Hawthorn will be aiming to keep a run of home wins going in its first home game for 2011 at the MCG on Sunday. 

The Hawks won their last nine home games in 2010 (six at the MCG and three at Aurora), however, it will take some time to equal the club record sequence of 21 home wins in 1987-89. 



Hawthorn has won its last six matches against Melbourne.  The second win of the sequence squared the ledger at 74-74 in the head-to-head battle between the clubs, for the first time since it was 0-0 in 1925.  The subsequent four wins have put Hawthorn in front - 78 to 74.



The current sequence began in this same round four years ago.  Looking back at that Round 2 2007 game, it demonstrates how quickly perceptions and fortunes can change in football.  Having lost badly to Brisbane Lions at the Gabba in Round 1, the Hawks went in as $2.40 outsiders against Melbourne (which had also lost in the opening round).  Experts tipping Hawthorn could be counted on the fingers of one hand.

Before an Easter Monday crowd of 43,197, the Hawks trailed by 13 points at quarter time, but then took control, leading by 13 at half-time, 29 at three quarter time and winning 17.14.116 to 14.10.94.  Interestingly, there were four multiple goal-kickers (Mark Williams 6, Tim Boyle 3, Ben Dixon 2 and Trent Croad 2) and none of them are still play for the club. Those who got the Brownlow votes (Jordan Lewis 3 and Brad Sewell 2) are still with us.  Others in the best included Ladson, Williams, Mitchell and Campbell.

Incidentally, 16 of the 22 members of that team of outsiders went on to become Premiership players just 18 months later, while the beaten favourites slumped to 14th in 2007 and finished with the wooden spoon in both 2008 and 2009.



David Hale is the seventh Queenslander to appear in the brown and gold.  Up until 2007, there had only been three - Jason Dunstall, Stephen Lawrence and Michael Osborne - but, in the past four seasons, they have been joined by Brent Renouf (2008), Brendan Whitecross (2009), Rhan Hooper (2010) and now Hale.



More surprisingly, in making his debut for Hawthorn last Saturday, David Hale became just the fifth player from North Melbourne to shift to Hawthorn and play a senior game, following Terry Moore (1979), Andrew Demetriou (1988), Anthony Rock (1999) and Josh Gibson (2010). 

The fact that it took until 1979 for Hawthorn to recruit a player from North is remarkable, given that they had given games to players from the other ten clubs as early as 1931 and that Moore was the Hawks’ 110th player from a rival club.

Eleven players have shifted in the other direction, from Hawthorn to North.  Indeed, eight of them had done so by the time Alec Albiston went there in 1950, after his famous falling out with Hawthorn.  There was then a gap of more than 50 years before, in recent times, Lance Picioane, Nathan Thompson and Jon Hay headed to Arden Street.



In contrast, Cameron Bruce is the 15th former Melbourne player to wear the brown and gold, but he is the first for 25 years.  The most recent one was Roger Ellingworth who played a solitary game for the Hawks in 1986.  Prior to him there was Michael Byrne’s who made a stunning 8 goal debut for Hawthorn in 1982.  The list of ex-Melbourne players to come to Hawthorn includes three who had played in Premiership teams at Melbourne - Bert Chadwick, Jack O’Keefe and Gordon Bowman.



Hawthorn has won only four of its past 16 Round 2 matches - in 2001, 2003, 2007 and 2008.  Two of those wins, in 2003 and 2007, came after Round 1 defeats. 

Overall, the round is one of the Club’s poorest with 34 wins, one draw and 51 losses.



50 years ago, Hawthorn’s first win in what was to become the Club’s first Premiership year, 1961, came in Round 2, against reigning premiers Melbourne, at the MCG.  It followed a shock loss at home to South Melbourne in Round 1.

In front of a crowd of 34,640, the Hawks led by a solitary point at half time, but then pulled away to win 11.10.76 to 5.14.44, with Garry Young kicking 4 and Phil Hay 2.  Two of the best players were two who had not been in the team in Round 1 - Roy Simmonds and Malcolm Hill, while other good players included Ron Nalder and Kevin Connell.

In The Age, Ron Carter concluded that “Hawthorn clearly stamped itself as the greatest threat for years to Melbourne’s supremacy”.  A key feature of their play was how powerfully they had finished the game, Carter observing that “during the last half they were yards faster” than the team which had won five of the past six grand finals.



40 years ago, in Round 2 1971, the Hawks scored a comfortable 44 point win against Fitzroy at Glenferrie - 14.13.97 to 7.11.53.  It was the Club’s 13 consecutive win versus the Lions, a streak stretching back to 1963. 

Peter Hudson kicked 4, while Peter Crimmins, Bob Keddie, Kevin Heath and Geoff Smith all booted 2.  Hawthorn’s South Australian recruit Robert Day made his debut appearance.  The win lifted Hawthorn to fourth, with the three other unbeaten teams, Melbourne, St Kilda and Collingwood above them on the ladder.



25 years ago, in Round 2 1986, Hawthorn played a Friday night game for the first time.  And it was a thriller as the Hawks won 17.9.111 to 16.12.108, with Michael Byrne kicking the winning goal, his third for the night.  The Hawks had trailed at every change by 6, 16 and 14, before fighting back. 

Russell Greene was a clear best-on-ground, while John Kennedy was leading goalkicker with 4.  As well as Greene and Kennedy, two other players, Gary Buckenara and Richard Loveridge, also got over 20 disposals.  Hawthorn gave a debut to David Sullivan in what proved to be his only game.



20 years ago, in Round 2 1991, Hawthorn bounced back from its opening round loss to Adelaide to stun Sydney with a 10.3 to 2.2 opening term, before cruising to a 91 point win at Princes Park - 25.16.166 to 10.15.75.  Jason Dunstall with 9 goals got the 3 Brownlow votes, Darren Jarman 2 and John Platten 1, while Anthony Condon was the leading possession-getter with 30.



The leading individual goalkicker against Melbourne is Peter Hudson who booted 16 in Round 5, 1969.  Jason Dunstall holds the Club’s Round 2 record kicking 9 twice - in 1988 versus Richmond and in 1991 versus Sydney.