This round marks the 40^th anniversary of one of the great individual performances in Hawthorn history.

Michael Tuck almost single-handedly drove an injury-ravaged Hawthorn team to a four-point win against Essendon at Windy Hill in Round 20 1979. His statistics of 34 disposals and four goals are impressive enough but they only tell part of the story.

Hawthorn trailed by 22 points half-way through the final term but fought back valiantly before a booming long goal from Tuck snatched the lead. From the ensuing centre bounce Essendon had time for one last attack. A kick into the teeth of goal was marked by Tuck, remarkably saving the game as well as winning it.

The fact that Shaun Burgoyne will this week break the VFL-AFL games record for an Indigenous player has been well documented. His 373^rd AFL game will take him past Adam Goodes (372).

The first Indigenous player to represent Hawthorn was Cyril Collard, who played 13 games in 1957-58, followed by Percy Cummings (5 games, 1964-65). There was quite a lengthy gap until the next Indigenous player which was Chance Bateman in 2000. Bateman went onto play 177 games for the Hawks, a number which still places him fourth on the Indigenous players at Hawthorn list, behind only Burgoyne (215), Cyril Rioli (189) and Lance Franklin (182).

Read: Round 23 fixture announced

Hawthorn’s first ever Friday night game was away to North Melbourne at the MCG in Round 2 1986. The Hawks marked the occasion with a win, keeping their composure to record a hard-fought three-point victory, after the Kangaroos led at every change. Michael Byrne kicked the winning goal, while Russell Greene was best-on-ground as the Hawks prevailed, 17.9.111 to 16.12.108, in front of 26,456 fans.

The 1986 victory began something of a pattern of narrow Hawthorn wins in Friday night games against the Kangaroos with four of the six wins being by less than two goals, including another three-point win in 1993, and victories by 10 points (1990) and nine points (2016).

In the most recent Friday night clash between the clubs, in Round 13 2016, a crowd of 37,073 at Docklands saw North Melbourne gain the early ascendancy, getting out to a 15-point quarter-time lead. The Hawks edged ahead after half-time, getting as far as 15 points ahead in the last quarter, before two quick North goals reduced the margin to just two points at the 23-minute mark. The teams traded behinds until a Paul Puopolo sealed the Hawthorn win approaching the 32-minute mark. Hawthorn won 14.9.93 to 11.18.84, with the stars of the win including James Sicily with five goals and Jordan Lewis with 31 disposals.

Hawthorn has played North Melbourne more than any other opponent, with the 175 meetings between the clubs being comfortably ahead of the 167 games the Hawks have played against their next most common rivals, Carlton and Sydney. Hawthorn has won 97 times against the Kangaroos, lost 76 and drawn two. Hawthorn’s best winning sequence against North Melbourne was 14 from 1985 to 1993.

Hawthorn has played North Melbourne 12 times at Docklands (once in a Hawthorn home game) with the Hawks winning seven and the Kangaroos five. This makes North the Hawks’ second most common opponent at the venue, behind only Western Bulldogs (14), and ahead of Carlton (11), St Kilda (11) and Essendon (10).

One hoodoo Hawthorn will have to overcome this week is a shocking record in games played on 2 August. The Hawks sole win on the date was on a Sunday against Richmond in 1998, while there have been 11 defeats, beginning in 1941 and most recently in 2009. The one previous 2 August game on a Friday saw a loss to North Melbourne in 1996.

Hawthorn has played 52 matches in Round 20, winning 30 and losing 22. The Hawks won in Round 20 for six consecutive seasons from 2010 to 2015, before suffering defeats by Melbourne (2016) and Richmond (2017) but bounced back with a win against Essendon last season.

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. In 1945, 1968 and 1969 it was the final round of the home and away season.

20 years ago, in Round 20 1999, Hawthorn continued its late season revival with an upset win over West Coast at the WACA Ground in Perth, winning by two points – 12.12.84 to 11.16.82. 

What made the win more meritorious was that the Hawks came from 31 points down at quarter time, 20 points behind at half-time, and two down at the final change. The major goal-kickers were Joel Smith and Aaron Lord with three goals each, while the best players were Shane Crawford, Jonathan Hay, Trent Croad, John Barker, Kris Barlow, Craig Treleven and Nathan Thompson. A crucial moment late in the game was when Michael Collica made a great smother to stop an Eagles attack.

50 years ago, in Round 20 1969, finished the home and away season with an 11-point win against St Kilda at Glenferrie – 14.17.101 to 13.12.90. Peter Hudson’s eight goals took him to 120 for the season, just two behind Geelong’s Doug Wade (who then added five more in the Finals).

Hawthorn had gone into the game with a theoretical chance of making the Finals if Richmond stumbled against lowly Footscray, but the Tigers had a massive win to further increase their percentage advantage over the Hawks. Both clubs had a 13-7 record in the 20-round season.

Lance Franklin’s 13 goals in 2012 set a new club record against North Melbourne, breaking the previous high of 10 kicked jointly by Alec Albiston (1940) and Jason Dunstall (1988).

The Round 20 Hawthorn individual goals record is held by 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.