This week marks the 70th anniversary of Hawthorn getting the nickname “the Hawks”.

The story, as told in the club history One For All, was that on Saturday 15 May 1943 coach Roy Cazaly announced to the team before a match against Essendon “that in future they would be known as the Hawks, and would never again be known as the Mayblooms”. Cazaly had long been annoyed by what he regarded as a “sissy” nickname and he told the players that they must live up to the new name “by being ready to fight hard and carry the ball away with pace and dash to the goal”.

While the newly-badged Hawks lost to Essendon that day, they proceeded to have the best season in the club’s first 30 years in the VFL, winning 9 and losing just 6 in the shortened wartime season, only missing the Final Four on percentage after a one point loss in the final home and away game.

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The crowd of 54,725 last Saturday night was the second biggest ever for a Hawthorn home game against a non-Victorian opponent, only exceeded by the 72,130 who attended the final game at Waverley in Round 22 1999. The only other 50,000 plus home crowd against an interstate opponent was 50,023 against West Coast in Round 23 last season.
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Both Sam Mitchell and Luke Hodge are about to join and pass some Hawthorn legends on the club’s games played list. Mitchell has currently played 228 games which places him just behind Rodney Eade (229), Chris Mew (230) and Graham Arthur (232). Hodge is currently on 211 games, which has him level with both David Parkin and Darrin Pritchard and just behind Andy Collins (212) and John Peck (213).

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This Saturday, GWS will become the 13th different opponent Hawthorn has played at Aurora Stadium. The only teams that the Hawks have not played there are Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon and Melbourne. Hawthorn’s one previous game against GWS was at the MCG in Round 15 last season and resulted in the second biggest winning margin in club history, 162 points. The final score was 28.25.193 to 4.7.31, with Jarryd Roughead kicking 6 and Lance Franklin 4, including his 500th career goal before he went off injured.

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30 years ago, in Round 8 1983, the Hawks bounced back from consecutive defeats to win a fiery encounter against Essendon at Princes Park by 42 points – 20.17.137 to 14.11.95.
From the beginning it was clear the Hawks were in determined mood and Dermott Brereton took a screamer and goaled to get them going. However, the star up forward proved to be the re-called Michael Moncrieff who kicked 9 goals, ably assisted by the undisciplined performance of Essendon defender Ronnie Andrews giving away several free kicks.
Andrews also flattened Leigh Matthews in the third quarter but, in typical ‘Lethal’ fashion, he pushed the trainers away and continued to rip the Bombers apart. Others in the best besides Moncrieff and Matthews, were Terry Wallace, Russell Greene, Rodney Eade and Michael Tuck. One of Essendon’s best was future Hawk Paul Salmon who kicked 6 goals.

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40 years ago in Round 8 1973, Hawthorn (with a 3-4 record) journeyed to the MCG to take on a Richmond team that was 6-1 and on track to what would prove to be Grand Final success.  A crowd of 32,613 saw the Hawks bounce out to a 19 point quarter time lead which they gradually extended to a comfortable 37 point winning margin – 16.23.119 to 10.22.82.  

Hawthorn had tried a number of players at full forward since Peter Hudson had injured his knee in the opening round of the previous season, but they now looked to have found a handy replacement in Wayne Bevan. Playing just his sixth game, Bevan booted his second bag of 5 goals, taking his tally for the year to 20. He booted a further 5 three weeks later, but then struggled to maintain his form. After 15 games in his debut season, he managed only a further 4 in 1974 and just a solitary game in 1975. Two other players who were also tried at full-forward in Hudson’s absence were also in that Round 8 forward line - Michael Moncrieff contributed 3 goals and Charlie Grummisch 2.

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50 years ago, in Round 8 1963, a crowd of 34,900 packed the Junction Oval for the game between the 5th placed Hawthorn and 4th placed St Kilda. They saw Hawthorn score a remarkable 4 point win, despite failing to score at all in the final quarter. Not that the Saints fared much better as they could only kick 0.6 as the Hawks won 9.11.65 to 8.13.61.
Oddly, the goalless final term came after a high-scoring third quarter in which the Hawks had booted 6.1 to St Kilda’s 4.1. Another unusual aspect of Hawthorn’s win was that the team only had three goalkickers – John Peck 5, Ian Law 2 and David Albiston 2.

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In 87 Round 8 matches, Hawthorn has won 44 and lost 43 (having had a bye 1992), including the last six in a row. Twice in the past few years, the Hawks have been 32 points behind at quarter time in Round 8, but recovered, beating Port Adelaide by 15 points in 2008 and St Kilda by 30 points in 2011. There was also drama in 2010 when a Sam Mitchell tackle in the dying seconds secured a season-saving 3 point victory against Richmond at the MCG.
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The big names dominate the leading goal-kickers in Round 8. Peter Hudson booted 13 in this round in 1970 (against South Melbourne), while Jason Dunstall kicked 10 in 1994 (against Brisbane).