This Saturday night Hawthorn plays its 1700^th VFL/AFL game.

Of the 1699 games played to date, Hawthorn has won 785, lost 905 and drawn 9.

The Club’s record in ‘hundredth’ games is not particularly good.  There have only been six wins which occurred in the 400^th (1947), 900^th (1973), 1000^th (1977), 1300^th (1989), 1400^th (1994) and 1600^th (2003).

The highlights of these were the 1000^th game, a 107 point win over Geelong, and the fact that the 1300^th game took place in a second semi-final and produced a memorable win over Essendon.

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The match against Adelaide will be Sam Mitchell’s 100^th game.  He thus joins Luke Hodge as the second Hawk in three weeks to reach the mark without having played a final. 

Hopefully, this September the two current vice-captains, who debuted on the same day, will join the select group of Hawthorn players who played their first final after their 100^th game.  Len Crane, John Kennedy Snr. and Roy Simmonds did so in 1957 and they were joined by another three in 1971 - Bob Keddie, Des Meagher and Peter Crimmins.  (Peter Hudson’s 100^th game and first final coincided).

Overall, 22 of the Hawks’ current tally of 111 hundred game players never appeared in a final.  Twenty one completed their careers prior to the Club’s first finals’ appearance in 1957, while the 22^nd was John O’Mahony, who had the misfortune to miss the 1957 finals series through injury and then reached 100 games in 1958.

Assuming Hodge and Mitchell play finals, O’Mahony will regain his status as the most recent Hawk to have completed a hundred game, finals-less, career.  Since O’Mahony, Neil Ferguson, 82 games (1964-70), and Nick Ries, 81 games (2002-06), have had the longest completed Hawthorn careers without appearing in a final.

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In the past six matches, Hawthorn has beaten four teams that had not previously been conquered in the Clarkson era - St Kilda, West Coast, Port Adelaide and Collingwood.  The three opponents that remain unbeaten in the past three seasons are Adelaide, Western Bulldogs and Sydney, all of whom Hawthorn meets in the final nine rounds of the home and way season.

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Hawthorn and Adelaide have clashed 23 times since the Crows entered the competition in 1991. The Crows hold a 14-9 lead. This is the sixth consecutive season in which the two teams will only have met once. In both the past two seasons, the encounters were in Round 15 and saw Hawthorn lose by 10 points in Launceston in 2005 and by 36 points in Adelaide last season.

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Saturday night’s encounter will be Hawthorn’s eleventh game against Adelaide at Football Park (AAMI Stadium).  Of the previous ten encounters, Hawthorn has won two and lost eight. The most recent win was way back in 1994 - a memorable one by 97 points. The sequence of seven consecutive losses against Adelaide at the ground is the Hawks worst against an opponent at an away venue since the Hawks failed to beat Geelong in nine consecutive meetings (8 losses and a draw) at Kardinia Park from 1962 to 1970.

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Hawthorn has played 80 matches in Round 14 (having had byes in 1993 and 1994), with a record of 36 wins and 44 losses.  The Hawks won four consecutive Round 14 games from 2000 to 2003, but has lost the past three.

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The Round 14 individual goal-kicking record for Hawthorn is 12, kicked by Peter Hudson against Footscray at Glenferrie in 1968.  Against Adelaide, Jason Dunstall had an excellent record. He kicked 9 on three separate occasions - in 1993 and 1994 (both at Football Park) and in 1996 (at Waverley). He also kicked an 8 and a 7 against the Crows. Nick Holland’s best ever goal-kicking performance was against Adelaide – he kicked 7 in Round 21, 2000.

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1957 – Fifty Years On

Round 12, 1957
Saturday, 6 July, 1957 at Glenferrie
Hawthorn 7.10.52 defeated by Carlton 8.13.61

Having started the season with a win over Carlton at Carlton, the Hawks could have faced the return bout with the Blues at Glenferrie with confidence.  Tempering this were both history (Hawthorn had never previously beaten Carlton in consecutive games) and recent form (losses to St Kilda and Collingwood).

All sides were strengthened by the return of their State players for Round 12 and, given that the Hawks had lost the two games without them, Graham Arthur and Alf Hughes were welcomed back with open arms.  However, it was not to be a happy return for Arthur as he was injured halfway through the second quarter.  This diminished the side’s penetration in attack and contributed to the fact that the Hawks only managed one goal after the long interval as a 13 point lead was squandered.

The team had its chances to win the game in the final term, but six consecutive behinds, including three in quick succession at the start of the quarter denied the side victory.

Having been on top of the ladder after Round 9 with a 7-2 record, the Hawks were now 7-5 and having slumped to 5^th their hopes of making the Finals for the first time were receding fast.  A summation of the match in The Age said that “the game again demonstrated how advantages won by the Hawks in the packs and in general play remained unconverted because of their roving weakness”.

The ruck strength was highlighted by the performance of Allan Woodley who showed “amazing pace for a big man, determination, marking and work in the rucks”.  Other good players were Norm Maginness, Phil O’Brien, Len Crane, Alf Hughes and Kevin Northcote.

Player of the week – Norm Maginness

At some point in the next couple of seasons, the Kennedy family will undoubtedly gain the honour of being the first family to produce three generations of Hawthorn senior players.

The honour would have gone to the Maginness family back in 1988 (when Scott made his debut) if his grandfather, Don, had secured the game that he was close to getting in 1928.  Don played for the Hawthorn 2nds and almost managed a senior game, but was unable to get leave from his work in the railways.  Don went on to have a distinguished career at Auburn.  The link between the two is Don’s son and Scott’s father, Norm, the subject of this week’s column. 

Norm Maginness played 64 games for the Hawks between 1953 and 1958, including 15 of the 20 games in 1957, largely in the centre in the spot made vacant by John O’Mahony’s extended absence.  Speaking from his Mt Waverley home, Norm recalls that 1957 was overall his best season.

Maginness came to Hawthorn from Ashburton in the Eastern Suburban League and, making his debut in Round 14, 1953, played the last five games of that season and then every game in 1954.  A fractured AC joint and a poisoned toe wrecked his 1955 season, before being a regular in both 1956 and 1957.  He managed a further eight games in 1958, before a back injury curtailed his League career.

Like many of his teammates, Maginness worked on Saturday mornings and he recalls that between work and the game he would have a steak for lunch at Connells Hotel in the city.

Officially, Norm Maginness did not kick a single goal in his 64 games (the fifth highest number of goalless games in Hawthorn history (behind Alf Hughes, Cam McPherson, Col Austen and Don Gent).  However, Maginness claims that he did indeed kick a goal at the Punt Road end of the MCG in a clash with Melbourne.  He is not sure of which season it was, but remembers being disappointed with the newspapers for incorrectly crediting his goal to a teammate.

After Hawthorn, Maginness had stints with two VFA clubs, Mordialloc and Waverley.  The former had his former teammate, Len Crane, as captain-coach and a nest of other former Hawks in the side, while at the latter he played in their first VFA season, 1961.

While younger Hawthorn fans will not have seen Norm play, they will certainly remember Scott’s distinguished 131 game, two premiership career.  Norm also reveals that he has grandsons who are showing some football promise, so the Maginness family may yet join the three generation club.

Goals:              Ingersoll 3, Howells 2, Woodley, O’Brien.
Attendance:     26,000