Recent Round 5 games between Hawthorn and North Melbourne point to a close match at Docklands on Saturday night.
The Hawks and Kangaroos have met three times in Round 5 in the past decade, games which produced margins of 19, 12 and 3. Hawthorn was on the wrong side of the results in 2005 and 2010, but did prevail at the MCG two seasons ago, in a game where Brian Lake made his Hawthorn debut.
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There were bigger margins in two Round 5 meetings between the clubs in the 1980s.
In Round 5 1981, the Hawks got their season into positive territory at 3-2, with a comfortable 35 point win in front of 16,116 fans at Princes Park. Hawthorn led North by 23, 28 and 21 at the changes on the way to a 17.16.118 to 11.17.83 win. Norm Goss kicked 4 goals and mature-age South Australian recruit Rick Davies booted 3, but the star of the show was Russell Greene who accumulated 36 disposals.
In Round 5 1988, Hawthorn reached one of the five scores of over 200 in club history. In a remarkably high-scoring game the Hawks kicked 31.19.205, but the winning margin was only 77 points as North kicked what would normally be a very good score of 19.14.128. The third quarter was particularly high-scoring being 11.7 to 5.3.
There were some of the usual suspects involved such as Jason Dunstall with 7 goals and John Platten 30 disposals, but a highlight was the form of two new players. Tony Hall in just his fifth game had 34 disposals, while Stephen Lawrence with 5 goals, equaled the club record for most goals on League debut. However, the player who got the 3 Brownlow votes was Robert Dickson. One young North player taking on the rampaging Hawks that day was Alastair Clarkson.
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Since the start of the 2014 season, Hawthorn has played 26 home and away games. In 13 home games, Hawthorn has a perfect 13-0 record, with 8 wins at the MCG and 5 at Aurora Stadium. In 13 away games, the Hawks record is now in deficit at 6-7, with defeats at Adelaide Oval (2), MCG (2), Stadium Australia (1), Docklands (1) and Subiaco (1).
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Luke Breust has now completed three years without missing a game. Breust’s 75 consecutive games from Round 5 2012 to Round 4 2015 places him in the upper echelons of consecutive game sequences in Hawthorn history. However, he still has a long way to go to equal the club record of 189 consecutive games set by Andy Collins between 1988 and 1996. Breust last missed a game in Round 4 2012, when he was recovering from the effects of a heavy knock he received late in the previous week’s match against Adelaide.
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A couple of weeks ago this column recognised the 10th anniversary of Jarryd Roughead and Jordan Lewis’ joint debut. But surely never in Hawthorn history have two such good players debuted together as when Sam Mitchell and Luke Hodge did so 13 years ago this week, in Round 5 2002.
Since that game against Richmond at the MCG, both men have captained the club, won six Crimmins Medals between them and played together in three Premiership teams. To add to the significance of the day, 2008 Premiership ruckman Robert Campbell also debuted on the same day. In the game Hawthorn beat Richmond by 42 points, with Nick Holland and Daniel Chick each kicking 4 goals and Angelo Lekkas having the most disposals (27).
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The 169 games Hawthorn has played against North Melbourne is the highest tally Hawthorn has played against any club. In those games, the Hawks have recorded 92 wins, 2 draws and 75 losses. The two clubs have met 8 times at Docklands, with the Hawks holding a 5-4 advantage. Hawthorn had won 4 in a row versus the Kangaroos until suffering a 20 point defeat in Round 16 last season – 13.10.88 to 16.12.108. North proved to be the only team that Hawthorn did not defeat at least once in the 2014 season.
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Before last season’s loss to North, Hawthorn had been unbeaten in 12 consecutive games at Docklands (11 wins and a 2010 draw versus St Kilda). The previous defeat had been to the Bulldogs in Round 3 2010. Hawthorn has played 61 games at the venue for 35 wins, 25 losses and one draw.
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Hawthorn has played 89 games in Round 5 for 38 wins and 51 losses (having a bye in 1993). In recent seasons it has not been a good round for the club with the narrow 2013 win against North Melbourne the only success compared with losses in the round to North Melbourne (2010), Geelong (2011 and 2014) and Sydney (2012).
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In Round 5 1969 Peter Hudson kicked a club record 16 goals against Melbourne at Glenferrie in 1969. It remains the record for the round and has only been beaten once in any other round, by Jason Dunstall’s 17 against Richmond in 1992. The 13 goals Lance Franklin kicked against North Melbourne in 2012 set a new record for Hawthorn against the Kangaroos, breaking the previous high of 10 kicked jointly by Alec Albiston (1940) and Jason Dunstall (1988).
