The 2020 season seems a step closer after the release of the fixture on Thursday.

Supporters across the country will be scouring next year’s schedule in anticipation of the renewed rivalries, brilliant blockbusters and commemorative milestone games.

But a deeper look has found plenty of opportunities for fans to do more than celebrate their favourite player or will the Hawks over the line against some of our fiercest foes.

Here are some of the Hawks’ trends, both those we want to buck and continue, ahead of next year.  

Read: Hawthorn's full 2020 fixture

Our season opener against Brisbane at the ‘G will be an important step in kicking off our 2020 campaign. But the match-up will also offer an early chance to finish our equal-longest active losing streak against an opposition side. The Hawks have fallen to Chris Fagan’s Lions in the sides’ last four meetings. This equals the unsuccessful run against Richmond, but the Hawthorn faithful will have to wait until Round 22 to try and end that one.

The Hawks will be looking to extend a more positive streak in Round 2 when they travel west to take on Fremantle. Alastair Clarkson’s side has won its last six encounters with the purple haze dating back to Round 15 2015. If the Hawks bring home the four points from their trip across the Nullarbor, it will make it the first time in the rivalry’s 25-year history that a seven-game winning streak has occurred. 

Before we leave the west, it is also interesting to note that Hawthorn holds the best record at Optus Stadium of any club in the competition. The Hawks have visited the game’s newest venue twice so far for a perfect winning rate. A win in Round 2 would improve an already impressive record.

Our next trend is in the next week and is another one to continue. Nathan Buckley has coached the Pies against the Hawks 13 times across his eight-year career at the helm. But Buckley, who has led his side to the final fortnight of the season in the past two seasons, has celebrated a victory on just one of these occasions – a success rate of 7.7 per cent. This is clearly Bucks’ worst record of any opposition side with Port Adelaide the next of his bogey sides with a 40 per cent winning rate.

Keeping on our Round 3 clash for a second, unlike Buckley, Tom Mitchell will be counting down the days. He has faced the Pies three times since becoming a Hawk and three times he has been awarded three Brownlow votes.

Since the AFL introduced the Easter Monday game between the Hawks and the Cats in 2010, Geelong has proved dominant across the nine meetings to date. The Cats own a 7-2 record in these games, with the Hawks’ two wins coming in 2015 and 2018. With the 10^th instalment of this now traditional clash set for 2020, the Hawks will be hoping to improve this unpleasant pattern.

The 2020 season will mark the 14^th consecutive year that the brown and gold will host four home games in Launceston. Over that period, the Hawks’ form has been ridiculously successful, winning just shy of 80 per cent of these 52 matches. Match-ups against West Coast (Round 6), Port Adelaide (Round 10), North Melbourne (Round 17) and Adelaide (Round 21) will decide whether this record continues to improve.

Next year will also see the Hawks make a return to Thursday night footy action. The club has made seven appearances on Thursday nights in its history, with its first such fixture dating back to Round 2 1963. Across these seven games, Hawthorn has a four wins and three losses record. The Hawks will have back-to-back runs at mid-week footy in 2020, first against Brisbane in Round 15 and then Essendon the following week.

Finally, the final game of the home and away season has treated the Hawks well in their last 11 starts with 2009 being the last year the side lost in Round 23. Clarkson’s side faces a challenge to continue this streak in 2020, with its final game against the Swans in Sydney.