One significant Round 16 highlight occurred 25 years ago, in Round 16 1992, when Jason Dunstall kicked his 100th goal for the season, in the process propelling Hawthorn to an excellent 19 point win against Geelong at Kardinia Park – 16.18.114 to 14.11.95. It was late in the second quarter when Dunstall brought up the ton with his fifth for the day. He finished with nine goals in the game on his way to his best ever return for a season of 145.
The Hawks had just four goalkickers against Geelong with Tony Hall and Paul Hudson both booting three and Darren Jarman the only single goalkicker. Despite Dunstall’s nine goals, he was not rated best-on-ground by most observers, that honour going to Darrin Pritchard with a career-high 40 disposals, which also secured him the three Brownlow votes. Other good players included Ben Allan and Anthony Condon.
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If Hawthorn wins this Saturday it will make Round 16 the first round in which the club has won 50 times.
To date in Round 16 Hawthorn has recorded 49 wins and 43 losses. Round 3 also began this season with 49 Hawthorn wins, but the heavy loss to Gold Coast meant it did not reach the milestone. Last Sunday, Round 15 also moved to 49 wins following the victory over Collingwood, but obviously cannot reach 50 until next season.
Hawthorn won nine consecutive Round 16 matches from 1956 to 1964, a further eight from 1968 to 1975, and six from 1989 to 1994. However, results have not always been positive in Round 16 with eight successive defeats from both 1927 to 1934 and 1937 to 1944, and a more recent run of five defeats from 2004 to 2008.
There have been Round 16 victories for the Hawks in seven of the last eight seasons, the only blemish being a 2014 loss in a Friday night Docklands encounter against North Melbourne. In the past two seasons, Hawthorn thrashed Sydney by 89 points at Stadium Australia and then chalked up a meritorious 22 point win against Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval.
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Blake Hardwick’s Rising Star nomination for Round 14, following Ryan Burton’s in Round 2, means Hawthorn has two nominees for the first time since 2013. Overall, the Hawks have now had 36 nominees in the 25 seasons since the award began in 1993. The highest number of nominations the club has had in a season is three which happened on three occasions (1998, 2002 and 2005).
Read: Hardwick's star on the rise
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Hawthorn and GWS Giants have met just once each season since the expansion club joined the competition in 2012. There has been a steady improvement by GWS across the past five seasons, as they went from a 162 point defeat in 2012, via losses by 83 points (2013) and seven points (2014) to wins by 10 points (2015) and 75 points (last season).
The two clubs only previous meeting in Launceston was in Round 8 2013 when Hawthorn won 21.14.140 to 9.3.57. Of course, 140 to 57 is a favourite score for Hawthorn supporters being the same as the 1983 Grand Final, although then it was 20.20 to 8.9.
In front of a crowd of 10,513, Hawthorn increased its margin at every change, although not by much in the third quarter which both teams kicked three goals. Jarryd Roughead kicked five goals and Jack Gunston three, while Sam Mitchell (35 disposals), Jordan Lewis (27), Shaun Burgoyne (23) and Jonathan Simpkin (23) were the leading possession-getters.
The win was Hawthorn’ seventh in succession and took it from third to the top of the ladder as the two teams above them, Geelong and Essendon, both lost.
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Jack Gunston is getting close to entering the top 15 Hawthorn goalkickers of all time. Gunston has kicked 267 goals in 127 games since his Hawks debut in Round 1 2012, and is now just two behind the current holder of 15th place on the list, Bert Hyde, whose 289 goals came in 129 games from 1925 to 1935. While the goals per game averages of Hyde and Gunston may be similar, there is a big difference in the success of the teams in which they played. Hyde played in just 20 wins in his career, whereas Gunston has already been a member of 93 victorious teams.
And while comparing current and past players, the figures of Luke Breust and Gary Buckenara are becoming ever closer. Breust has kicked 292 goals in 153 games, compared to Buckenara’s final tally of 293 goals in 154 games. Will Breust kick one goals this week to temporarily tie their records?
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40 years ago, in Round 16 1977, Hawthorn stars Leigh Matthews and Michael Tuck produced stellar performances to propel the Hawks to a 56 point win against Fitzroy. Michael Tuck had 36 disposals and kicked two goals, while Matthews had 25 disposals and booted six goals. John Hendrie was also outstanding with 22 disposals and five goals. Unfortunately, not too many fans saw their efforts with a crowd of just 8,234 at Princes Park.
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Peter Hudson, Jason Dunstall and Dermott Brereton share the Round 16 Hawthorn individual goal-kicking record with 11 goals. Hudson kicked 11 in 1970, equaled by Dunstall in 1989 and Brereton in 1990. Jarryd Roughead holds the record against GWS kicking six in the 2012 MCG encounter.
