Hawthorn will be looking to improve its record in Grand Final re-matches when it plays Sydney on Saturday night.

On the five previous occasions when Hawthorn has been runner-up in the previous season’s decider, it has twice achieved revenge in the re-match, beating North Melbourne in Round 2 1976 and Essendon in Round 6 1986. Overall, the Hawks record in re-matches is 6 wins and 9 losses.

Most of the re-matches have been early in the subsequent season, but there have been a few later than Round 7. In 1979, it was in Round 10, 1972 and 1989 in Round 11, while in 1992 it was as late as Round 14.

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Hawthorn has gone down on the ladder, despite winning, for the first time in five years. Coincidentally, the last time it happened was after the previous win against Adelaide at Football Park in Round 12 2008. That 4 point win saw Hawthorn lose top spot to Geelong which scored a 59 point win. Both teams were 11-1 at that stage of the 2008 season. 

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Jonathan Simkin has become just the fifth former Geelong player to debut for Hawthorn, a remarkably low number given other clubs have provided more than 20 and both South Australian clubs have already provided four. Simkin’s only predecessors have been Bill Hudd, Harold Maskell, Austin McCrabb and Aaron Lord. He also joins McCrabb and Luke Hodge as the three products of Colac to play for Hawthorn.

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Five years ago, in Round 7 2008, a crowd of 76,048 saw Hawthorn thrash Collingwood by 65 points at the MCG – 24.10.154 to 13.11.89. The performance was highlighted by a 10 goal final quarter. Lance Franklin and Jarryd Roughead both kicked 6 goals, while Sam Mitchell was superb with a 39 disposal performance.

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50 years ago, in Round 7 1963, 4^th placed Hawthorn played a dramatic draw with 2^nd placed Geelong at Kardinia Park. With just minutes to go the Hawks trailed by 7 points, but a goal to Ian Law and a behind to Des Dickson earned them a share of the points.

Hawthorn supporters in the crowd of 29,374 were disappointed to hear that captain Graham Arthur was a late withdrawal, but enjoyed the first half as the Hawks opened up a 17 point half time lead, playing a tough brand of football with The Herald describing how “Hawthorn’s niggling and closing up tactics were paying off – Geelong were being put off their normal game”. Geelong fought back in the third term and hit the lead early in the last quarter. Later in the quarter a melee erupted on the grandstand wing with four police entering the arena to assist the umpire. Once order was restored, Hawthorn kicked the final two scores to produce a 9.12.66 apiece draw.

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Ten years later, in Round 7 1973, the two teams met again, this time at Glenferrie. After trailing by 5 points at half-time, the Hawks powered away in the second half to win 19.15.129 to 9.14.68. Michael Moncrieff kicked 6 goals and Alan Goad 4, while Don Scott was among the best players along with Alan Martello, Leon Rice and Kevin Heath.

This game is also notable for the fact that Geoff Ablett made his debut, starting on the bench with his future brother-in-law Michael Tuck. Tuck came on after at half-time replacing Bohdan Jaworskjy, while Ablett had to wait until the last quarter for his opportunity coming on when captain, David Parkin came off with a leg injury. Ablett known as “racehorse” for his lightening speed on the wing went on to play 202 games for Hawthorn, including being a member of the 1976 and 1978 Premiership teams.

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Hawthorn has played South Melbourne / Sydney 152 times, recording 83 wins, 67 defeats and two draws. Each club had periods where they dominated the other with South putting together sequences of 15 wins (1929-37) and 13 wins (1944-51), while the Hawks’ best sequences were 13 from 1971 to 1977, followed by 11 from 1981 to 1986.

The Hawks most recent games against Sydney in Round 7 were away games in 1999 and 1987. The last time had a home game against Sydney in Round 7 was in 1986 when 2nd placed Hawthorn beat surprise ladder leaders Sydney – 18.25.133 to 15.10.100. Leading by 16 points at three quarter time, the Hawks poured on the first six goals of the final term to extend the lead to 56 points at the 21 minute mark of the final term, before cruising home by 33 points. Hawthorn had ten individual goal-kickers while Robert Dipierdomenico secured the 3 Brownlow votes, which helped him win the Medal at the end of the season, for a game where he had 30 disposals and kicked 2 goals.

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Hawthorn’s overall Round 7 record is 41 wins, 46 losses and one draw. Hawthorn has won 3 of the last 5 Round 7 games, the wins being against Collingwood in 2008, Port Adelaide in 2011 and Melbourne last season. The 1970s brought much Round 7 happiness - the Hawks won eight consecutive Round 7 matches from 1971 to 1978.

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Round 7 produced the best individual goalkicking performance in Hawthorn history and the equal second best in VFL-AFL history – Jason Dunstall’s 17 against Richmond at Waverley in 1992. Peter Hudson holds the individual goals record for Hawthorn against the Swans, twice kicking 13 in consecutive matches in Round 11, 1969 and Round 8, 1970. Both matches were at Glenferrie and on both occasions he kicked the very accurate 13.2.