took 16 marks while Tony Hall had 31 disposals and kicked three goals.

The second Round 22 clash against the Tigers was in 2003, when it was the final round of the season, and this MCG encounter saw a much narrower Hawthorn win, with a final margin of just four points – 11.12.78 to 11.8.74. In contrast to 1992, in this game the Hawks held on despite only kicking 1.3 in the last quarter.

Shane Crawford with 27 disposals was Hawthorn’s best, while Nathan Thompson kicked five goals. With Hawthorn not making the Finals, this proved to be the final Hawthorn game for Daniel Harford, Jade Rawlings and Brett Johnson, all of whom moved to other AFL clubs in 2004.

The first of Jack Gunston’s five goals last Saturday took him to 400 goals in his Hawthorn career, the tenth Hawk to reach this milestone. This puts Hawthorn equal with Essendon as the clubs with the most individuals to have reached 400 goals, with the Hawks and Bombers tally of 10 apiece narrowly ahead of Collingwood which has had nine, and then followed by North Melbourne, Richmond, and the Swans all with seven.

In making his debut last Saturday, Jai Serong has joined a long list of modern-day Hawthorn players to have brothers play at other AFL clubs.

Since Shane and the late Justin Crawford last played together in Round 20 1998, there have not been brothers appear together in the same Hawks’ team. As well as Butler, three other current Hawks, Sam Butler, Sam Frost and Tom Phillips, have brothers as current or former players.

Other 21^st century Hawthorn players to have brothers play at other AFL clubs include Jonathan Simpkin, Bradley Hill, Shaun Burgoyne, Jed Anderson, Jarryd Morton, Cameron Stokes, Travis Tuck, Matthew Ball, Peter Everitt, Nathan Lonie and Tim Clarke.

Hawthorn has had some long winning sequences against Richmond, including 16 (1985-94) and 10 (1959-64), but overall, the Hawks trail the Tigers in the head-to-head by 71 to 91, with one draw. The deficit is the result of Hawthorn losing the first 21 matches between the clubs, until the first brown and gold victory at Glenferrie in Round 16 1936.

This Sunday will be the fourth occasion when Hawthorn and Richmond have played on the date of 14 August. The first encounter on the date arguably provides a good omen for both clubs.

On 14 August 1943, Hawthorn won the game by five points – 11.7.73 to 9.14.68, but despite that setback, Richmond went onto win the 1943 Premiership. It was just the second occasion in Hawthorn’s VFL-AFL history that the club recorded a victory over the team which went onto win the Flag, following a success against Melbourne in 1940. Hawthorn lost to Richmond on 14 August in 1965 but won the most recent match between the clubs on the date, in 1994.

Round 22 first appeared on the fixture in 1970 and has been contested every season since, except 2020. For most of its existence Round 22 was the final round of the home and away season, but in 1991-92, 1994, and from 2011 onwards, there have been further rounds played.

Hawthorn has won exactly two-thirds of its Round 22 matches with 34 wins and 17 defeats from 51 games played. The Hawks were victorious in six consecutive Round 22 matches from 2010 to 2015, and a further three from 2018 onwards with wins against St Kilda in 2018, Gold Coast in Jarryd Roughead’s last game in 2019, and the Western Bulldogs last season. There was no Round 22 in 2020.

10 years ago, in Round 22 2012, Hawthorn came from 38 points down during the second quarter to record a dramatic seven-point win against Sydney at the SCG – 15.12.102 to 14.11.95.

Sydney had a five-point lead at the 27-minute mark of the final term, but two quick goals to Shaun Burgoyne and Brad Sewell got the Hawks home. Burgoyne got the three Brownlow votes for his 26 disposals and three goals, while Sewell and Jordan Lewis were also outstanding.

20 years ago, in Round 22 2002, Shane Crawford’s 200^th game proved to be a night of mixed emotions. Hawthorn scored a solid 18-point win against Geelong, but this was not enough to lift it into the Final Eight.

A 5.3 to 0.2 opening term gave some hope that the Hawks would get the 10-goal win required to get ahead of Geelong on percentage, but it was not to be. The final score was 11.9.75 to 8.9.57. West Coast’s win against the Kangaroos meant Geelong missed out anyway.

Crawford was outstanding, getting the three Brownlow votes, while the one vote was also notable as it was Sam Mitchell’s first for the Medal which he was to win ten seasons later.

40 years ago, in Round 22 1982, the Hawks tuned up for the Finals with a comprehensive 88- point Princes Park thrashing of lowly St Kilda. In unseasonably warm conditions, Hawthorn only led by 18 points at half time, but then turned on a 15.15 to 5.5 second half to assert its superiority.

Gary Buckenara kicked six goals (including four in the third quarter) and Michael Moncrieff four, while the best players Peter Russo, David O’Halloran, Colin Robertson and Richard Loveridge. In what proved to be Gary Ablett’s last game for Hawthorn, he had 18 disposals and kicked three goals.

Both Jason Dunstall and Peter Hudson regularly kicked large tallies of goals in Round 22. Hudson kicked 11 (1970), 10 (1971) and seven (1977), while Dunstall booted 12 (1992), 11 (1989) and 10 (1988, 1993 and 1996).