Luke Breust will this week become the ninth individual to play 300 games for Hawthorn. 

It will consolidate Hawthorn as the club with the most 300-gamers, putting the Hawks two ahead of Richmond and Western Bulldogs which both have had seven, while Carlton, Geelong and North Melbourne have all had six. 

In his 299 games to date, Breust has kicked 548 goals, topped the club goalkicking five times, been an All-Australian twice and is a triple Premiership player. He will become the first Hawthorn player to reach the 300-game milestone in a Final.

One of Hawthorn’s most stirring Finals’ victories was away to Port Adelaide in 2001; and it was in the same circumstances as this week, in Semi Final, after an Elimination Final win.

Few gave the Hawks a chance but, in a memorable final quarter, the Hawks fought back from 17 points down to win by three points – 10.12.72 to 10.9.69. Daniel Harford and John Barker kicked crucial late goals, while Mark Graham played a magnificent game, helping to both set-up and save the victory. The game at Football Park had the smallest crowd of any Hawthorn Final with just 30,613 in attendance, not helped by the collapse of Ansett Airlines in the week leading up to the game.

Another important milestone this week will see Dylan Moore become the 150^th individual to play 100 games for Hawthorn.

The first player to reach 100 games for the club in the VFL-AFL was Ted Pool in Round 6 1932. He started an early trend which saw just one player (Clarrie Lonsdale in 1936) of the first 20 to reach 100 games celebrate the milestone with a win. 

However, from Lance Wilkinson enjoying victory in his 100^th game in 1955, things have been different with the overall tally now seeing 83 of the 149 players celebrating victory in their 100^th games, compared to 66 suffering defeat.

There have been 11 previous players who reached their 100 Hawthorn games milestone in a Final, beginning with Brendan Edwards who was best-on-ground in his 100^th game, the 1961 Grand Final, and most recently with Ryan Schoenmakers in the 2016 Qualifying Final. Seven of the 11 have enjoyed wins in their milestone matches.

With the lowest position that Hawthorn can finish now being sixth, 2024 has clearly been confirmed as the biggest jump in ladder position in Hawthorn history, with a minimum rise of 10 positions from last season’s 16^th position. Previously, the Hawks had risen seven positions on four separate occasions, to second in 1963, to Premiers in 1971, to eighth in 1996 and to fifth in 2018.

Last Friday night’s MCG attendance of 97,828 was the second biggest ever to watch Hawthorn in a game other than a Grand Final. The only previous bigger such attendance was 99,822 at the Second Semi Final against St Kilda in 1971.

This Friday night will be Hawthorn’s eighth Final played outside Victoria. Five of the previous seven were in Perth, with one each in Adelaide and Sydney. As well as the 2001 Semi Final described above, the Hawks other interstate Finals wins were both at Subiaco, in the 1991 Qualifying Final against West Coast and the 2015 Preliminary Final versus Fremantle.

After the victory against the Western Bulldogs, Hawthorn’s overall Finals’ record is now 54 wins and 33 defeats from 87 games. Hawthorn has played two previous Finals against Port Adelaide, the 2001 Semi Final and the 2014 Preliminary Final, winning both games by three points.

Since the introduction of the Final Eight, this is just the fourth occasion Hawthorn has progressed to a Semi Final by winning an Elimination Final. Apart from the win against Port in 2001, the other two Semis saw defeats by North Melbourne in 2000 and 2007, after the Kangaroos had lost Qualifying Finals the week before by 125 points and 106 points respectively, results which certainly provide a cautionary tale for this week.

When Nick Watson kicked the second of his four goals last Friday, he became the eighth Hawk to reach 20 goals in season 2024. This is the first time Hawthorn has had eight players reach 20 goals since 2012. The highest number of players to reach 20 goals in a Hawthorn season is nine, recorded three times in 1982, 1986 and 1991.

In a good omen for this week, on all 13 previous occasions when Hawthorn has had seven or more players reach 20 goals, Hawthorn has at least made the Preliminary Final. Hopefully, 2024 will make it 14 out of 14.

The Hawthorn AFLW team has reached the top of the ladder much quicker than their male counterparts. The AFLW team are on top of the ladder after two rounds of their third season, 22 games into their history, whereas the men did not do so until after Round 1 1940, the opening game of their 16^th VFL-AFL season, and their 270^th game in the competition.

Hopefully, the AFLW team will secure top spot on a second occasion sooner too, as the men then had a further 17-year gap until next claiming top spot again after Round 2 1957.

Blake Hardwick will this week play his 75^th consecutive game, which will take him to the outright 14^th position on the consecutive games list in Hawthorn’s VFL-AFL history. His current sequence started in Round 19 2021 and is made more impressive by the fact that he had already had a run of 65 consecutive games from 2017 to 2019. However, Hardwick still has a way to go to pass the club record holder, Andy Collins, who played 189 consecutive games from 1988 to 1996.

Hawthorn has defeated Port Adelaide just twice at the Adelaide Oval, in 2016 and 2022, compared to six defeats. Overall, at Adelaide Oval, Hawthorn has an 8-10 split from 18 matches, including a 66-point win in the most recent visit to the ground in Round 20 against Adelaide. At all venues, Hawthorn and Port Adelaide have played 40 times, with the Hawks winning 17 and the Power 23. 

Three Hawthorn players have kicked eight goals in a Final – Michael Moncrieff (1978), Dermott Brereton (1985) and Lance Franklin (2008). Franklin also holds the record for the highest tally by a Hawthorn player against Port Adelaide with eight at the MCG in 2011.