If Hawthorn beats Melbourne this Saturday, it will be the team’s 11^th consecutive home win, the equal second longest home winning streak in the club’s history.

Hawthorn’s most recent home defeat was in Round 19 last season to Richmond at the MCG. Since then, the club has won 10 consecutive home games (6 at the MCG and 4 at Aurora Stadium), beginning with Collingwood at the MCG in Round 21 last season and most recently against the Western Bulldogs in Launceston last Sunday.

The other streak of 11 home wins was set in 2010-11, but there is still a long way to go to equal the club’s all-time home wins record of 21 which was set in 1987-89. It was made up of 15 games at Princes Park and 6 at Waverley Park.

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Jack Gunston’s knee injury will delay the opportunity for Hawthorn to have three players reach 50 goals in a season for just the third time in club history. Jarryd Roughead reached 50 goals against the Bulldogs last season, and with Luke Breust (46) and Jack Gunston (44) getting close to the half-century, 2014 was poised to join 1977 and 1984 as seasons when three different individual Hawks reached 50 goals.

In 1977, the three players to reach 50 goals for the season were Peter Hudson (110), Leigh Matthews (91), and John Hendrie (52), while in 1984 it was Matthews again (77), Ken Judge (63), and Dermot Brereton (50).

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A demonstration of the fire power of the 1984 team was the game 30 years ago this round. In Round 20 1984, the Hawks had kicked 16.13.109 to half-time, still the 4^th highest score at the long interval in the club’s history.

Hawthorn eased off a little in the second half cruising to 25.24.174, thrashing Sydney at the SCG by 89 points. There were 11 individual goalkickers headed by Leigh Matthews (6) and Ken Judge (4). Russell Greene had an outstanding game with The Age reporting that he “was always by himself, creating havoc in the centre area” as he racked up an equal career-high 38 disposals. However, Greene only received 2 Brownlow votes, being pipped for the 3 by Michael McCarthy who took 11 marks and had 25 disposals.

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The last time Hawthorn and Melbourne met at a venue other than the MCG was in Round 19 1999 at Waverley Park, a match the Hawks won by 68 points. Melbourne is the only Victorian club which Hawthorn has not played at Docklands, and one of just four which it has not played at Aurora Stadium.

The MCG has now also become the regular venue for Hawthorn’s games against Collingwood and Geelong. The last time the Hawks played either of those clubs elsewhere was in 2007 when they played the Magpies at Docklands and the Cats at Aurora Stadium.

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Hawthorn has won its last 10 matches against Melbourne. The second win of the sequence squared the ledger at 74-74 in the head-to-head battle between the clubs, for the first time since it was 0-0 in 1925. The subsequent 8 wins have put Hawthorn in front – 82 to 74, after 156 games.

The Hawks have a long way to go to equal the club’s all-time best sequence against Melbourne which is 22, set between 1973 and 1984, which is the club’s best-ever sequence of success against any opponent. Hawthorn has currently also won its last 11 games against Carlton, while the next best current sequences are 6 wins against Collingwood, Fremantle, Gold Coast, and the Western Bulldogs.

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There was a Round 20 played in 1945 and there has been one every year since 1968. In 1945, 1968 and 1969 it was the final round of the home and away season. In 1945, the Hawks played eventual Grand Finalists, South Melbourne, at their temporary war-time home ground of the Junction Oval, losing by 36 points. Hawthorn recorded wins in both 1968 and 1969, against Fitzroy and St Kilda respectively, with Peter Hudson booting 8 goals in each game, to finish with 125 and 120 for the seasons.

Overall in Round 20, Hawthorn has won 27 and lost 20. In the Clarkson era, the Hawks have won 6 and lost 3, including victories in the last four against Melbourne (2010), North Melbourne (2011), Port Adelaide (2012) and St Kilda (2013).

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20 years ago, in Round 20 1994, Hawthorn beat West Coast by 46 points – 15.10.100 to 7.12.54. Paul Hudson kicked 5 goals and Alex McDonald 3, while the Brownlow votes went to Chris Langford, Darren Jarman and Shane Crawford. The victory meant Hawthorn beat the eventual Premiers twice in 1994, having also thrashed the Eagles by 71 points at Subiaco in Round 5.

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The leading individual goalkicker for Hawthorn against Melbourne is Peter Hudson who booted 16 goals at Glenferrie in Round 5, 1969. The Round 20 Hawthorn record is held by Jason Dunstall who kicked 12 against Essendon in 1992. Other 10 goal-plus Round 20 hauls were Dunstall’s 11 versus Collingwood in 1990 and Michael Moncrieff’s 10 against Essendon in 1972.