The others were David O’Halloran (1976), Terry Wallace (1978), John Platten (1986) and Tony Hall (1988). All of these four capped their every-game debut seasons with premiership success.
109 players have represented Hawthorn in Grand Finals, a number that will increase to 131 this week. Hawthorn’s excellent strike rate of 9 wins from 14 Grand Final appearances means that 96 of the 109 are Premiership players. This leaves an unlucky 13 who have appeared in Grand Finals without tasting success. The unluckiest of all was Rod Lester-Smith, who is the only one of the 13 to have appeared in two losing teams (1984 and 1985), without also playing in a winning Grand Final team.
2008 is the first time since 1961 that Hawthorn has entered a Grand Final with no player in the team having previously represented the club in a Grand Final.
In the period from 1963 to 1991, the 1971 premiership team had the lowest number of players with previous experience of representing the club in a Grand Final. There were two, David Parkin and Ken Beck, both having previously played in the losing 1963 team.
Until now, the most appearances for Hawthorn that any player has made before playing in a Grand Final was the 129 of Allan Woodley, before he played his 130th and last game in the 1963 Grand Final. Others who have played 100-plus games before appearing in a Grand Final were John Peck (127 games), Peter Knights (126), Graham Arthur (117) Bob Keddie (114) Peter Crimmins (106), John Kennedy Jnr. (102) and Peter Hudson (100).
The Woodley record will be smashed on Saturday when Shane Crawford appears in a Grand Final after 304 previous games. The only player in the VFL-AFL to have played more games than Crawford before finally appearing in a Grand Final was Paul Roos, his only Grand Final in 1996 was his 314th game.
Other current Hawks ahead of the old record are Trent Croad (183), Sam Mitchell (132) and Luke Hodge (131). Campbell Brown, Chance Bateman and Robert Campbell are other 2008 Hawks to have reached 100 games without a Grand Final.
Shane Crawford will lose the unwanted record of most Hawthorn games without a Grand Final to Mark Graham (223 games). Next on the list will be Ben Dixon (203) and then comes the previous holder, prior to Crawford, Ted Pool (200).
Hawthorn and Geelong are tied at one win apiece in Grand Finals; Hawthorn lead 3 to 2 in Finals; while Geelong leads 73 to 66 (with one draw) in their 140 overall meetings. The Hawks won the three matches in 2006-07, while Geelong won in Round 17 this season. The two clubs have only met six times at the MCG for three wins apiece.
In the 25 games between the two clubs from 1987 to 2000, the Hawks had 20 wins, including ten by less than two goals, and only five losses (none in close games). The 10 wins in close games were by margins of three (1987), eight (1989), six (1989 GF), two (1991 SSF), five (1995), two (1996), six (1997), two (1999), two (1999 again) and nine (2000 EF).
If Brent Renouf is selected in the Grand Final, it will only be his 8th AFL game. This is not a club record as the 1975 Grand Final was only the second game for full-forward Michael Cooke. Recruited from Old Carey, Cooke and his younger brother, Robert, made a huge impression when they suddenly appeared in the Reserves late in the season, kicking big bags of goals.
Selected to make his Senior debut in the Second Semi Final, Cooke was a useful contributor with four goals. Unfortunately, it became obvious early that he was not going to be able to repeat the effort in the big one. He was replaced in the second quarter and never played another game. Also in the 1975 Grand Final, Shane Murphy was playing just his third match, having debuted in Round 22. Murphy had a slightly longer career than Cooke, playing a total of 14 games until 1978.
Others to have played few games before a Grand Final appearance include Jack Cunningham, whose 7th game was the 1961 Grand Final, Rodney Eade (10th game, 1976), Peter Russo (11th game, 1978), Andy Collins (8th game, 1987) and Greg Madigan (7th game, 1989).
Stuart Dew is seeking to become the first player to play in a Hawthorn premiership team having previously played in one elsewhere. In fact, in the 46 years between Carlton premiership player Herb ‘Stumpy’ Turner’s 1950 arrival and Paul Salmon’s Hawthorn debut in 1996, the Hawks did not import a single premiership player. The only player to have even played in a Grand Final elsewhere and then one for Hawthorn was Stuart Trott who played in St Kilda’s 1971 loss to Hawthorn and then for the Hawks in their 1975 defeat by North Melbourne.
There have been two players who played in a Hawthorn Flag and then in another elsewhere – Barry Rowlings (Hawthorn 1976 and Richmond 1980) and Darren Jarman (Hawthorn 1991 and Adelaide 1997-98).
Hawthorn has won four consecutive games by more than 50 points for just the fifth time in the club’s history, having won the past four matches by margins of 71, 78, 53 and 54. Previous years when the Hawks achieved this sort of streak were 1971, 1977, 1986 and 1991.
Hawthorn will be playing its final game of the season against Geelong for the fourth time in the past seven seasons. The most recent occasion was 2006 when at Docklands Hawthorn 21.7.133 defeated Geelong 10.12.72, a result which lifted Hawthorn to 11th, just one place behind 10th placed Geelong. 16 of the 22 in that Hawthorn team played in last week’s Preliminary Final as did 15 of the Geelong side. Both clubs would be pleased with their progress in the past two years.
Both Adelaide-based Hawthorn supporter and stats man, Lester Daniels, and Hawks Forever Chair, Peter Stathopoulos, have pointed out that this year’s Finals have provided the Hawks with the opportunity to beat the three teams that they failed to beat at least once in the home and away season. Accounting for the Bulldogs and St Kilda leaves just Geelong to go.
Other seasons when Hawthorn beat every other team at least once were 1961, 1971, 1975, 1976, 1984, 1986, 1988 and 1989. In both 1961 and 1988, the Hawks achieved this by winning the Grand Final, in the latter year having also beaten in the Second Semi the other team (Carlton) they previously had not beaten.
When Mark Williams kicked his second goal, in the second quarter of the Preliminary Final, it took him to 40 goals for the season, and made 2008 the first year since 1991 when the club has had three players reach 40. In 1991, four players did – Jason Dunstall 82, Paul Hudson 62, Tony Hall 42 and Darren Jarman 41, with Dermott Brereton almost joining them as he finished on 39.
The most goals kicked by a Hawthorn player in a Grand Final are the 8 by Dermott Brereton in the78 point loss to Essendon in 1985. Jason Dunstall kicked 7 in 1988, plus 6 in 1986 and 1991. Others to kick 6 were Leigh Matthews in 1983 and Paul Abbott in 1988. The most goals in a player’s first Grand Final are the 4, kicked by Bob Keddie in 1971 and Dean Anderson in 1989.
The individual goal-kicking record for a Hawthorn player versus Geelong is 12 by Dunstall in 1990 and 1992, while Wally Culpitt kicked 10 against them in 1944.
