This round marks the 25th anniversary of one of the most comprehensive victories in Hawthorn history – a 160 point thrashing of Essendon at the MCG in Round 20 1992 – 32.24.216 to 8.8.56. This remained the club record winning margin until 2011. Jason Dunstall kicked 12 goals, but only got two Brownlow votes, as the three votes went to Tony Hall who had 34 disposals and kicked three goals. What made the win more striking was that it came the week after the Hawks lost to St Kilda by 75 points, a remarkable 235 point turnaround.
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Hawthorn’s revival this season continues a strong record of resilience after poor starts in the club’s modern history.
2017 was just the fourth season in the last 60 years when Hawthorn has lost the opening four games of the season, and in all four of them the Hawks have bounced back to record at least eight wins in the remainder of the season. With eight wins and a draw, this year’s team have now surpassed the 1998 Hawks who left it late to stage a revival, winning their last five matches to turn a very poor 3-14 record into a more respectable 8-14.
However, the current team still has a way to go to match the 1960 and 1970 Hawthorn teams. The 1970 Hawthorn team lost the first seven games of the season, before winning 10 of the remaining 15, while the 1960 team lost the first five matches under new coach John Kennedy before winning 11 of the remaining 13 in the 18 game season. Both the 1960 and 1970 teams carried their momentum from good finishes all the way to Premiership glory the following seasons.
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Jarryd Roughead will this Sunday become the 14th individual to play 250 games for Hawthorn. The first 250-gamer was Don Scott against South Melbourne at Waverley on Anzac Day 1979, and the most recent was Jordan Lewis in Round 10 last season. Hawthorn has a 9-4 win-loss record on the previous 13 occasions when a player has celebrated his 250th game.
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Last Friday night’s result means Hawthorn has had three consecutive victories by six points or fewer against the same opponent for the first time. The win against Sydney also produced Hawthorn’s lowest second half score in a win for 19 years, last week’s 2.6 being the lowest since the Hawks kicked 2.5 in a low-scoring 10.10 to 4.10 win against Richmond in Round 18 1998.
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Hawthorn has played Richmond 155 times for 70 wins and 85 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).
The Hawks have won nine of their last 13 matches against the Tigers. However, what is striking is that the four losses came in seasons (2008, 2012, 2013 and 2015) when Hawthorn went onto play in the Grand Final and were by significant margins of 29, 62, 41 and 18. The recent sequence of losing to Richmond in years when the Hawks made the Grand Final has one exception which was 2014, when Hawthorn thrashed Richmond by 66 points in the two clubs only meeting. Last season, Hawthorn had two comfortable wins against Richmond.
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For the past decade all games between the Hawks and Tigers have been played at the MCG. The most recent game at a different venue was in Round 12 2006, when a game between the clubs in Launceston attracted a record crowd of 20,971. The Terry Wallace coached Tigers (with a 6-5 record) went in as favourites against a Hawks side which had lost its last six matches. However, it was Hawthorn which proceeded to win every quarter and end up with a 41 point victory – 16.9.105 to 8.16.64. Sam Mitchell. Lance Franklin, Tim Clarke and Clinton Young were among the best for the Hawks.
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Hawthorn has played exactly 50 matches in Round 20, winning 29 and losing 21. The Hawks won in Round 20 for six consecutive seasons from 2010 to 2015, before a defeat by Melbourne last season.
The first Round 20 was played in 1945 to provide extra games to compensate for those lost during the war. It has been a permanent part of the fixture since 1968. In 1945, 1968 and 1969 it was the final round of the home and away season.
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One of Hawthorn’s most exciting Round 20 wins came 40 years ago in Round 20 1977 when it beat Collingwood by six points. A crowd of 33,558 packed Victoria Park for the top-of-the-table clash which saw the Hawks lead by four points at half-time, but trail by three at the final change before prevailing 15.15.105 to 13.21.99. Hawthorn had ten individual goal-kickers, headed by Peter Hudson and Barry Rowlings with three apiece.
Read: Burgoyne brothers reaching new heights
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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.
The Round 20 record is also held by Dunstall who kicked 12 against Essendon in 1992 (see above). Other 10 goal-plus Round 20 hauls for Hawthorn were Dunstall’s 11 versus Collingwood in 1990 and Michael Moncrieff’s 10 against Essendon in 1972.
