Ahead of Hawthorn's 1983 premiership reunion this weekend, we've taken a look back at that year that resulted in the ultimate success. 

We'll be telling the story across four instalments - click for part one, part two, part three and part four - with the last instalment below recapping the finals of Hawthorn's 1983 premiership year. 

Hawthorn finished the 1983 home and away season second on the ladder which meant it played a Qualifying Final against third-placed Fitzroy at the MCG. On the same Saturday afternoon, Essendon and Carlton would clash in the Elimination Final at Waverley, while top team North Melbourne had the weekend off.

Leigh Matthews and Gary Ayres, who had both missed Round 22, were fit to play in the first Final, but Gary Buckenara was still unavailable with a thigh injury. The Hawks named five on the bench, including Alan Goad, who had not played a Senior game in 1983. Then, on game day, Kelvin Moore was omitted and replaced in the XVIII by David Polkinghorne, with Michael Byrne and Robert Dipierdomenico taking the two spots on the bench.

A crowd of 58,288 saw an even and high-scoring opening term with the scores tied at 5.4 apiece at quarter-time. However, the Hawks then began to get on top with Peter Knights kicking four goals for the quarter to lead by 27 points at half-time, and the margin remained a handy 21 points at the final change. In both Rounds 1 and 12, the Lions had rallied late, and they proceeded to do so again, largely through Bernie Quinlan who kicked eight goals for the match, with his last goal giving Fitzroy a four-point lead as the game entered time-on.

However, a free for a push in the back gave Richard Loveridge the chance to put the Hawks back in front, which he did, and two further behinds saw Hawthorn win 19.13.127 to 19.9.123, in what one journalist described as a ‘magnificent celebration of Australian football’. Knights (six goals) and Ayres were outstanding for the Hawks, with others listed in the best being Eade, Paton, Schwab and Tuck.

The Hawthorn Reserves played North Melbourne in an Elimination Final at the Lakeside Oval the day after the Seniors’ Qualifying Final. The Hawks lost by 40 points, leaving no more opportunities for players to press their case for Senior selection in the Reserves.

Buckenara was passed fit for the Second Semi Final against North Melbourne at VFL Park, which posed a dilemma for the Hawthorn selectors as to which player to omit. They again named a five-player interchange bench and The Age speculated that it would be Michael McCarthy who would miss out, particularly as he had been receiving treatment for a ‘groin complaint’ and would need to pass a fitness test if he were to play.

PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS TO OUR SEASON OPENER HERE

Fortunately, McCarthy was passed fit and selected (Byrne was the player omitted), because he was the player who turned the tide in a game which was running against the Hawks until part way through the second quarter. In stark contrast to the previous week, the game opened in dour fashion with North kicking the only two goals of the opening term, in fine weather, but on a boggy Waverley surface. When North added the first goal of the second quarter, it was obvious that lack of a tall target in the forward line was causing problems, so Allan Jeans brought on McCarthy with instant results. McCarthy kicked the first Hawks’ goal and his presence contributed to it being followed in quick succession by five more to have Hawthorn 18 points up at the long interval.

The second half began with two brilliant Leigh Matthews goals, before North finally broke the run of eight unanswered majors. The three quarter-time margin was 23 points, but three quick goals (two to Matthews and one to McCarthy) sealed the result. Hawthorn won 13.10.88 to 6.12.48, with Matthews contributing five goals and McCarthy four. Richard Loveridge and Rodney Eade headed the best players, which also included Greene, Robertson, Kennedy, Dipierdomenico and Paton. The crowd of 41,063 at this Final attracted some adverse publicity, but there was no lack of atmosphere in the Hawthorn bays as fans celebrated making the club’s first Grand Final since 1978.

Hawthorn now had a week off while it waited to find out the identity of its Grand Final opponent. Essendon had won the Elimination Final against Carlton and the First Semi versus Fitzroy and continued that form with an 86-point thumping of North in the Preliminary Final at Waverley.

On the Monday night before the Grand Final, the Brownlow Medal count took place. This was the last year when votes were read on masse, rather than being assigned to their specific games. North’s Ross Glendinning won the Medal with 24 votes. Terry Wallace was the leading Hawk with 15 votes, and a remarkable spread of 20 Hawthorn players received at least one vote.

At selection on Thursday night, Hawthorn named the 20from the Second Semi, plus and added three names – Moore, Byrne and Shields – to the interchange bench in addition to Polkinghorne and Judge. On match day, there ended up being one change with Byrne coming in at the expense of Polkinghorne. Kelvin Moore was also very unlucky. He had played 128 consecutive games from Round 8 1978 to Round 19 1983 but, since suffering a ruptured testicle in that game, his only appearance had been in Round 22, and David O’Halloran had performed admirably on the last line of defence. Peter Knights was celebrating his 250^th game, but later revision to exclude State games played on same days as club games, means that history records it as game number 247.

One of the recurring themes of football in 1983 was the VFL’s plan to move the Grand Final to VFL Park from 1984, so this was expected to be the last Grand Final at the MCG. A crowd of 110,332 attended and saw Hawthorn begin well, despite suffering an early blow when Buckenara went down injured. The Hawks led by 18 points at quarter-time, but it was in the second quarter that they took complete control of the game, adding 7.4 to 1.1, with one of many highlights being the combination of Peter Schwab and Russell Greene on the southern wing for a superb running goal. When Leigh Matthews kicked his sixth in the third quarter, one could sense that there was no way back for the hapless Bombers.

Hawthorn led by over 100 points during the last quarter, before a small, late flurry of Essendon goals reduced the final margin to 83 points, a new record for a Grand Final, with a final score of 20.20.140 to 8.9.57. Colin Robertson became Hawthorn’s first winner of the Norm Smith Medal, while others to ranking highly in the best players were Kennedy, Greene, Matthews, Eade, Ayres and Wallace, although there was not a weak link in a faultless team performance.

After some fluctuations in form during the home and away season, and the narrow win in the first Final, the 1983 Hawks, under the leadership of Allan Jeans and Leigh Matthews, had shown their true quality with their dominant Second Semi Final and Grand Final victories and could now enjoy celebrating their delivery of the club’s fifth Premiership.