Hawthorn’s home and away season provides mixed omens for the 2016 Finals Series.
Finishing third in the home and away season has not generally been Hawthorn’s path to a Premiership, but the one previous success from there was as recently as last season. In the other seasons when the Hawks were third after the regular season, they have finished runners up once (1985) and lost Preliminary Finals on three occasions (1957, 1974 and 2011).
The Hawks have twice previously (2008 and 2014) gone onto win the Flag after finishing the home and away season with 17 wins and 5 losses. However, more commonly a 17-5 record has been the precursor to Grand Final heartbreak, with 1975, 1984, 1987 and 2012 all seasons in that category. Strangely, Hawthorn has a better Finals record after finishing with one fewer win as, when 16-6, the Hawks have gone onto win the Flag four times.
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There has been a lot of commentary about Hawthorn’s percentage of 118.6 and how it is too low for a realistic Premiership contender. However, Hawthorn has twice won Flags with lower percentages, saluting in 1976 after having a percentage of 114.2 and in 1978 with one of 117.7.
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This Friday night Sam Mitchell will move into third place on the Hawthorn career games list. He is currently in equal third with Shane Crawford on 305 and will now be outright third behind only Michael Tuck (426) and Leigh Matthews (332).
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Hawthorn and Geelong have met in nine previous Finals with the Hawks holding a 6-3 advantage. Apart from the comparatively comfortable margins of 26 points in the 2008 Grand Final and 36 points in the 2014 Qualifying Final, Hawthorn’s other Finals successes against the Cats have been by narrow margins – 6, 2, 9 and 5. Two of those victories are among the most famous in Hawthorn history – the 1989 Grand Final and the 2013 Preliminary Final. This week we will look at the other two – the 1991 Second Semi Final and the 2000 Elimination Final.
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In 1991, under the new Final Six, the Hawks had travelled to Perth in the first week of the Finals and having beaten the Eagles now had to front up to Geelong just six days later. A crowd of 63,733 at Waverley saw the Hawks bombard the goals at the main scoreboard end in the opening quarter. However, a return of 3.11 meant the quarter time lead was only 16 points with Geelong on 2.1. In similar manner to the 1989 Grand Final, Geelong was extremely physical early, with Billy Brownless getting reported and, in a separate incident Tony Hall, who had kicked the first two goals, was forced from the ground with concussion. After an even second term, the Cats surged in the third quarter getting almost two goals ahead, before Hawthorn rallied to leave the margin one point in Geelong’s favour at three quarter time.
The last quarter was a see-sawing affair. It was Darren Jarman who proved to be the match-winner when late in the game he threaded through a goal from deep in the right forward pocket to regain the lead, before laying a crucial match-saving tackle on the outer wing. The other crucial factor in the final term was that Geelong replicated Hawthorn’s first quarter inaccuracy, kicking 2.7 (both their goals being scored by Mark Neeld). In the end, it was the Hawks by two points – 13.17.95 to 13.15.93 – winning their way into their eighth Grand Final in nine seasons.
With Dermott Brereton out injured and Hall forced from the field, Hawthorn’s forward line struggled for lengthy periods of the game, with coach Alan Joyce dragging Paul Hudson after a poor kick in the third quarter. Jason Dunstall managed three goals. The best for the Hawks were the midfielders John Platten (24 disposals), Anthony Condon (22), Andrew Gowers (24) and Ben Allan (23), and the key defenders Chris Langford and Chris Mew.
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In the 2000 Elimination Final, the eighth placed Hawks played fifth placed Geelong in a Friday night, a historic occasion as it was the first ever Final at Docklands. A crowd of 44,709 saw Hawthorn win - 14.8.92 to 12.11. 83 - in a game where the scores were close all night. The biggest margins were when Geelong led by 15 points in the opening term and Hawthorn by 17 in the second quarter.
John Barker kicked four goals (including the sealer), while Tony Woods was the leading possession-getter with 29. Others in the best players were Nathan Thompson (who had to do the majority of the ruck work in the second half after Paul Salmon was injured), Shane Crawford, Daniel Chick, Rayden Tallis and Luke McCabe. One of the highlights of the game was a spectacular goal kicked by young Hawk Glen Bowyer in the second quarter.
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Hawthorn has a good record in Qualifying Finals, having won 12 and lost 6. The record looks even better if one excludes the different types of Qualifying Finals under the original McIntyre Eight (1994-99) which carried the risk of elimination – Hawthorn played two of them and lost both. Overall, the Hawks’ Finals record is 53 wins and 29 defeats from 82 games.
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Last week’s win against Collingwood was the 13th one point victory in Hawthorn history. Lately they have come once a decade with the most recent ones being in 1987 (versus Carlton), in 1996 (in the ‘merger match’ against Melbourne) and in 2006 (against Essendon).
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The most goals by a Hawthorn player in the first week of the Finals is the eight by Michael Moncrieff in the 1978 Qualifying Final versus Collingwood, equaled by Lance Franklin’s eight against the Western Bulldogs in 2008. Jason Dunstall holds the individual goal-kicking record against Geelong kicking 12 goals in Round 1 of both 1990 and 1992.
