This round marks the 25^th anniversary of the most recent time when a pair of brothers played together in the same Hawthorn team.

In Round 20 1998, the late Justin Crawford played the last of his 29 games in brown and gold, sharing the Gabba field with his more famous brother Shane in a 35-point win against Brisbane.

The first instance of brothers in the same Hawthorn League team was in 1929 when the Williams brothers, Lyall and Richard, played a solitary game together. In the subsequent decades there were many brothers in Hawthorn teams with names such as Mills, Albiston, Austen, Considine, Young, Hay, Matthews, Ablett and Dear.

The current period is the longest in the club’s history without brothers playing together, with drafting having made it much less likely that brothers will end up at the same club.

Could 2023 become the first year in Hawthorn’s 99 seasons in the VFL-AFL when the club has joint leading goalkickers?

With five rounds to go, Luke Breust (33 goals) and Mitch Lewis (31 goals) are separated by just two majors, so it is certainly a possibility.

Breust (40 goals) took out Hawthorn's leading goalkicking title for the fourth season in 2022, narrowly beating Lewis (37 goals), making him the 10^th player in the club’s history to win the award four times or more. 

This Sunday, Hawthorn will be hoping to win consecutive games against St Kilda for the first time since 2018. The Hawks’ second longest winning sequence against any club was 20 versus St Kilda from 1979 to 1989.

Overall, Hawthorn and St Kilda have met 162 times with the Hawks winning 83 and the Saints 77, plus two draws.

Last Saturday’s three quarter-time margin of 30 points was the equal fourth biggest from which Hawthorn has suffered defeat. The previous 30-point or more leads given up include a 45-point advantage at the final change against Brisbane in 1995, and three big leads against the Bulldogs - 33 points in 1982; 31 points in 1957; and 30 points in 2019.

The one-point defeat was the second in consecutive seasons for the Hawks, after a loss by the same margin to Carlton in Round 3 last season. Prior to that, the most recent one-point defeat had been in 2009, and in the intervening seasons the Hawks had three one-point wins, against Collingwood (2016), Geelong (2018) and Essendon (2021).

Hawthorn has now lost three games by six points or fewer in 2023, but this is not that uncommon with it also happening four previous times this century - in 2004, 2005, 2012 and 2019. The last season when the Hawks lost four games by a margin of a goal or less was 1995, but the record is a whopping six, in the 18-game 1931 season.

This Sunday, Hawthorn will be hoping to edge ahead in the win-loss in home games at Docklands, with the record currently at 8-8 after 16 games, having squared the ledger with a win against Adelaide at the venue last season.

Hawthorn played eight home games at Docklands from 2000 to 2006, none from 2007 to 2012, and this week will play its ninth in the 11 seasons from 2013 onwards.

It will be the first home game against St Kilda there, with other Victorian clubs Hawthorn has faced in home games at Docklands being North Melbourne (3 times), Geelong (twice), Western Bulldogs (twice) and Collingwood (once). Melbourne is the only Victorian club Hawthorn has not played at Docklands, home or away.

Hawthorn can square the Docklands ledger against St Kilda with a victory on Sunday as in 14 away games versus the Saints at the venue, the Hawks have won six, drawn one and lost seven.

Hawthorn has played 55 matches in Round 20, winning 31 and losing 24. The Hawks won in Round 20 for six consecutive seasons from 2010 to 2015, with more recent victories coming against Essendon in 2018 and Brisbane Lions in 2021.

The Hawks and Saints have clashed on seven previous occasions in Round 20, most recently just last season, with Hawthorn holding a narrow 4-3 advantage. One of the most memorable Round 20 moments against St Kilda was Don Scott becoming the first Hawk to reach 300 games in Round 20 1981.

The first Round 20 was played in 1945 to provide extra games to compensate for those lost during the war. It has been a permanent part of the fixture since 1968 (apart from in 2020).

10 years ago, Round 20 2013 also saw the Hawks clash with the Saints at Docklands. Hawthorn came away with a comprehensive 46-point win – 14.18.102 to 7.14.56, setting up victory with a 5.10 to 1.1 second quarter. Jarryd Roughead kicked five goals and Shane Savage received the three Brownlow votes for his 30 disposals for the Hawks.

20 years ago, in Round 20 2003, Hawthorn staged one of its biggest ever comebacks, coming from 23 points down at three quarter time to beat the Kangaroos by 14 points at Docklands. The best players for the Hawks included Angelo Lekkas (four goals), Sam Mitchell, Shane Crawford and Kris Barlow. The post-match publicity was much more focused on an incident when North’s Jess Sinclair bumped and seriously injured Hawk Lance Picioane. 

Peter Hudson holds the record for the highest number of goals by a Hawthorn player against St Kilda, kicking 12 at Glenferrie in Round 15 1971 in a match which was a preview of the season’s Grand Final.

The Round 20 Hawthorn individual goals record is held by Jason Dunstall, who kicked 12 goals against Essendon in 1992. Other 10 goal-plus Round 20 hauls were Dunstall’s 11 versus Collingwood in 1990 and Michael Moncrieff’s 10 against Essendon in 1972.