Alastair Clarkson this Saturday becomes the tenth individual to coach Hawthorn Football Club in 50 VFL/AFL games.

Ivan McAlpine was the first to reach the mark when he coached the Club to a 22 point win over Fitzroy in Round 14, 1937.

Other coaches to record wins in their 50th game were Jack Hale, David Parkin, Allan Jeans, Alan Joyce and Ken Judge. The most memorable of these was David Parkin whose 50th game as coach was the 1978 Grand Final. Losing coaches in their 50th games were Alec Albiston, John Kennedy and Peter Schwab. Only Kennedy, Jeans, Hale and Schwab made it to 100 games.

Clarkson’s first 49 games have produced 17 wins, made up of three wins against each of Carlton, Essendon and Geelong, with two successes against Fremantle, Kangaroos and Melbourne and solitary victories over Brisbane Lions and Richmond.

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Hawthorn has the opportunity this week to record four consecutive wins against Essendon for just the fourth time in the Club’s history. There were sequences of four wins in a row in 1977-78 and 1983-84, with the record of six consecutive wins being set in 1987-89.

Overall, Hawthorn has won 53 and lost 92 of its 145 matches against Essendon.

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Last week, Footy Flashbacks noted that as well as having won 9 of 13 at Aurora Stadium, Hawthorn has also won 9 of its last 13 at Skilled Stadium. Another venue where Hawthorn has won 9 of its 13 most recent encounters is Windy Hill, the traditional home of this week’s opponent Essendon.

The Hawks beat the Dons on their home turf for six consecutive seasons from 1974 to 1979 and followed up with further wins in 1981, 1982 and 1984. Essendon’s last four Windy Hill wins against Hawthorn came in 1973, 1980, 1983 and 1986.

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The two individual goal-kicking stats mentioned in last week’s column each got early follow-ups in last Sunday’s game against the Bulldogs. Lance Franklin quickly ensured that his run of goals in consecutive matches extended to 16, while the third goal of Brad Sewell’s career means that he has now scored goals in two of the 90 halves in which he has played.

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2007 is the fifth season when Hawthorn’s results in the first five rounds have been LWWWL, the others being 1955, 1959, 1961 and 1980. In the first three of those years the Hawks lost in Round 6 while, in 1980, the Hawks recorded a Round 6 win.

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Hawthorn’s past three Round 6 matches have all been at Docklands and have all ended in defeats. They were to Richmond by one point in 2004, to Carlton by 6 points in 2005 and to the Kangaroos by 22 points last season. The Hawks’ most recent Round 6 win was against Carlton at Princes Park in 2003.

The most recent season in which Hawthorn played at the MCG in Round 6 was 2002, while the most recent Round 6 clash with Essendon was in 1986, a game that resulted in a 24 point Hawthorn victory. Round 6 overall has seen Hawthorn record 33 wins and 46 losses, having had the bye three times.

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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.

The best tally for Round 6 is nine by Jason Dunstall in both 1992 and 1993 (against Collingwood and Adelaide respectively). Peter Hudson booted 8 in Round 6, 1970, in the Club’s first ever Waverley game, a seven point loss to Richmond.

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1957 – Fifty Years On

Round 4 1957
Saturday 11 May 1957 at Glenferrie
Hawthorn 6.15.51 d. Melbourne 4.9.33

Hawthorn returned to the top of the League ladder with a hard fought 18 point win over the 1955 and 1956 Premiers, Melbourne.

The clash between third (Hawthorn) and second (Melbourne) had match of the day status. It was only the fourth week of TV coverage of VFL football and two of the three TV channels (7 and 2) were showing the final quarter live, while the more traditional radio coverage was being supplied by 3AW (commentators Norman Banks, Doug Heywood and Pat Cash) and 3XY (Jack Dyer and Lou Richards).

Despite what the low scores might indicate, the game was played in fine weather. Actually, drought conditions were prevailing and there were bushfires in NSW and SA, a highly unusual occurrence for the middle of May.

With the roving division having been perceived as a weakness in the Round 3 loss to North Melbourne, coach Jack Hale employed the unusual tactic of running two rovers on the ball, but soon discovered that one was enough. John Kennedy deployed his usual talent of upsetting Melbourne ruckman, ‘Big Bob’ Johnson.

The scoreboard showed Melbourne in front at quarter time, but it was not a true reflection of the game. Both Melbourne goals had been the result of doubtful free kicks, while Ray Yeoman when running into an open goal had been called back by umpire Nash “much to the disapproval of the Hawthorn stand”.

Hawthorn did not kick a goal until the 20 minute mark of the second quarter, when Terry Ingersoll took a mark and played on while, right on the half time bell, Brian Falconer added another to reduce the deficit to just 3 points.

The star of the third quarter was Geoff Howells who added the Hawks’ only two goals for the term. Press reports noted his “dominating marking and long kicking” which necessitated Melbourne changing the opponent on him. The final quarter also saw both goals come from one player, Maurie Young.

It is not often that six goals produce a comfortable win, but it was noted that Hawthorn had kicked its winning score “by courage rather than by skill”. Overall the team had many good players including Kennedy, Howells, Crane, Woodley, Simmonds, Yeoman and Young.

Graham Perkin writing in The Age noted that “straighter kicking, less handball from within kicking distance and a concentration on direct methods would have won a more decisive decision”, while his colleague, Percy Beames, opined that the team “left their supporters convinced that if it needs only courage and great physical fitness to make the four, the Hawks will finish up a finalist”.

The unpredictable results were dominating media coverage. For the first time, in the 33 seasons of a 12 team competition, every team had won a game by Round 4. The evenness of the sides was also seen as a reason why the six home teams had won this round, following five home wins the previous week.

The teams might all have been even, but Hawthorn fans could savour being on top for the second time in three weeks, quite an achievement having only been there once previously in 32 years.

Hawthorn 0.4 2.9 4.13 6.15.51
Melbourne 2.1 3.6 4.6 4.9.33

Goals: M. Young 2, Howells 2, Ingersoll, Falcolner.

Attendance 20,000