Forty years ago this round, one of Hawthorn’s greatest players made his debut.

It was in Round 2 1985 that 20-year-old Queenslander Jason Dunstall first took the field for Hawthorn against Melbourne at Princes Park. He kicked 3.3 in a promising debut as the Hawks cruised to a 68-point win.

The game in which Dunstall debuted was part of Round 2 but, as is the case in 2025, it was the Hawks’ third game for the season, as the Round 3 clash with Essendon had been brought forward and played the week prior to Round 1. As the Hawks had lost both opening games, the win against Melbourne was very much needed.

While his debut season produced a modest return of 36 goals in 16 games, from 1986 onwards Dunstall became an absolute star. He went on to play 269 games, kick 1254 goals, win three Coleman Medals and be a member of four Premiership teams.

This Thursday night, Hawthorn will be endeavouring to win the opening three games of the season for just the fourth time since the 1980s. The only previous times in recent decades when the Hawks have begun with three consecutive wins were 2001, 2008 and 2014.

Overall, Hawthorn has a good record of turning two wins into three, having done so on 13 of the previous 18 occasions when entering the third game with a pair of wins in the bank.

It is also worth noting that in the previous 18 VFL-AFL seasons in which the Hawks have begun with two wins, they have gone on to make the Finals in 15 of them. The three exceptions were 1964, 1972 and 2022.

Only one Hawk, Finn Maginness, has kicked at least one goal in each of the club’s last four league games, the two finals last season and the opening two games of the 2025 season. In all four games, he has kicked a single goal, in all four it has been in the last quarter, and in three of the four it has been in the time-on period.

In the 20 seasons from 2001 to 2020, Hawthorn won 22 of the 25 games played against Carlton, including a sequence of 14 consecutive wins from 2005 to 2016. Carlton then won the three encounters from 2021 to 2023, before the wheel turned again in Round 22 last season with the Hawks recording a thumping 74-point victory – 16.16.112 to 5.8.38.

Despite the run of success this century, Hawthorn still trails the head-to-head against Carlton, 66 to 106 after 172 games. The current deficit of 40 is at least an improvement on when it reached 57 in both 1983 and 2000.

There have been some memorable Hawthorn moments against Carlton, including the club’s first-ever Finals victory in 1957, the 1986 Grand Final triumph, Ben Dixon’s after-the-siren winner in 2001 and Lance Franklin bringing up his 100^th goal for the season in 2008. There were also outstanding wins against the Blues in several other Finals, including the Second Semi Finals in 1976 and 1988.

However, perhaps the highest quality game between the two clubs was at Princes Park in Round 17 1975 when a top-of-the-ladder clash saw a four-point Hawthorn win, the match decided by a late goal by 19^th man Brian Douge, who came off the bench and won the game with his only kick of the game

This time last year, Hawthorn had only recorded 80,000 plus home and away crowds against two opponents – Collingwood and Geelong. In the past 12 months, three more have been added with Richmond (92,311) in Round 14 last season, Carlton (84,773) in Round 22 last season and Essendon (80,735) last Friday night.

This has taken to a total of nine the number of 80,000-plus crowd home and away games in which Hawthorn has played, eight at the MCG and the biggest of all (92,935) at Waverley in 1981.

Ten regular-season games against Carlton have attracted attendances over 50,000 with seven of those matches at the MCG, two at Docklands and one at Waverley, with another substantial crowd anticipated this Thursday night.

Hawthorn has played 100 games in Round 2 for 40 wins, 59 losses and one draw (in 1968).

50 years ago, in Round 2 1975, after an even first quarter, Hawthorn gradually got on top of St Kilda at Moorabbin to win by 40 points – 17.19.121 to 11.15.81. Leigh Matthews was at his brilliant best with 26 disposals and five goals.

70 years ago, in Round 2 1955, Hawthorn faced this week’s opponent Carlton at Glenferrie. In the club’s first 30 years in the VFL-AFL, Hawthorn had recorded just four wins against Carlton from 52 games, but on this occasion, the Hawks made it five wins with a 27-point victory – 12.15.87 to 9.6.60. Two players, integral to the progression from easybeats to Premiers in 1961 kicked three goals apiece – 18-year-old Graham Arthur and 17-year-old John Peck.

Remarkably, one of the previous four wins against Carlton had also occurred in Round 2 in a year ending in 5. 80 years ago, in Round 2 1945, the Hawks won by 34 points – 16.10.106 to 9.18.72. Jack O’Keefe booted four majors and Andy Brannan three. Hindsight shows it to be a stunning upset as Carlton was the only opponent Hawthorn beat in the first 11 rounds of the season and yet the Blues went onto clinch the Flag that season.

Hawthorn’s great goal-kickers never managed big bags of goals against Carlton. Peter Hudson, Leigh Matthews and Jason Dunstall all had a top score of seven goals against the Blues. The best individual tallies for Hawthorn against Carlton are nine by Peter Knights in 1985, eight by Garry Young (in a losing side) in 1959 and another eight by Jarryd Roughead in 2009.

Dunstall holds the Hawthorn Round 2 record, kicking nine twice – in 1988 versus Richmond and in 1991 against Sydney.