This round marks 15 years since brothers last played together in the same Hawthorn team.

In Round 20 1998 Justin Crawford played the last of his 29 games in brown and gold, sharing the Gabba field with his more famous brother Shane in a 35 point win against Brisbane.

The current period is the longest in the club’s history without brothers playing together. The first instance was in 1929 when the Williams brothers, Lyall and Richard, played a solitary game together. In the subsequent decades there were many brothers in Hawthorn teams with names such as Mills, Albiston, Austen, Considine, Young, Hay, Matthews, Ablett and Dear. Drafting has made it much less likely that brothers will end up at the same club.

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This Friday night will be the 150^th match between Hawthorn and St Kilda, with the Hawks leading 76 to 71 (with two draws) in the head-to-head battle. After a draw at Docklands in 2010, Hawthorn has won the last two encounters at the MCG, overcoming a 32 point quarter time deficit to win by 30 points in 2011 and winning by 35 points last season.

Hawthorn has been drawn to play St Kilda less than any other club in recent home and away seasons. 2007 is the only season since 2001 when the two clubs have met twice in the regular season, although they ended up playing twice in 2008 as they met in the Preliminary Final.

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Last Saturday’s attendance of 64,324 was the highest ever for a game between Hawthorn and Richmond, eclipsing the previous record of 57,572 on the Queen’s Birthday Monday in 1980.

Hawthorn has now played in a total of 31 home and away matches which have attracted crowds of over 60,000 – 27 at the MCG and 4 at Waverley. These have been against Collingwood (11), Geelong (11), Essendon (4), Carlton (2), Melbourne (1), Sydney (1) and Richmond (1). All the opponents, except Richmond, have produced bigger attendances in Finals, but Hawthorn and Richmond have never played against each other in a Final.

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If Hawthorn can beat St Kilda this Friday night, Docklands will become just the fourth venue where Hawthorn has won 8 or more consecutive games. To date, the only grounds where Hawthorn has put together streaks of more than 7 consecutive wins are Princes Park (with a record of 12 in 1988-89), Waverley (with 11 twice, in 1989-90 and 1991-92) and Glenferrie 9 (1970-71). The longest sequence of wins than Hawthorn has recorded at its current home grounds - MCG and York Park is 7.

Hawthorn’s current run of 7 wins at Docklands began against the Bulldogs in Round 10 2011. The Hawks are actually unbeaten in 9 games at Docklands as the last game that they did not win was a draw against St Kilda in Round 17 2010. The last actual defeat was against the Bulldogs in Round 3 2010.

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Hawthorn and St Kilda clashed five times in Round 20 between 1969 and 1981 with the Hawks winning in 1969, 1974 and 1981, while the Saints triumphed in 1973 and 1978. The 1973 loss at a very wet Glenferrie was particularly costly, as it resulted in the Saints making the Finals at the Hawks expense. The 1981 match at Waverley was notable for being Don Scott’s 300^th game, the first Hawk to reach that milestone. This will be the two clubs first meeting in the round since then.

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There was a Round 20 played in 1945 and there has been one every year since 1968. In 1945, 1968 and 1969 it was the final round of the home and away season. In 1945, the Hawks played eventual Grand Finalists, South Melbourne, at their temporary war-time home ground of the Junction Oval, losing by 36 points. Hawthorn recorded wins in both 1968 and 1969, against Fitzroy and St Kilda respectively, with Peter Hudson booting 8 goals in each game, to finish with 125 and 120 for the seasons.

Overall in Round 20, Hawthorn has won 26 and lost 20. In the Clarkson era, the Hawks have won 5 and lost 3, including victories in the last three against Melbourne (2010), North Melbourne (2011) and Port Adelaide (2012).

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10 years ago, in Round 20 2003, Hawthorn staged one of its biggest ever comebacks, coming from 23 points down at three quarter time to beat the Kangaroos by 14 points at Docklands.  The best players for the Hawks included Angelo Lekkas (4 goals), Sam Mitchell, Shane Crawford and Kris Barlow. The post-match publicity was much more focussed on an incident when North’s Jess Sinclair bumped and seriously injured Hawk Lance Picioane. 

25 years ago, in Round 20 1988, Russell Greene celebrated his 300^th game by leading Hawthorn onto Kardinia Park through a big green banner. The Hawks only led Geelong by 3 3 points at half-time, but then poured on 8.5 to 0.0 in the first 22 minutes of the third quarter. The final margin was 60 points – 19.14.128 to 10.8.68. John Platten (38 disposals) and Gary Buckenara (30 disposals and 3 goals) were both in brilliant form, but it was Greg Dear who received the 3 Brownlow votes for his outstanding game in the ruck. The only dampener on the day were injuries to Peter Curran and Andrew Gowers.

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Peter Hudson holds the record for the highest number of goals by a Hawthorn player against St Kilda, kicking 12 at Glenferrie in Round 15 1971. The Round 20 Hawthorn record is held by Jason Dunstall who kicked 12 against Essendon in 1992. Other 10 goal-plus Round 20 hauls were Dunstall’s 11 versus Collingwood in 1990 and Michael Moncrieff’s 10 against Essendon in 1972.