The Hawks and Swans have had an outstanding rivalry in the Clarkson era, including meeting in two Grand Finals. 

Clarkson’s first game as Hawthorn coach was against the Swans at the SCG in Round 1 2005. While the Hawks lost that day by 63 points, they have had the better of the Swans in the subsequent 12 years, having won four Premierships compared to Sydney’s two, and also having the advantage in the head-to-head battle between the two clubs by 14 wins to 12. 

Given that as the 2005 season started, Sydney had not won a Premiership for 72 years and Hawthorn had not saluted for 14 years and had finished 15^th in 2004, it is quite remarkable that in the 12 completed seasons since then the two clubs have won six Flags between them. 

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The number 44 will be forever associated in Hawthorn history with the great rover John Platten. Since Platten’s retirement at the end of the 1997 season, it has been rare to see the number in action, but last weekend Conor Glass became the second player to wear 44 in a Senior game in the past two decades. The other was Cameron Stokes who wore number 44 in 20 games between 2008 and 2010.

Glass also has a connection with another 1980s Hawthorn great, sharing his birthday of 28 September with Gary Ayres. The two were born 37 years apart, in 1960 and 1997, but if Glass can go anywhere near equaling the achievements of five time Premiership player and dual Norn Smith Medalist Ayres, he will have done exceptionally well. 

Read: Hawthorn's Irish connection

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Hawthorn and Sydney did not meet at the MCG until 2001, but there has been a plethora of meetings in recent seasons with Friday night’s game being the 18^th between the clubs at the venue. The clubs met in MCG Finals in four consecutive seasons from 2011 to 2014, with Hawthorn winning three – a 2011 Semi, a 2013 Qualifying Final and the 2014 Grand Final.

There have been MCG home games against the Swans in 13 of the past 16 seasons, with the Hawks winning seven.

One other feature of Hawthorn’s MCG home games against the Swans has been the increase in the size of the attendances. The first five from 2001 to 2006 all drew crowds of under 35,000; the past four from 2013 to 2016 have all had crowds of over 50,000, including a massive 72,768 in 2014,

Overall, against the Swans, Hawthorn has won 91 matches, lost 70 and drawn two. The last five games between Hawthorn and Sydney have been won by the away team, a trend which hopefully will end on Friday night.

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The most exciting win in a Hawthorn home game against Sydney at the MCG was in Round 10 2010 when an inaccurate Hawthorn prevailed by just two points, 10.19.79 to 11.11.77. The Hawks led for most of the game, but Sydney levelled the scores at 77 apiece at the 31 minute mark of the final term. Behinds to Brendan Whitecross and Carl Peterson were enough to secure the win for Hawthorn. 

Another memorable MCG win against the Swans was in Round 18 2014 when the Hawks came from 23 points down early in the third quarter to win by 10 points - 15.14.104 to 13.16.94. Jarryd Roughead kicked four goals, while Luke Breust and Isaac Smith both contributed three.

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Luke Breust is now within three goals of becoming the 11^th Hawthorn player to reach the 300 career goals milestone. Breust currently has 297 goals from 156 games.

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Overall in Round 19 Hawthorn has won 30 and lost 24 of its 54 games. There was a Round 19 played from 1945 to 1949 (to make up for games missed during the War) and again in 1952 (to compensate for the ‘propaganda round’). However, it did not become a permanent fixture until 1968. After losses in 2012 (Geelong) and 2013 (Richmond), Hawthorn has won its last three Round 19 games, against the Western Bulldogs, West Coast and Carlton.

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Ten years ago, in Round 19 2007, an excellent crowd of 39,007 saw Hawthorn record a solid 24 point win against Brisbane Lions – 17.13.115 to 13.13.91. The Lions led by five points at the long interval, but in the third quarter the Hawks kicked 7.4 to 2.1 to take control.

The young Hawthorn stars were dominant, as Luke Hodge and Sam Mitchell both had over 30 disposals, while up forward, Lance Franklin and Jarryd Roughead, in just their third seasons shared eight goals between them. Another youthful Hawk, Grant Birchall, impressed when in the third quarter he took a mark deep in defence and then rejoined the passage of play at half-forward in the build-up to a goal. 

Read: How does Buddy perform against the Hawks?

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15 years ago, in Round 19 2002, Hawthorn turned an eight point half time deficit against eventual Grand Finalists Collingwood into an eight point win. The Hawks had a handy lead by early in the last quarter, but then Collingwood struck back with four quick goals. Hawthorn responded with goals to Kris Barlow and Simon Cox, the latter coming after a brilliant four bounce run by Shane Crawford down the Southern Stand flank. Cox’s sealer capped off his best-ever Hawthorn game as he accumulated 27 disposals and secured the three Brownlow votes.

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Peter Hudson holds the individual goals record for Hawthorn against the Swans, twice kicking 13, in both 1969 and 1970. Jason Dunstall holds the individual goal-kicking record for Round 19, setting it in 1996 when he kicked 14 against Footscray at Waverley on a Saturday night.