Sam Mitchell’s absence against North Melbourne on Sunday means that every member of Hawthorn’s 2008 Premiership team has now missed a game since the Grand Final. Chance Bateman had been the only other 2008 Premiership player to play every game in 2009 and he, of course, missed Round 1 of this season through suspension.
Mitchell’s tally of consecutive post-Grand Final games stopped at 26. The previous lowest number of post-Premiership consecutive games came after the 1986 Premiership when Michael Tuck outlasted his teammates to play 35 consecutive games through to Round 9, 1988. The next shortest sequences were by John Fisher 40 consecutive matches after the 1961 Flag and Russell Greene 41 games in a row after the 1983 Premiership.
Mitchell's run of consecutive games actually stretched back to Round 5, 2008 and totalled 47 games. The current longest sequence is now 24 with Jordan Lewis having played every game since Round 4 last season.
Hawthorn supporters, disappointed with the Club’s start to the 2010 season, may do well to remember that the Club was 0-5 at this stage of the season both 50 and 40 years ago. In both cases, just 18 months later, the Hawks were Premiers.
So this week’s Footy Flashbacks looks back 50 and 40 years, as for different reasons, Rounds 6 of 1960 and 1970, were memorable occasions.
The former saw the Club’s first ever win under the coaching of John Kennedy; the latter saw the Club playing its first ever game at Waverley Park.
The 1960 season did not start too successfully for newly-appointed coach, John Kennedy. As the losing run at the start of 1960 lengthened to five, there was considerable press discussion about Hawthorn’s plight. One suggestion was that Kennedy, still only 31 years old, should make a playing comeback. However, the commentator who was to prove the most perceptive was ex-Hawk, Kevin Coghlan, who foresaw in May 1960 that, provided Hawthorn could gain some steadiness in front of goal, “the great teamwork and spirit of the young Hawks could carry them to a long string of wins”.
The trip to Arden Street to play North Melbourne (who had won two out of five) in Round 6 loomed as a possible win, although only two out The Sun’s eight tipsters picked Hawthorn. At selection, the Hawks included Noel Voigt, despite his having a chipped bone in his hand, and picked Kevin Connell in the starting 18 for the first time, despite his not having received a clearance from Maryborough.
Hawthorn wasted first use of a strong wind in the opening term. Thankfully stirring 2nd quarter defence from the likes of Les Kaine, Graham Cooper and Voigt denied North a significant half time ascendancy. Hawthorn did not waste the second wind-assisted opportunity. Kennedy moved Cooper from the ruck to centre-half forward where he goaled after a big mark, and, in his absence, Voigt was able to maintain control in the ruck while the small players “threw themselves recklessly into packs”.
It was clear that the home side would fight back with the wind in the final term. Hawthorn resisted the temptation to go completely on the defensive and by continuing to play attacking football denied North too much time in their forward line. North kept chipping away and the tension for Hawks’ supporters was extremely high until Phil Hay kicked the sealer - a 45 yard drop kick into the breeze, his third goal for the game.
The inspiration for Hawthorn in the frantic final term was veteran back pocket Roy Simmonds. During the game he had received a nasty head wound, serious enough to require several post-match stiches from Dr Ferguson. Despite this, he had refused to leave the field. The amount of blood can be gauged by the fact that at one stage, he took a mark but needed the blood wiped from his face before he could see well enough to take his kick. One match report drew an analogy between Simmonds’ play and an “anxious father” as he supported his team-mates by “holding drives, and supporting and shepherding the younger backmen”.
Having lost five straight, this win at Arden Street precipitated a run of five consecutive wins and Hawthorn finished the season with a very respectable 11 wins and 7 losses, in 5th position, only missing the Finals on percentage.
From this humble beginning in front of only 8,000 on the final Saturday in May of 1960, Kennedy’s Hawks won 27 out of 33 in the next 16 months, a run of success that was to take the Club to its first premiership. 13 of the 20 players in this first Kennedy win became Premiership players in September the following season.
Hawthorn got its first opportunity to play at Waverley in Round 6, 1970, the opponent being reigning Premiers, Richmond. Having finished 5th in 1969 the Hawks were expected to challenge for the Four in 1970, but things had not gone to plan. Hawthorn had lost all five games, four of them by margins under two goals.
One thing which was a long time coming in this game was behinds - at quarter-time Richmond led 7.0 to 4.0. The Hawks got back within 3 points by half time, led by a point at the final change, but could not hold onto the lead, losing 21.11.137 to 20.10.130. The 26,068 fans who turned out for the game got to see the best forwards of the era in fine form, with Peter Hudson kicking 8 goals for Hawthorn and Royce Hart 6 for the Tigers.
Hawthorn lost a seventh consecutive game to St Kilda the following week, but then found winning form and ended up with a 10-12 record for the season and a healthy percentage of 114.0. After losing those first seven games, the Kennedy-coached Hawks won 31 of the next 39 in the next 17 months, a run of success that was to take the club to its second premiership. 14 of the 20 members of the team that lost that first Waverley game became Premiership players in September the following season.
Hawthorn and Essendon have met on 150 occasions with the Hawks winning 56 and losing 94. Prior to losses in Rounds 7 and 22 of last season, Hawthorn had won six in a row versus Essendon, equalling the club record of six wins in a row versus Essendon set in 1987-89.
Hawthorn and Essendon have met once previously on 1 May. That was in 1976 as the undefeated Hawks travelled to Windy Hill for a Round 5 encounter. Essendon were struggling with a 1-3 record and the fickleness of their supporters saw the game attract a crowd of just 14,389.
In a low-scoring first half, that saw Leigh Matthews leave the ground injured in the second quarter, Hawthorn actually trailed by 3 points at the long break. Gradually, the Hawks got on top to lead by 8 at the final change and win by 19 points - 14.10.94 to 10.15.75. Michael Moncrieff booted 5 goals, while others names in the best players were Peter Knights, John Hendrie, Don Scott, Des Meagher and Geoff Ablett.
One of the highlights of the game for Hawks’ fans on the outer wing was when the man who went on to win the 1976 Brownlow Medalist, Graham Moss, tried to run around Don Scott and got caught holding the ball.
Overall, in Round 6 Hawthorn has recorded 36 wins and 46 defeats (having had byes in this round in 1942, 1943 and 1994). Having lost at Docklands in Round 6 for three consecutive seasons from 2004 to 2006, Hawthorn has got back on the Round 6 winning track with MCG wins in the past three seasons - a 35 point triumph over Essendon in 2007, a 12 point win, despite very inaccurate goal-kicking, against Richmond in 2008, and a 4 point victory against Carlton last season.
Leading individual goals records by Hawthorn players against Essendon are 12 by Jason Dunstall in 1992, 11 by Leigh Matthews in 1973 and 10 by Michael Moncrieff in 1972. While it is 13 years since a Hawthorn player kicked 10 goals in a game, the last three bags of 9 have been against Essendon - by Jason Dunstall in 1998 and Lance Franklin in 2007 and 2008.
The best tally for Round 6 is 9 by Dunstall in both 1992 and 1993 (against Collingwood and Adelaide respectively) and Franklin (against Essendon in 2007). As mentioned above, Peter Hudson booted 8 in Round 6, 1970, in the Club’s first ever Waverley game.
