Jarryd Roughead will this week become the fourth youngest individual to play his 200^th game for Hawthorn.

When he takes the field against the Swans on Saturday night, Roughead will be just 27 years, 184 days old. Only Alan Martello, Leigh Matthews and Geoff Ablett were younger when they reached the milestone. Martello holds both the Hawthorn and VFL-AFL records for reaching 200 games at the youngest age, doing so when just 25 years and 360 days, while Matthews was 27 years 51 days, and Ablett 27 years 176 days.

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Hawthorn and Sydney do not have a long history of playing at the MCG, having met there for the first time in 2001. The early results were mixed, but after a hat trick of losses to the Swans in the mid-2000s, the Hawks have won six of the last seven between the two clubs at the ground. The six wins are made up of four home games, plus finals in 2011 and 2013, with the only blemish being the 2012 Grand Final. 

Overall, Hawthorn has played South Melbourne / Sydney 156 times, recording 86 wins, 68 defeats and two draws.

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Hawthorn has played 86 Round 18 matches (there were no Round 18 in 1925, 1942 or 1943) for the poor return of 35 wins and 51 defeats. Recent seasons have been better with the Hawks winning five of the last seven Round 18 games, including the last three. After beating Melbourne in 2011, Hawthorn has thrashed Essendon in Round 18 in the past two seasons.

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In the 1970s and 1980s, Round 18 often saw Hawthorn playing Carlton and that was the case 25, 30 and 40 years ago.

25 years ago, in Round 18 1989, top team Hawthorn scored a dramatic five point win over 8^th placed Carlton – 14.11.95 to 14.6.90.  A crowd of 33,615 at Waverley saw Hawthorn get as far as 39 points ahead midway through the third term, before Carlton stormed back to twice hit the lead in the closing stages. Both times Hawthorn regained the lead, firstly via a great falling Dermott Brereton mark in the goal square, and then with a clever snap from Jason Dunstall. 

What made the Dunstall goal more significant was that it was his 100^th for the season. Thus, at the 28 minute mark of the last quarter, with a margin of four points, there was a crowd invasion.  Once the ground was cleared, the only further score was a Dunstall behind. Dunstall booted 5 for the game and Peter Curran 4, while best players were listed as Curran, Dean Anderson, John Platten, Dunstall, Gary Ayres, Anthony Condon and Darrin Pritchard.

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Peter Curran was also the star in an even more dramatic last quarter against Carlton at Princes Park in Round 18 1984. Hawthorn looked to have wrapped the game up early, dashing away to a 39 point quarter time lead, but the Blues gradually got back in the game to lead by two points at the final change and then add the first two majors of the final term. Enter Curran, who proceeded to kick five last quarter goals out of a team total of 10 as the Hawks won by 32 points. Ken Judge also kicked 5 goals for the game, while other stars were Michael Byrne with 14 marks and Russell Greene with 34 disposals.

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40 years ago, in Round 18 1974, Hawthorn produced a 7.6 to 2.3 third term to turn around a 16 point half time deficit, having been given extra incentive after former skipper David Parkin received some heavy treatment from the Blues. Leigh Matthews, Peter Crimmins, John Hendrie, Des Meagher and Leon Rice were among the best for the Hawks.

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In a more recent Round 18 anniversary, 10 years ago in 2004, Donald McDonald took over as interim coach after Peter Schwab decided not to coach out the rest of the season. The change did not produce a dramatic improvement as the Hawks went down to Melbourne by 44 points.

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Hawthorn was also involved in a significant milestone 50 years ago, in Round 18 1964. The Hawks were the away team in Richmond’s last home game at the Punt Road Oval and spoilt the occasion for the Tigers with a comfortable 16.19.115 to 9.18.72 win. 

John Peck kicked three  goals to wrap up the leading goalkicker title for the second consecutive season. It completed an unlucky season for Hawthorn which finished 5^th with a 13-5 record, just one win behind top team Melbourne. If the four-point loss to Melbourne in Round 17 had been reversed, the Hawks would have finished top instead.

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Peter Hudson holds the individual goals record for Hawthorn against the Swans, twice kicking 13 - in Round 11 1969 and Round 8 1970. Hudson also holds the Hawthorn Round 18 record with a tally of 9 against St Kilda in 1970. The previous highest before Hudson had come 30 years earlier when Jim Bohan kicked 8 in 1940.