Hawthorn’s nine Premierships have come from 14 Grand Finals, a very similar strike rate to the 10 from 15 in the main competition. What is more remarkable about the record in this competition is that the Hawks lost the first four Grand Finals they contested (in 1959, 1960, 1962 and 1966) before finally breaking through for a win in 1968. Hawthorn has won the last six Grand Finals it has contested in this competition and 9 out of its last 10.
Since winning the Premiership in 1999, Hawthorn has not only failed to reach a Grand Final, but has only made the Semi Finals twice. In 2001 the team lost to Brisbane Lions at Docklands by 15 points and, in 2008, lost by 23 points to Adelaide at Football Park.
Of course, the two seasons when Hawthorn made the last four in the Pre-Season competition were also the only two when the club has gone onto make the last four in the AFL Premiership season.
Since the competition returned to a knockout format in 2003, the most common Hawthorn outcome has been an opening success, followed by a defeat in the quarter finals. This has happened in four of the past seven seasons.
Just as it had been in the VFL in 1925, Hawthorn’s first game in this competition in 1956 was against Saturday night’s opponent, Richmond in 1956. Richmond won that first match and also the second which was the 1962 Night Grand Final. This remains the Tigers only Premiership success in the competition, but they do still lead Hawthorn 5-4 in the head-to-head.
Interestingly, in that first game in 1956 Hawthorn kicked the unusual score of 9.19.73, a score that they then repeated in their third game.
Hawthorn has played in Launceston eight times in the past nine pre-seasons, winning 5 and losing 3. The first of these games was in 2001 versus Richmond.
2010 will be the 50th time this competition has been contested (1956-71 and 1977-) with the Hawks have played in 46 of the 49 previous seasons, missing 1961, 1963 and 1971 due to making the Finals.
The only time that the original post-season Night Series included the Finalists from the day competition was, ironically enough, 1957, the year of Hawthorn’s first appearance in the Finals.
Overall, Hawthorn has played 110 games (the most of any club - one ahead of North Melbourne), winning 71 and losing 39.
A small numbers of Hawthorn players have represented the club in the Night/Pre-Season competition, without ever making a Senior VFL-AFL appearance. Names include Gary Halbert, Richard Amos, Scott Lee, Clinton Browning and Jason Danilchenko. Danilchenko came to Hawthorn after 29 games at North Melbourne and despite playing four Ansett Cup games across the pre-seasons of 1998 and 1999 never managed a League game, mainly due to injuries.
Hawthorn’s least favourite venue for matches in the Pre-Season competition would have to be Bruce Stadium in Canberra. The Hawks played there in 1990 and 1995, losing to Sydney by 9 points in the former year and by 13 points in the latter.
However, the final margin does not tell the full story of the game 15 years ago. Hawks supporters may not recall that the team actually led by 34 points half way through the third quarter before conceding the next nine goals. What may jog memories about the game is that Hawthorn wore the infamous blue, brown and gold diamond jumpers which have now become something of a collector’s item.
Jason Dunstall is the only player from any club to pass 100 goals in this competition. He finished his career with 116 (next highest is Brendan Fevola with 98). Dunstall’s highest tally in a game was 9 versus Richmond in 1992, something of a warm up for the regular season when he kicked 17 and 12 against the hapless Tigers.
One record Hawthorn does not hold is the games record for the competition. Chris Langford has played more games in this completion than any other Hawthorn player with a total of 32 (13 behind the all clubs record held by John Blakey of Fitzroy and North Melbourne). Next highest Hawk is Gary Ayres with 30.
When Michael Tuck retired after the 1991 season the AFL honoured him by striking a medal for best-on-ground in the Pre-Season Grand Final. Appropriately, the inaugural medal was won by a Hawthorn player and even more appropriately by one wearing Tuck’s number 17 - Paul Hudson who had shifted from 33 to 17. The other Hawks to win the Tuck Medal was Paul Salmon in 1999.
The highest attendance at a Hawthorn game in this competition was 49,874 at the 1999 Grand Final, narrowly ahead of the 49,453 at the 1992 Grand Final.
