This week’s match in Adelaide marks the 20^th anniversary of Hawthorn’s first win against Adelaide at Football Park.

In Round 6 1993, the Hawks travelled to Adelaide for a Friday night encounter determined to record a win after consecutive losses to Carlton and Geelong and keep intact a proud 12 year record of not losing three consecutive games.

Playing in front of a packed crowd of 46,689, Hawthorn trailed by 15 points at quarter time and conceded the first goal of second term but then produced a stunning 8.0 in the remainder of the quarter to lead by 18 points at half-time. The Hawks maintained their lead in the second half to win 16.9.105 to 12.16.88.

Jasom Dunstall finished with 9 goals, although Paul Hudson probably kicked the goal of the night. The best players included Dunstall, Darren Jarman, Ben Allan and Paul Cooper, while captain Gary Ayres produced a couple of pieces of his classic “good driving in heavy traffic”.

Another noteworthy aspect of the game was that Mark Graham made his debut but, in a sign of how much the game has changed in the past 20 years, he sat on the two-man interchange bench all night, until finally being given a run when there were only two minutes left and the game was won.

***********

Success against Adelaide at Football Park has been extremely rare for Hawthorn with the brown and gold only recording three wins (1993, 1994 and 2008), balanced against 11 defeats. Perhaps, it is fortunate that “away to Adelaide” has not been on Hawthorn’s fixture in 8 other seasons. Of the ten defeats, only the 2 point loss in 1995 was close. After that, the next narrowest margin was 20 points in 2011, followed by 27 (2009) and 33 (1998). The other defeats include an 86 point thrashing in the first ever game there in Round 1 1991, a margin which was repeated in 2000.

***********

Remarkably, one of Hawthorn’s 3 wins against Adelaide at Football Park was by a bigger margin than any of the 11 defeats. It was in Round 9, 1994 that the Hawks obliterated the Crows by 97 points – 22.13.145 to 7.6.48. The victory was built on amazing first and third quarters, in both of which Adelaide failed to score, while the Hawks kicked 8.1 and 8.5 respectively. The stars were Jason Dunstall who kicked 5 in the opening term on his way to 9 and John Platten who kicked a career-high 6 goals.

In contrast, the 2008 game was close all night, with the Hawks trailing by 1, 2, and 3 points at the breaks, before turning it around in the final term, to win 11.10.76 to 10.12.72. Luke Hodge kicked the winning goal and was rated second best for the Hawks, behind captain, Sam Mitchell.

Given the away record, it is fortunate that in 16 home games against Adelaide, the Hawks hold a 10-6 advantage and lead 2-1 in Finals, making the overall record 15-18 after 33 games, helped by wins last season in Round 3 and the Preliminary Final.

***********

Sunday’s 3-point win against North Melbourne means Hawthorn has now won 102 games by 6 points or fewer, compared to 106 defeats and 10 draws. After losing five close ones in a row, Hawthorn now has back to back close wins following last season’s Preliminary Final and Sunday.

***********

Brian Lake has become one of the most-experienced players from another club to ever make his debut for Hawthorn. Lake played 197 games for the Western Bulldogs which puts him behind only Cameron Bruce (Melbourne, 224 games) and Paul Salmon (Essendon, 209). Others close to Lake include Peter Everitt (St Kilda 180), Stuart Dew (Port Adelaide 180) and Dan Minogue (Collingwood/Richmond 179).

***********

10 years ago in Round 6 2003, Hawthorn played its last ever game at Princes Park and marked the occasion by scoring a courageous 9 point win against Carlton – 11.8.74 to 9.9.63. Joel Smith kicked the sealing goal, Jade Rawlings was outstanding and Rick Ladson made his debut. Hawthorn played 230 games at Princes Park from Round 4 1925 until 2003, recording 133 wins, 96 losses and 1 draw.

25 years ago in Round 6 1988, Hawthorn beat Collingwood at Waverley by just 2 points (Jason Dunstall 5 goals), while 50 years ago in Round 6 1963, the Hawks beat North Melbourne at Glenferrie by 22 points (John Peck 5 goals).

***********

Overall, in Round 6 Hawthorn has recorded 37 wins and 46 defeats (with byes in 1942, 1943, 1994 and 2011). Hawthorn’s last five Round 6 games have all been at the MCG and the Hawks have won 4 of them including last season against St Kilda.

***********

The equal best individual goal-kicking tallies against Adelaide and in Round 6 were provided by Jason Dunstall in the Round 6 1993 game (see above). Dunstall kicked 9 on three separate occasions against Adelaide – in 1993 and 1994 (both at Football Park) and in 1996 (at Waverley). The best by a current player against Adelaide is the unforgettable 7 booted by Lance Franklin in the 2007 Elimination Final. Dunstall had also kicked 9 in Round 6 1992 against Collingwood, while Franklin equalled that number against Essendon in 2007.