Hawthorn has entered the top four on the ladder for only the second time in the past six seasons. 

Since being in the top four for 19 weeks of the 2001 season (Rounds 2-20), the only occasion when the Hawks have been in the top four, prior to now, was after Round 4 last season.  

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Last Saturday, Chance Bateman became the fourth individual to captain Hawthorn in 2007.  The last time Hawthorn had four captains in a season was 1998 when appointed captain Jason Dunstall only appeared in 13 games, with the captaincy duties in the other nine matches being shared between Paul Salmon (4), Shane Crawford (3) and Nick Holland (2).  

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Having conquered a reigning Premier for the first time since 1996, one reader was keen to know the most recent occasion on which Hawthorn beat the eventual Premier.  One has to go back even further to 1994, a year in which the Hawks not only beat the eventual Premier, West Coast twice, by 71 points at Subiaco and 46 points at Waverley, they also easily accounted for beaten Grand Finalist, Geelong, in their only meeting.

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Hawthorn has a very poor recent record against Port Adelaide.  The Hawks have ventured to AAMI Stadium to play the Power in each of the past four seasons and lost by 57, 81, 117 and 96.  The overall record against Port is not much better.  Just four wins from 15 attempts, the most recent win being the famous victory in the 2001 Finals Series.

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Victories over West Coast and St Kilda in the past two weeks have taken the number of different opponents Hawthorn has beaten under the coaching of Alastair Clarkson to 10.  The next two matches are also against teams, Port Adelaide and Sydney, which the Hawks have not beaten in recent times.  Hawthorn has not beaten Port since 2001 and Sydney since 2003, the year that the Hawks also last beat Adelaide and Collingwood, while the Bulldogs were last defeated in 2004.

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Lance Franklin has now kicked at least one goal in 20 consecutive matches.  It is the longest sequence of an individual Hawk goaling in consecutive games since Jason Dunstall scored goals in 34 consecutive matches, in which he played, from Round 20, 1992 to Round 12, 1994 (he missed three matches in that span).

Dunstall holds the Hawthorn record for goaling in consecutive matches.  He registered at least one major in 72 consecutive games, in which he played, from Round 8, 1987 to Round 8, 1990.  If you count not playing as failing to score, then Peter Hudson holds the record with 57 (Round 11, 1969 to Round 1, 1972), while Dunstall’s best sequence is 40.  Under either definition, ‘Buddy’ has a way to go to equal any records. 

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Round 10 has been Hawthorn’s worst round in recent years, with no wins recorded in the past seven seasons.  Next worst is Round 18 with six consecutive defeats. 

The last Round 10 win was in 1999 when the Hawks beat Richmond by six points at the MCG.  None of the seven consecutive defeats have been by narrow margins, the closest being 21 points last year and the heaviest 86 points in 2004.  Overall, it has been one of the club’s better rounds with 40 wins and 42 defeats.

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1957 – Fifty years on

Round 8, 1957
Saturday, 8 June, 1957 at Lakeside Oval
Hawthorn 13.11.89 d. South Melbourne 9.14.68

Hawthorn had appeared in many top versus bottom clashes in its 33 seasons in the League, but on this occasion was in the rare position of being the team on the top of the ladder.  Making the Hawks even firmer favourites for the match at the Lakeside Oval was the fact that South Melbourne had lost three players to injury, including emerging star, Bob Skilton.

There were certainly some similarities between 1957 and 2007, not only were the Hawks doing well, but the weather was unusually mild (four consecutive days above 70F in early June 1957) and problems with the rail system were attracting lots of publicity.  

The first half was tight and tough with only stout defending from Roy Simmonds and John Kennedy preventing South getting a bigger lead at half-time than just two points.  The Hawks looked to have gained control after the break, adding a quick 2.2, with Terry Ingersoll marking strongly at full-forward and by the final change had a 15 point lead.

With the aid of the breeze, the Swans came back in the final quarter and got within five points half way through the term.  An upset appeared imminent, but the move of John Peck into the ruck and the introduction of the fresh Reserves, Ian Egerton and Geoff Dupuy, revitalised the Hawks.  Peck ran fifty yards and then booted a fifty yard goal to clinch the win.  As one report commented “it was an impressive rejuvenation based on tactics devised quickly and soundly”.

