Hawthorn has the opportunity to create history on Friday night by recording 10 consecutive wins against Carlton for the first time.
Prior to the current sequence of 9 wins, the previous record against Carlton was 7, established from 1984 to 1986. The current sequence started in Round 17 2005. Overall, Hawthorn has won 57 and lost 102 of its 159 games against Carlton.
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Hawthorn also has the opportunity this week to record 10 consecutive wins against all opponents for just the 5th time in club history. The club record is 12 (1961), followed by 11 (in both 1971 and 1975) and 10 (1983-84).
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Hawthorn will be hoping to improve on a poor first-up record against Mick Malthouse in the first clash against him at Carlton, his sixth VFL-AFL club.
As a player, Malthouse first ran out against the Hawks in Round 22 1972 at Glenferrie, being part of a St Kilda team which claimed a Finals’ position at Hawthorn’s expense. Then, having transferred to Richmond, his first appearance against Hawthorn was at Princes Park in Round 21 1976, with the Tigers scoring an upset win against a Hawks team which went on to win the Flag.
As a coach, the only time the Hawks have begun with a win against Malthouse was at his first club Footscray, when, in 1984, the Hawks recorded a comfortable Round 5 victory at the Western Oval. His first game against Hawthorn as West Coast coach, in 1990, saw the Hawks lose by 23 points at the WACA Ground, while ten years later his new Collingwood team thrashed the Hawks by 54 points at the MCG in Round 1 2000.
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Hawthorn takes in an impressive recent record at Docklands into its first game at the ground in the 2013 season. The Hawks have won their last 4 and are unbeaten in the last 6. Overall, the Hawks have won 29 and drawn 1 of 54 games at the venue.
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This week, Hawthorn will also be trying to extend its good record in games after a bye. The Hawks have won their last ten matches after byes a sequence stretching back to 1991. In the previous 8 seasons when there were byes (1942-43, 1991-94 and 2011-12), Hawthorn has had 13 byes and won the following match on 11 occasions. It should be noted that these are what are officially designated ‘byes’ in the fixture – in many other seasons rounds were split over two weekends.
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Hawthorn has had a mixed record in Round 12 in recent seasons with five wins and five losses in the past ten Round 12 matches. Results have alternated with losses to Brisbane Lions (2009) and Geelong (2011), and wins against Adelaide (2010) and Brisbane Lions (2012). Overall, in 88 Round 12 games, Hawthorn has won 37 and lost 51.
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Hawthorn most recent Round 12 clash with Carlton was in 2007 and it saw the Hawks triumph by exactly 100 points – 27.18.180 to 12.8.80. In Lance Franklin’s absence, Hawthorn had 12 individual goal-kickers headed by Jarryd Roughead with 5, while Tim Boyle, Trent Croad and Rick Ladson all booted 3. The leading possession-getters were Brad Sewell (33), Luke Hodge (29) and Sam Mitchell (26).
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10 years ago, in Round 12 2003, Hawthorn beat eventual Grand Finalist Collingwood by 33 points – 12.12.84 to 6.15.51.
25 years ago, in Round 12 1988, Hawthorn kept an opponent to the lowest ever score against Hawthorn in history – 2.5.17. The opponent was the Brisbane Bears and the Hawks themselves could only manage 10.20.80. Gary Buckenara was best-on-ground.
30 years ago, in Round 12 1983, 4th placed Hawthorn (6-5) upset ladder leader Fitzroy (9-2) by 33 points in a high-scoring game at Princes Park – 25.17.167 to 21.8.134. The Age reported that Hawthorn’s “senior citizens were great form as “Leigh Matthews was indestructible, Peter Knights irrepressible and Michael Tuck indefatigable”. And Terry Wallace was even better.
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Hawthorn’s great goal-kickers never managed big bags against Carlton. Peter Hudson, Leigh Matthews and Jason Dunstall all had a top score of 7 goals against the Blues – in 1968, 1978 and 1989 respectively. The best individual tallies for Hawthorn against the Blues are 9 by Peter Knights in 1985 and 8 by Garry Young (in a losing side) in 1959 and by Jarryd Roughead in 2009.
Dunstall holds the individual goal-kicking record for Hawthorn in Round 12 – with the 11 at Carrara in 1987, later equalled against Sydney at the SCG in 1994.
