Both of Hawthorn’s wins were by big margins, whereas both losses were by less than a goal.
In the 1974 First Semi Final the Hawks thrashed the Magpies by 50 points - 21.12.138 to 13.10.88, having set up the win by racing to a 33 point quarter time lead.
Leigh Matthews kicked 7 goals and both Michael Moncrieff and Charlie Grummisch contributed 4.
Four years later, in the 1978 Qualifying Final, the margin was an even bigger 56 points - 23.16.154 to 14.14.98. Moncrieff kicked 8 goals, first year player Peter Russo 4 and Leigh Matthews 3.
In between those two wins, Hawthorn lost in1977 to Collingwood by 2 points - 16.14.110 to 17.10.112. Peter Hudson kicked 4 goals and Leigh Matthews 3.
Michael Tuck was Hawthorn’s best player, although his game is best remembered for being struck by Collingwood’s Phil Carman, an incident which resulted in Carman being suspended for 2 games and missing a Grand Final and a Grand Final replay.
And, of course, the other narrow loss was in last year’s Preliminary Final.
Hawthorn has a good record in Qualifying Finals, having won nine and lost five. The record looks even better if one excludes the different types of Qualifying Finals under the original McIntyre Eight (1994-99) which carried the risk of elimination - Hawthorn played two of them and lost both.
Overall, the Hawks’ Finals record is 42 wins and 27 defeats from 69 games.
Hawthorn has finished with its highest ever percentage at the end of a home and away season.
The 2012 percentage of 154.6 exceeded the previous record of 153.7 set in 1971.
Hawthorn has finished with a 17-5 record at the end of a home and away season for the seventh time. The only one of the previous six which delivered a Premiership was 2008. The others produced three Grand Final defeats (1975, 1984 and 1987) and two third places (1977 and 1982).
A landmark event in HFC history, which escaped this column’s notice, occurred in the Round 20 win against Port Adelaide in Launceston.
Adelaide-based Hawks fan John Rosen brought to our attention that a goal kicked by Luke Hodge in the last quarter of his 200th game meant that Hawthorn had for the first time in the club’s 88 seasons in the VFL-AFL scored more goals than it had conceded - 23,441 to 23,440.
The previous goal by Matt Suckling had squared the ledger for the first time since half way through the first quarter of Round 1 1925. In that debut game, opponent Richmond kicked the first 2 goals, but then Hawthorn’s Hec Yeomans kicked 2 to make it level at 2 goals for and 2 against. Richmond then cleared away and it was not until Suckling’s goal that it was level again.
The Hawks have now stretched the positive position to 19 goals - 23,493 to 23,474. Let’s hope that we now have 88 seasons in positive territory.
The attendance of 50,023 last Friday night was just the second occasion when a Hawthorn home game against an interstate opponent has attracted a crowd of over 50,000.
The only previous 50,000 plus crowd for a home game against an interstate team was the 72,130 who attended the final game at Waverley in Round 22 1999. The previous record for a home game against West Coast was 29,138 in 2008.
What perhaps makes the crowd last Friday night more remarkable is that Hawthorn has still not recorded 50,000 plus home and away crowds against three Victorian opponents - North Melbourne, St Kilda and Western Bulldogs.
Hawthorn’s average home and away attendance in 2012 was 40,501 the fourth highest in the club’s history. The only three better attended seasons were 2010 (41,915), 2008 (41,395) and 2009 (40,550).
The four previous finals between Hawthorn and Collingwood have all attracted healthy crowds. The biggest was 87,421 (1977), followed by 87,112 (2011), 86,795 (1974) and 79,931 (1978).
This week Grant Birchall will become the fourth Tasmanian to play 150 games for Hawthorn, joining Rodney Eade (229), Darrin Pritchard (211) and Ian Paton (155). Overall, he will be the 59th 150-gamer in the brown and gold. It has been a bumper season for Hawthorn players reaching the milestone, as Birchall joins Jordan Lewis, Brad Sewell, Lance Franklin and Jarryd Roughead who have already got there in 2012.
Hawthorn has won its first McClelland Trophy since 1988. This is the first time the Hawks have won the award since it began to be awarded automatically to the minor premiers.
From 1951 to 1990, the Trophy was a club champion award with points awarded for wins in Senior, Reserves and Under 19s grades. Under that format, the Hawks won the Trophy six times (in 1961, 1971, 1984, 1985 (tied), 1986 and 1988); came second five times (in 1975, 1976, 1978, 1982 and 1987); and third seven times (in 1957, 1959, 1963 (tied), 1970, 1972, 1974 and 1989).
Hawthorn’s biggest Qualifying Final victory came a quarter of a century ago - a 99 point victory over Sydney. In that 1987 Final, in front of 47,752 at Waverley, the Hawks led by a comparatively modest 27 points at half-time, but then tore the Swans apart with a 14.8 to 3.2 second half. Dermott Brereton kicked 6, while Gary Buckenara and Jason Dunstall each booted 5. Buckenara had 32 disposals, Robert Diperdomenico 31 and John Kennedy Jnr. 27.
In the 36 years prior to the Hawks’ inaugural premiership year, 1961, they had only beaten Collingwood four times in 61 games and could only look enviously at Collingwood’s 13 Premierships.
From 1961 onwards, the boot has been on the other foot, with the Hawks holding a 54 to 39 advantage in the head-to-head, and also having won ten Premierships to the Magpies two in the last five decades. This means that currently, after 153 games, Hawthorn has won 58 and Collingwood 96. Hawthorn’s longest winning sequence against Collingwood is seven which was achieved between 1985 and 1988.
Since 2007, Hawthorn has won 7 out of its last 10 against Collingwood.
The most goals by a Hawthorn player in an early Final is the 8 by Michael Moncrieff in the 1978 Qualifying Final versus Collingwood, equalled by Lance Franklin’s 8 against the Western Bulldogs in 2008.
Jason Dunstall holds the Hawthorn record for most goals in a game versus Collingwood, having booted 11 in both the 1989 and 1990 seasons. Next best was Michael Moncrieff’s 10 in 1976.
