Reflecting on all the topical milestones and achievements, past and present, as we head into Round 22 of the 2018 season. This is 'Footy Flashbacks'....

Last Saturday, for the first time in 18 years, a Hawthorn team took the field without containing a member of the 2008 Premiership team. 

For much of the 2018 season Jarryd Roughead has been the sole survivor of that illustrious team and therefore, when he was a late withdrawal last Saturday, it meant there were no 2008 Flag-winners taking the field. 

Prior to the 2008 Grand Final, it was Round 21 2000 when Hawthorn last played without a single future member of the 2008 Flag-winning team as part of the side. In Round 21 2000, Hawthorn beat Adelaide at the MCG, with two then regulars and future Premiership players, Shane Crawford and Trent Croad absent from the team. Both returned the following week and there were no subsequent occasions in the build-up to 2008 when three was not at least one future 2008 Premiership player in the team. 

Similarly, as recently as 2016, a year which Roughead missed in its entirety, 2008 stars such as Hodge, Mitchell, Lewis, Rioli and Birchall were still regular names on the Hawthorn teamsheet. 

This month marks the 20^th anniversary of Jason Dunstall’s final Hawthorn appearance. It was in Round 22 1998 that Dunstall took the field for his final game in the brown and gold.

In the lead-up to his last game, Dunstall had missed several weeks with injury, but it was fitting that he got a farewell game despite doubts about his fitness. After winning just three of their first 17 games, the Hawks had staged a late-season revival to claim four victories so there was a buoyant mood in the bumper crowd of 39,735 which rolled into Waverley for what would otherwise have been a low-key encounter against Fremantle.

Hawthorn never looked in danger of losing, although the three-quarter time margin of 26 points was not that large. However, the Hawks then unleashed a stunning 11.3 to 1.0 final term to win by 89 points – 22.17.149 to 9.6.60. 

Dunstall kicked two goals to take his career tally to 1254 goals from 269 games. In his final game, he was outscored by his teammates, Aaron Lord (six goals) and Daniel Chick (four goals), while Mark Graham, Jon Hassall, Craig Treleven, Shane Crawford and Daniel Harford were among a host of other good players. 

Read: The race for the Coleman

Hawthorn and St Kilda have met nine times at Docklands for four wins apiece and a draw. 

The draw between the clubs in Round 17 2010 was marked by controversy when an alleged interchange infringement cost Hawthorn a goal and led directly to one for St Kilda. 

In a remarkable game, Hawthorn led by a point at quarter-time, St Kilda by the same margin at the long interval, and scores were level at the last change. Goals to Michael Osborne and Lance Franklin gave the Hawks a handy lead early in the final term, but St Kilda replied with a pair of goals to cut the margin to a point.

A Jarryd Roughead goal gave Hawthorn heart, but the final score was a St Kilda goal to bring them level at 14.3.87 to the Hawks’ 14.9.87. Ironically, the player who kicked that final St Kilda goal ended up becoming a Hawk – Ben McEvoy.

James Worpel’s nomination for the Rising Star after his stunning game against the Cats has given Hawthorn consecutive Rising Star nominees for the first time ever, following Harry Morrison being the nominee last week. On three previous occasions (in 1998, 2002 and 2006), two Hawks have been nominated two rounds apart.

When he made his debut last Saturday, Conor Nash became the first player to wear the number 45 for Hawthorn in an AFL game since Jarred Kayler-Thomson wore the number in three games in 2010.

The player with the most appearances in number 45 is Clinton Young who wore it in 44 games in his first three seasons (2005-07) before shifting to number 11. However, 45 is a Premiership number, being worn by Richard Walter in the 1978 Grand Final.

Overall, Hawthorn and St Kilda have met 155 times with the Hawks winning 81 and the Saints 72, plus two draws. Hawthorn has been fixtured to play St Kilda less than any other club in recent home and away seasons. 2018 joins 2007 as the only seasons since 2001 when the two clubs have met twice in the regular season, although they ended up playing twice in 2008 as they met in the Preliminary Final.

The last time Hawthorn played St Kilda on 18 August was back in 1973 in a game crucial to both teams’ chances of making the Finals. On a wet day at Glenferrie, a crowd of 17,042 saw the Saints emerge with a 21-point win – 15.8.98 to 11.11.77. The Hawks had led by eight points at half-time, but a poor third term when they conceded seven goals cost them any chance of victory. Gerry McCarthy and Don Scott both kicked three goals.

Round 22 was first contested in 1970 and, in the 48 seasons since, Hawthorn has won 31 and lost 17. Hawthorn won six consecutive Round 22 matches from 2010 to 2015, before losses to West Coast (2016) and Carlton (last season). For the majority of its existence Round 22 was the final round but in 1991, 1992 and 1994, and from 2011 onwards there have been further rounds played.

Peter Hudson holds the record for the highest number of goals by a Hawthorn player against St Kilda, kicking 12 at Glenferrie in Round 15 1971 in a match which was a preview of the season’s Grand Final. 

Both Hudson and Jason Dunstall regularly kicked large tallies of goals in Round 22. Hudson kicked 11 (1970), 10 (1971) and seven (1977), while Dunstall booted 12 (1992), 11 (1989) and 10 (1988, 1993 and 1996).