THIS weekend's match will be the first time Hawthorn and the Bulldogs have played each other in Victoria since 2012.

In the past three seasons, the only meetings between the two clubs have been Hawthorn home games at Aurora Stadium. 

The most recent match between the teams in Victoria was at Docklands in 2012, with Hawthorn winning 17.14 (116) to 6.8 (44). Sam Mitchell got the three Brownlow votes and Jack Gunston kicked four goals. 

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Hawthorn also played the Bulldogs in Round 3 last season and, by winning that Launceston encounter, the Hawks established a new club record winning sequence of seven against the Bulldogs, surpassing the previous record of six set from 1976 to 1978.

The most recent defeat was also in a Round 3, back in 2010, when the Bulldogs won by 16 points at Docklands. 

The seven consecutive wins have given Hawthorn a narrow lead in the head-to-head history between the two clubs, 80-75, with two draws. The Hawks have played the Bulldogs 11 times at Docklands, with the Hawks winning seven times and losing four.

The first game between the two clubs was a crucial encounter in Round 22, 2000, which attracted a crowd of 45,527.

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As well as being the most recent loss against the Bulldogs, that Round 3 2010 defeat has been followed by a very successful six years at Docklands for the Hawks.

Hawthorn has built an imposing record at the venue from 2010 onwards, with 14 wins, one draw one and only two losses in the last 17 games it has played at the ground since then.

After a draw with St Kilda late in 2010, Hawthorn won ten in a row, before a defeat against North Melbourne in 2014. Last season at Docklands, Hawthorn had three 10-goal plus wins and one defeat.

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That 2010 Round 3 defeat against the Bulldogs has also been followed by some big Round 3 wins. In the past five seasons Hawthorn has had victories by 63 points (Richmond 2011), 56 (Adelaide 2012), 55 (Collingwood 2013), 58 (Fremantle 2014) and 70 (Bulldogs last season).

These past five wins have led to Hawthorn having a positive overall record in the round - 48 wins and 43 losses from 91 matches. Hawthorn had a remarkable Round 3 record between 1971 and 1992, winning 19 and losing just three. The Hawks also have done well in Round 3 in the Clarkson era, winning nine and losing just two.

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Josh Gibson’s memorable first goal for Hawthorn on Sunday came in his 127^th game for the club.

Prior to Gibson, the furthest into a Hawthorn career when a player kicked his first goal was the 98^th game which was when Len Crane kicked his first for the club in Round 16, 1957.

There were certainly similarities in the football stories of Crane and Gibson as both had kicked goals at their former clubs – Crane one for South Melbourne in 1949 and Gibson two for North Melbourne in 2008 and 2009, the latter coming in Round 22 in his final game for the Kangaroos.

Gibson’s goal also means that, almost 12 months after losing the record, Alf Hughes has regained the mantle as the Hawthorn player with the most career appearances without registering a major. Hughes played 107 games between 1953 and 1959 without kicking a goal. Close behind him was another legendary Hawthorn defender Cam McPherson who did not goal in his 104 games from 1959 to 1966. 

While it certainly fits with the stereotype of the football of the 1950s and early 1960s that defenders like Crane, Hughes and McPherson did not kick goals in substantial careers, it is interesting that of those to play 100 games for Hawthorn two of the least productive in terms of goals are two members of the current high-scoring team – Gibson with his one from 127 games and Ben Stratton with one from 119.

As Stratton’s single goal came in his 17^th game in his first season in 2010, he has now gone more than 100 games without kicking a goal. 

Apart from these five, other 100 gamers with fewer than 10 career goals include a pair of rugged defenders from the late 1960s and early 1970s – Norm Bussell (two goals in 116 games) and Ian Bremner (six goals in 158 games) – plus Bill Pavey (seven in 100 games) and Scott Maginness (eight in 131 games). 

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As well as contributing to Hawthorn history with his first goal, as has been well-documented Gibson also equalled the club record of 44 disposals in a game. 

Prior to Sunday, only four other Hawks - Terry Wallace, Anthony Condon, Jordan Lewis and Luke Hodge - had collected 44 disposals in a game. Wallace did so against Melbourne at Waverley in 1983, Condon against Carlton at Princes Park in 1991, Lewis versus Fremantle at Subiaco in 2014 and Hodge in Round 3 last season against the Bulldogs. 

Since accurate disposal record began being recorded fifty years ago, other Hawthorn to have racked up 40 or more disposals in a game include Leigh Matthews, Robert Dipierdomenico, Richard Loveridge, John Platten, Darrin Pritchard, Shane Crawford and Sam Mitchell.

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Another Round 3 meeting between Hawthorn and the Bulldogs was in 1982 when the two clubs met at Waverley.

Hawthorn kicked a then record club score and winning margin as they thrashed Footscray by 143 points – 28.26 (194) to 7.9 (51). In his first game since crossing from Melbourne, Michael Byrne kicked eight goals, easily a record for a Hawthorn debut while Leigh Matthews contributed 6 majors. Others in the best players were David Polkinghorne, Gary Buckenara, Richard Loveridge and Kelvin Moore.

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The individual goalkicking record for Hawthorn in Round 3 is 11 kicked by Leigh Matthews versus Essendon at Waverley in 1973. Michael Moncrieff had a particular liking for Round 3, kicking 10 in both 1974 versus South Melbourne and 1976 against Collingwood. Jason Dunstall holds the record against the Western Bulldogs kicking 14 goals in Round 19 1996.