Despite their great modern day rivalry, this Saturday night will see Hawthorn and Geelong clash in a top-of-the ladder home and away game for the first time in 37 years.

The last time the two clubs met as 1^st and 2^nd on the ladder was on the Queen’s Birthday Monday in Round 11 1976. A crowd of 33,692 crammed into Princes Park and saw the Hawks win a tough hard-fought encounter against the Rod-Olsson coached Cats – 11.22.88 to 11.10.76. Leigh Matthews kicked 4 goals.

The Hawks had twice previously faced Geelong in top of the ladder games, winning in 1969, but losing in 1963a result which was repeated on Grand Final day. In the two other seasons when the Hawks and Cats have squared off in the Grand Final, 1989 and 2008, their only home and away meetings were as 1^st and 5^th in Round 6 1989 and 3^rd and 1^st in Round 17 2008.

The first top-of-the ladder game in Hawthorn’s history was against Melbourne in Round 13 1961 and resulted in an 18 point Hawthorn win. The Hawks also triumphed in their most recent such game, against Sydney in Round 22 last season. Overall the Hawks have played 25 top-of-the-ladder matches, winning 17 and losing 8, a record which includes a run of 9 consecutive victories from 1977 to 1988.

Interestingly, only 7 of the 25 games have been previews of the season’s Grand Final, although Hawthorn has played in the Grand Final in 13 of the 19 seasons in which it has contested a top-of-the-ladder clash. In the 7 cases when the teams met again in the Grand Final, the same team won 3 times, while the result was reversed 4 times.

***********

As has been well-documented, the 2013 Hawks gets the chance to set a new club record of 13 consecutive wins this week. Interestingly, this season only 9 players (Breust, Burgoyne, Franklin, Hodge, Lewis, Mitchell, Roughead, Shiels and Stratton) have played in all 12 games in the sequence, whereas in 1961 there were 13 individuals who did so.

***********

As has been equally well-documented, Hawthorn has lost its last 10 matches against Geelong, a record which is currently the equal longest losing sequence in modern Hawthorn history, together with a run of 10 losses against Essendon between 1998 and 2005. One more loss and it will be the longest sequence without a win since Hawthorn failed to beat Geelong in 11 encounters between 1962 and 1967 (10 losses and a draw).

To find the last sequence of 11 losses, one has to go back to the dark days of the late 1940s and early 1950s when Hawthorn lost 19 consecutive games to Collingwood (1944-54), 15 to Essendon (1946-54), 13 to Carlton (1945-52), 13 to South Melbourne (1944-51) and 11 to Richmond (1947-53). Break through wins against Collingwood and Essendon in Rounds 4 and 7, 1955 had seemingly confined such negative sequences to history.

***********

Overall, the Hawks and Cats have played 151 times, with Hawthorn winning 67, Geelong 83 and one draw. Hawthorn’s longest winning run against Geelong is 11 set between 1985 and 1990.

***********

In making his debut last Sunday, Jonathon Ceglar has become just the fourth player in modern Hawthorn history to wear number 47 in a VFL-AFL game. The only others to do so were Dermott Brereton in his first two games in the 1982 Finals, Leon Higgins in one game in 1996 and Luke Bruest in 17 games in his debut season in 2011.

***********

Round 15 has historically been one of Hawthorn’s best rounds with 46 wins, 2 draws and 40 defeats. In the 27 seasons from 1970 to 1996, Hawthorn’s Round 15 return was 24 wins and only 3 losses. More recently, Hawthorn won its Round 15 games from 2007 to 2009, lost in 2010 and 2011 to Geelong and Collingwood respectively, but last season thrashed GWS by 162 points.

5 years ago, in Round 15 2008, Hawthorn recorded its first win against Sydney since 2003 with a 31 point victory in front of 49,529 at the MCG. The Hawks had 44 fewer disposals than the Swans but had the more potent forwards as Mark Williams and Lance Franklin both kicked 4 goals and Jarryd Roughead 3.

30 years ago, in Round 15 1983, Ken Judge put a kick-less first half behind him to produce a match-winning third quarter against Footscray at Waverley, recording 9 kicks and 3 goals for the term. He broke open a game where scores had been level at both quarter and half times with the Hawks getting out to a 25 point lead which became a 29 point win – 13.11.89 to 9.6.60. Terry Wallace, who had 16 kicks in the half and 27 for the match, was outstanding while The Age reported that of the Hawks “none was more valuable that the ubiquitous Rodney Eade … whether it was diving on the loose ball, knocking it clear to opponents, Eade could be relied on”, while Peter Knights showed his “his experience and quick-wittedness”.

50 years ago, in Round 15 1963, Hawthorn thrashed South Melbourne by 60 points – 15.15.105 to 6.9.45. John Peck kicked 8 goals equalling his career-high.

***********

Jason Dunstall holds the individual goal-kicking record against Geelong kicking 12 goals in Round 1 of both 1990 and 1992. The best individual return for a Hawthorn player in Round 15 is also 12 goals, recorded by Peter Hudson in a 23 point Hawthorn win against St Kilda at Glenferrie in 1971.