As well as the moves Hawthorn made, South also made some positional moves which one report concluded “helped the Hawks more than themselves”, as with new opponents both Norm Maginness in the centre and Geoff Howells at centre half forward had more impact on the game.

Roy Simmonds was generally rated best-on-ground in a performance that was described as showing “superb judgment and courage”, while other good players were Simmonds, Woodley, Gent, Ingersoll, Edwards and Kennedy.  Ingersoll’s 5 goals took him to 22 for the season and seventh position on the goal-kicking ladder.

The Age wrote that Hawthorn’s win “carried the stamp of real authority” as “with their lead slashed to five points, 15 minutes before the end of play, the Hawks produced their best football of the match”.

Just as they had been two weeks previously with the “Blonde Bomber”, Hawthorn was the subject of one of the football issues of the week after the match.  In the days before coaches were allowed on the ground at quarter time, the newspapers had noted that for the second week in a row the Hawthorn players had assembled for a short conference as the teams were changing ends at quarter time.  Alf Brown wrote in The Herald that the umpire actually had no authority within the rules to stop captain, John Kennedy, addressing his team, provided players had taken up their new positions within the specified three minutes. 

Player of the week

Geoff Dupuy made his sole senior appearance in Round 8, 1957, player number 481 on the list of players to represent the club.

He was selected as a Reserve and got his opportunity when he replaced Phil O’Brien, who had a leg injury, during the final term.

Speaking from his property at Lockwood, near Bendigo, Dupuy recalls taking a mark on the wing almost as soon as he came on the ground and being part of the build-up to a goal.  He estimates that he garnered five or six kicks, but modestly points out that he had the advantage of being fresh, compared to those who had been battling away for three and a half quarters.

Prior to coming to Hawthorn as a 19 year old in 1956, Dupuy had played for Rochester, which at that time competed in the Bendigo FL, having done so from the age of 15.  In that competition he played against the likes of Kevin Curran, Graham Arthur and Brendan Edwards.  He also did some professional running.

The story of how he came to Hawthorn is a fascinating one.  Both Essendon and North Melbourne were keen to recruit him, with the former having the inside running as not  only was Dupuy  himself an Essendon supporter, but the secretary of Rochester also tended to steer players from his club in that direction. 

While still at Rochester, Dupuy had met a girl from Melbourne, Jill Ewenson, who visited the area to stay with a girl who was going out with one of Dupuy’s friends.  This fateful meeting not only produced a happy marriage, two sons and four grandchildren, but it also meant that Geoff Dupuy became a Hawk.  The man responsible was his future father-in-law, George Ewenson.  Ewenson had very strong Hawthorn connections, highlighted by the fact that he was a partner in Deering’s Bakery in Camberwell Road, Camberwell with Gil Hendrie, who had been a member of Hawthorn’s inaugural League team in 1925 and whose grandson John was to play in two Hawthorn Premierships in the 1970s.

Having played in the first ever Hawthorn team to contest a Final at any level in the Seconds in 1956, Dupuy played well throughout 1957.  However, disaster struck at a training session shortly before the 1957 Finals.  The formal training had finished, and he was enjoying some kick-to-kick with teammates, when one of them fell across his ankle and, as he twisted, suffered significant damage to his knee.

Dupuy returned to play in a practice match prior to the 1958 season, but his knee went again and, when later in the season he tried to train, it became obvious that there was no point in persevering.  He regrets that, if he had not been injured, he would almost certainly have been able to play in the 1958 Reserves Premiership.

While playing at Hawthorn, Dupuy worked at Camberwell City Council and he continued in local government for many years, finishing as the Deputy CEO of the City of Knox.  In recent years, he has established a vineyard called Amadee Park that produces excellent shiraz and sauvignon blanc.  He has remained a staunch Hawks’ fan and still regularly travels down from his country home to watch MCG games. 

Altogether, 78 players have completed their Hawthorn careers having made only one Senior appearance for the club.  Only just over a quarter of that number, 21, played in winning sides and very few of the 21 probably contributed in a tight final quarter as much as Geoff Dupuy did at the Lakeside Oval in early June, 1957.  

Goals:              Ingersoll 5, Woodley 2, Arthur, O’Brien, Howells, Edwards,
Peck, Falcolner.

Attendance:     18,200