This Friday night Hawthorn will play its 2000th VFL-AFL game since joining the league in 1925.
All Hawthorn supporters will be hoping that the 2000th game will have a similar outcome to the 1000th game in 1977.
Hawthorn’s 1000th game was also against Geelong. It was played at Princes Park in Round 15 1977 and saw the Hawks win by 107 points – 28.23.191 to 13.6.84. Peter Hudson and John Hendrie both kicked eight goals and Leigh Matthews booted seven. Matthews’ goals capped off an outstanding 38-disposal performance.
Hawthorn’s first 1000 games produced 378 wins, 616 defeats and six draws. In close to an exact reversal, the subsequent 999 games have seen 606 victories, 388 losses and five draws. The first thousand saw three Premierships and the second thousand has produced 10 Flags, an incredible average of one every 100 games.
As has been well-documented, this week’s game is Hawthorn’s first at Geelong since 2006.
Round 3 2006 saw a stunning 52-point upset win for the Hawks. Hawthorn led by seven points at half-time, before slipping away to a 21-point three quarter time lead and then blowing the Cats away to win 15.11.101 to 7.7.49. The Brownlow votes went to Hodge, Mitchell and Vandenberg – either current, or future, Hawthorn captains.
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There were two further games at other venues between that Kardinia Park game and when the Hawks and Cats settled into playing all their matches at the MCG from 2008 to 2019.
In Round 22 2006, Hawthorn played a Docklands home game against the Cats, winning by 61 points – 21.7.133 to 10.12.72. Mark Williams kicked eight goals but was pipped for the three Brownlow votes by Shane Crawford, who had 28 disposals and contributed three goals.
The following season, in Round 4 2007, the Hawks hosted Geelong in Launceston, winning a thriller by four points – 10.16.76 to 9.18.72. Crawford again got the three Brownlow votes.
So, Hawthorn has won its most recent games against Geelong at Kardinia Park, Docklands, Launceston, and the MCG. The MCG success was a 24-point victory in Round 18 last season – 12.13.85 to 8.13.61. In his 200th game, Liam Shiels was best-on-ground with 29 disposals and two goals.
Hawthorn had an outstanding record at Geelong in the mid-late 1990s, winning four times in five seasons, all by narrow margins: five points (1995), two (1996), six (1997) and two again (1999).
These four victories contributed to a remarkable 14 seasons from 1987 and 2000, when the Hawks had 10 wins by less than two goals in games against the Cats, including in three Finals. In the 25 games between the clubs in those years, the Hawks won 20 and Geelong just five (none in close games).
Round 2 has historically been one of the Hawthorn’s poorer rounds, with only 39 wins, one draw and 55 losses. Years ending in zero have been particularly disappointing with the only Round 2 win being in 1980.
40 years ago, in Round 2 1980, Hawthorn trailed St Kilda at Moorabbin by three points at the final change before powering away in the last term to win by 33 points. Michael Moncrieff and John Hendrie both kicked three goals, while Leigh Matthews and Geoff Ablett headed the best players.
Playing on 12 June will obviously be the latest date in a year on which Hawthorn has had its Round 2 fixture. The previous latest was in 1942 when, in the shortened wartime season, Round 2 was played on 16 May. Hawthorn lost to St Kilda at the Saints’ temporary wartime home of Toorak Park.
The last few times Hawthorn has played on 12 June, it has been a Round 12 fixture. Ten years ago, on 12 June 2010, Hawthorn defeated Adelaide in Launceston by 47 points, with the handy quartet of Franklin, Hodge, Rioli and Roughead all kicking three goals.
The debuts of Sam Frost and Jonathon Patton in Round 1 means there have now been 32 players with previous AFL experience at other clubs who have played for Hawthorn in the Clarkson era, with Frost the fifth to have previously played at two other clubs.
Seven of the 32 include Melbourne in their CVs, while six had spent time at Port Adelaide and four at GWS. The only three clubs not to have supplied a Hawk recruit from 2005 onwards are Carlton, Essendon and Fremantle. Both Carlton and Essendon supplied players in 2004 – Simon Beaumont and Danny Jacobs - who continued playing in the Clarkson era, leaving Fremantle as the only club without a player in this time. The last player to come to Hawthorn, having previously played for Fremantle, was Kingsley Hunter in 2003.
Luke Breust’s three goals in Round 1 took him to 395 career goals, closing in on becoming the ninth Hawthorn player to reach the 400-goal milestone. His predecessors are a roll call of Hawthorn greats – Peck, Hudson, Matthews, Moncrieff, Dunstall, Brereton, Franklin and Roughead..
The individual goal-kicking record for a Hawthorn player versus Geelong is 12 by Jason Dunstall in 1990 and 1992. Dunstall also holds the Round 2 record, kicking nine twice – in 1988 versus Richmond and in 1991 against Sydney.
