Season openers have a way of creating headlines.

Maybe it’s just because the public has been starved of footy for the previous six months, but there truly does seem to be a finals-esque aura about Round 1.

Here’s a look back at five memorable Round 1 moments over the past 30 years.

And we should warn you, while most of these memories will warm your heart, there is one especially that may make you shudder.

1990 vs Geelong 

Following what is widely considered the greatest grand final of all time in 1989, Hawthorn and Geelong met again at the next possible chance.

As if Round 1 needed any extra hype, this grand final rematch had fans drooling over the possibility of a clash even remotely comparable to the rivals’ in the September prior.

But, as it turned out, this game paled in comparison to its predecessor.

Incredibly, the Hawks ran away 115-point victors as the Cats were left shell-shocked and Allan Jeans’ side posted what remains the club’s largest ever Round 1 winning margin.

Hawthorn’s spearhead pair of Jason Dunstall and Dermott Brereton led the way for the brown and gold, booting 12 and five goals respectively.

1991 vs Adelaide 

12 months later, the Hawks season opener went the way of the complete other end of the spectrum.

Motivated by playing their first ever game in the AFL, the Adelaide Crows ran riot over the Hawks to come away 86-point winners.

It is still Hawthorn’s biggest loss in a season opener, equalling the margin of defeat at the hands of Collingwood at Glenferrie Oval in 1952.

Things only got better for the Hawks that year, as they rebounded from their poor early season form to win the club’s ninth premiership.

2017 vs Essendon 

Few build-ups to Round 1 have been bigger than when these traditional rivals came head-to-head in 2017.

The bulk of the Essendon list was returning after its 12-month ASADA suspension, while the Hawks were joyfully welcoming back Jarryd Roughead after his year on the sidelines following a cancer scare.

Roughead had also recently been appointed captain of the club.

It was an enormous night for both clubs.

Sadly, it was the Bombers who came out on top though as they ran away winners by 25 points.  

2018 vs Collingwood

There’s not many things sweeter than beating Collingwood.

But Tom Mitchell found a way of putting a cherry on top of a glorious start to the 2018 season when he broke the league record for most disposals in a single game.

In what would be a Brownlow Medal-winning year for the Hawks number three, Mitchell collected an astronomical 54 possessions in the Hawks win to potentially stamp his name in the record book for eternity.

2019 vs Adelaide

Regardless of how they might be tracking, tasks in footy don’t come much more daunting than facing Adelaide in Adelaide.

With the Hawks fixtured to take on the Crows in the opening round of 2019, the brown and gold faithful had an understandably dim view of how the season might kick off.

But somebody must have forgotten to tell Alastair Clarkson and his charges of this pessimism as the Hawks led their hosts at every change tom post a famous victory over the Crows.