Footy Flashbacks this week recognises three significant Hawthorn anniversaries, and the passing of 1961 Premiership player Colin Youren.
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Twenty-five years ago, in Round 18 1990, Michael Tuck became just the second man in VFL-AFL history to reach 400 games when he took the field at the MCG against North Melbourne.
Hawthorn won the high quality Friday night encounter by 10 points – 15.18.108 to 14.14.98 - in front of a crowd of 44,627, a new record home-and-away attendance between the two clubs.
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Forty years ago, in Round 18 1975, Hawthorn great Robert Dipierdomenico made his debut aged just 17 years and 90 days, the fourth youngest player in club history.
He came on as 20th man, replacing Kelvin Steel, and managed to collect four kicks in his time on the ground.
It was not a great day for the Hawks as their 11-game winning streak came to an end with a shock 34-point loss to Fitzroy at the Junction Oval.
Dipierdomenico’s debut was something of a cameo, as he did not return to the senior team for another two and a half seasons, before enjoying a 240-game career, which included five Premierships and a Brownlow Medal.
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Fifty years ago, in Round 18 1965, Hawthorn suffered a 53-point loss to Geelong at Glenferrie Oval, condemning the club to its first wooden spoon since 1953.
However, what is cause for great pride is that it still remains Hawthorn’s most recent spoon.
Remarkably the club now has won more Premierships (12) than wooden spoons (11) and, as regular Flashbacks reader Andrew Trotter pointed out recently, this also means that Hawthorn has the third longest break without a spoon of the 12 traditional VFL clubs, behind only Essendon (1933) and Geelong (1958).
It is worth noting that but for two small pieces of percentage, Hawthorn would actually have the longest current sequence without a wooden spoon.
In 1965, Hawthorn only got the spoon by 1.6 per cent, when level on wins with two other teams.
If it had been avoided, the Hawks most recent spoon would be 1953, before Geelong’s 1958 one.
Then, in 2006, Essendon avoided the wooden spoon by 7.7 per cent, when level on points with Carlton, both on three wins and a draw.
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One man who played the final game of his career in that Round 18 1965 game was 1961 Premiership player Colin Youren, who sadly passed away last week.
As Gold’n Brown: The Story of the 1961 Hawks recounted, Youren had some patchy form early in the 1961 season, but a best-on-ground performance against Geelong in Round 9 turned his year around.
Victory in that game also started the Hawks on a sequence of 12 consecutive wins which carried them all the way through to the Grand Final.
The team’s centre line of Youren, Edwards and Fisher was a crucial element in that successful run.
Youren played a total of 135 games from 1958 to 1965, kicking 34 goals.
His best season was probably 1963 when he achieved a career-high ten Brownlow votes and was one of the better players in the losing Grand Final team.
Youren retired after the 1965 season due to work commitments when still only 26 years of age.
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Last Friday night’s 138-point win against Carlton added to the 105-point victory against Melbourne in Round 7 means that 2015 has become the seventh season when Hawthorn has won two games by 100-point margins.
The previous six were 1977, 1983, 1986, 1987, 1991 and 2012.
Hawthorn’s current percentage of 170.1 is the highest in club history after Round 17.
The Hawks’ previous highest was 165.2 after Round 17 1971.
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Hawthorn has played Richmond 152 times for 68 wins and 84 losses, the deficit being wholly accounted for by Hawthorn losing the first 21 games between the two clubs from 1925 to 1936.
The Hawks’ best sequences of wins against Richmond were 16 (1985-94) and 10 (1959-64).
Hawthorn has won seven of its last 10 matches against Richmond.
The three losses came in seasons (2008, 2012 and 2013) when Hawthorn went onto play in the Grand Final and were by significant margins of 29, 62 and 41.
The sequence of losing to Richmond in years when the Hawks made the Grand Final ended last season as Hawthorn thrashed Richmond by 66 points in Round 6.
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Hawthorn has played 87 Round 18 matches (there were no Round 18’s in 1925, 1942 or 1943) for the return of 36 wins and 51 defeats.
Recent seasons have been better with the Hawks winning their last four Round 18 games versus Melbourne (2011), Essendon (2012 and 2013) and Sydney last season.
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Jason Dunstall had an amazing season against Richmond in 1992, booting a club record 17 goals in Round 7 and following it up with a further bag of 12 in Round 22.
In his whole career, Dunstall kicked 111 goals against Richmond, behind only his 116 against the Bulldogs.
Peter Hudson holds the Hawthorn Round 18 record with a tally of 9 against St Kilda in 1970. The previous highest before Hudson had come 30 years earlier when Jim Bohan kicked eight in 1940.
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