Hawthorn’s 11.11.77 was its lowest winning Grand Final score eclipsing the 12.10.82 in the 1971 Grand Final. It was only the third occasion the Hawks have won the Flag without reaching the century. The margin of 15 points was the Hawks third smallest winning margin behind 6 (1989) and 7 (1971).
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Shaun Burgoyne has joined Stuart Dew in a very select group of players to have played in a Hawthorn Premiership team having previously done so at another League club. Both were part of the same Port Adelaide team which won the Flag in 2004. There are also two players who have played in a Hawthorn Premiership team and then subsequently one at another club – Barry Rowlings (Hawthorn 1976 and Richmond 1980) and Darren Jarman (Hawthorn 1991 and Adelaide 1997-98).
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Hawthorn now has the remarkable record of having improved its final ladder position in 13 of the last 16 seasons. The only seasons from 1998 onwards when Hawthorn has gone backwards have been the big falls in 2002 (4th to 10th), 2004 (9th to 15th) and 2009 (1st to 9th).
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There is a striking similarity between the years 1971 to 1976 and 2008 to 2013. Both sequences began with Flags (1971, 2008) and were followed by a year one spot outside the Finals (1972, 2009); then came 7th place (1973, 2010), 3rd (1974, 2011), 2nd (1975, 2012) and Premiers again (1976, 2013).
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The number 23 has retained its status as the only number which has been worn in all 11 of Hawthorn’s Premierships. No 2 has been in 10 Flags, only being absent in 1983, while the numbers 9 and 14 have been worn in 9 of the 11 Hawk Premierships. The highest number worn in a Hawthorn Premiership is 46 by Chris Mew in 1983.
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The Grand Final was Hawthorn’s 22nd win for the 2013 season, a new club record beating 21 in 1971, 1988 and 1989. It joins those seasons as ones with the fewest losses – three.
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In the first game after the 2008 Flag – in Round 1 2009 – Hawthorn played three debutants – Ryan Schoenmakers, Matt Suckling and Brendan Whitecross. All three were unavailable for this year’s Premiership due to injury.
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Hawthorn used 34 players in 2013, which is the equal highest number in a Premiership season, along with 1983. Eight of the club’s 11 Premiership seasons have seen 31 or 33 players used, while the record for the fewest is held by 1961 when the club required just 30 players. Three players (Jarryd Roughead, Ben Stratton and Luke Bruest) played every game in 2013 and while at the other extreme Will Langford made just one appearance.
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In announcing his retirement after a career of 43 games, Max Bailey has joined a select group of Hawthorn Premiership players who finished their career in brown and gold having played fewer than 50 games for the club. Others on the list include Greg Madigan (40), Robert Day (38), Stuart Dew (26), Malcolm Hill (22), Richard Walter (20) and Jack Cunningham (17).
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Josh Gibson has become the first player to have begun his career at another VFL-AFL club to win the Crimmins Medal in a Premiership season. There was a fifty year gap in imports winning the best and fairest between Ernie Loveless (1934) and Russell Greene (1984), but since then there have been Paul Salmon (1996-97), Joel Smith (2001) and Peter Everitt (2003-04).
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There were a number of other special achievements by the 2013 Hawks:
- By winning 12 consecutive matches from Round 2 to Round 14 (Round 11 was a bye), the 2013 Hawks equalled the record for most consecutive wins originally set by the 1961 team.
- The club extended its record winning sequence against Carlton to 10, now well ahead of the previous record of 7 set from 1984-86. Hawthorn also has several other lengthy current winning sequences including Melbourne (10), Collingwood (5), Fremantle (5), Port Adelaide (5) and Western Bulldogs (5).
- In the Qualifying Final against Sydney, Hawthorn got ahead on points for and against for the first time in the club’s history. The club finished the season 33 points ahead, with 167,182 points for and 162,149 against.
- Taylor Duryea became just the third Hawthorn player to play in winning teams in his first 10 games, joining Kelvin Moore (17) and Barry Rowlings (12).
- Jarryd Roughead became the sixth Hawk to top the League goalkicking following John Peck, Peter Hudson, Leigh Matthews, Jason Dunstall and Lance Franklin.
- Alastair Clarkson became just the third man, after John Kennedy and Allan Jeans, to coach Hawthorn in 200 games.