The Hawks have topped the ladder at the end of the home and away season on seven previous occasions, going on to win the Flag five times (1961, 1971, 1986, 1988 and 1989) and finishing runners-up twice (1963 and 1975).
Going into top spot for the first time this season makes 2012 the fifth season in the past two decades when Hawthorn has been on top of the ladder for at least one round during the season. The previous four were 1993, 2001, 2008 and 2010.
Hawthorn also has a chance to record its highest ever percentage at the end of a home and away season. The highest percentage at the end of the season in club history is 153.7, recorded in 1971, closely followed by 153.2 in 1989. The Hawks go into the final round with a percentage of 155.4.
Brad Sewell’s stunning final goal against Sydney not only clinched victory in the game, it also took Hawthorn’s score past the century for the 12th consecutive match, a new club record. It beat the previous record of 11 set in 1982, between Round 14 and the First Semi Final.
The win against Sydney also took Hawthorn’s record in top-of-the-table home and away games to a very impressive 17 to 8.
Hawthorn and West Coast will be meeting at the MCG for just the fourth time when they clash on Friday night. The Hawks currently hold a 2-1 advantage.
In 2001, the Hawks made it 8 wins in a row to start the season with a massive 80 point win. No individual kicked more than 3 of the team’s 21 goals, while Shane Crawford, Daniel Harford and Brett Johnson all had more than 30 disposals.
In 2006, the inexperienced 13th-placed Hawks line-up put up a very impressive effort against that season’s eventual Premiers, leading at every change before losing by 10 points - 16.8.104 to 15.12.114. Mark Williams kicked 5 goals and Trent Croad, while Sam Mitchell had 35 disposals. Two years later, the two teams met in a Friday night game, with Hawthorn running out comfortable 57 point winners with Jarryd Roughead (6) and Lance Franklin (5) kicking 11 goals between them.
The overall record between the two clubs stands at Hawthorn 15 and West Coast 24.
GWS’ claiming of the 2012 wooden spoon brings to 14 the number of clubs to have finished last on the ladder since Hawthorn most recent spoon in 1965.
Only Adelaide and Port Adelaide of the recent entrants have failed to claim a wooden spoon, while of the Victorian clubs only Geelong (1958) and Essendon (1933) have claimed the spoon less recently than Hawthorn. But for a little bit of percentage in 1965 and 2006, Hawthorn would have not had the spoon for longer than any Victorian club.
Hawthorn has continued its record of delivering big crowds in away interstate games. The crowd of 31,167 last Saturday was easily the biggest at the SCG this season beating the previous high of 27,400 versus Geelong (the Swans had a bigger crowd against Collingwood at Stadium Australia). Back in Round 11, Hawthorn delivered Port Adelaide’s largest home crowd of the year (apart from its clash with Adelaide) of 26,638, while the crowd of 40,080 which saw the Hawks take on West Coast at Subiaco was the home team’s third biggest of the season, only exceeded by ones versus Fremantle (40,905) and Collingwood (40,527).
Hawthorn takes an unbeaten Round 23 record into the coming weekend. There has only been a Round 23 in four previous AFL seasons - 1991, 1992, 1994 and 2011 - but this is the first time it has been the final round. Hawthorn had the bye in 1992 and recorded good wins in the other three years.
In Round 23 1991, Hawthorn thrashed Carlton by 98 points at Princes Park - 23.18.156 to 8.10.58. The highlight was a stunning 9.7 to 0.2 third quarter which took the margin from 38 to 97 points. The goals were shared around with Paul Dear and Jason Dunstall each kicking 4, while Anthony Condon secured the 3 Brownlow votes with an amazing 44 disposal (27 kicks and 17 handballs) game.
Three years later, in Round 23 1994, the Hawks played a much closer game against the Brisbane Bears at the Gabba. Hawthorn went into the game in 9th place, needing a win against the 11th placed Brisbane to sneak back into the Eight and after establishing a 31 point quarter time lead this looked a formality, but the Bears fought back to only trail by 7 at the final change, before the Hawks steadied to win 15.12.102 to 13.13.91. The leading possession getters for the Hawks were the slightly unlikely duo of Mark Graham and Shayne Stevenson each with 23, but the star of the day was Jason Dunstall who not only kicked six crucial goals, but the first of them was his 1000th career goal, becoming just the third player after Gordon Coventry and Doug Wade to reach the mark (Tony Lockett and Gary Ablett Snr. did so subsequently).
In Round 23 last season, Hawthorn recorded a comfortable 46 point win against the Western Bulldogs at the MCG. Lance Franklin’s 5 goals earned him 2 Brownlow votes, while Luke Hodge and Brad Sewell, who each had 30 disposals, got 3 and 1 Brownlow vote respectively.
Sad news last week with the death of 1961 Premiership full-back Les Kaine at the age of 76.
Recruited from Coleraine, Kaine played 102 games for the Hawks from 1956 to 1962. He came to the club as a forward and in that role he kicked 7 goals in just his third League game. Another notable game as a forward was against Geelong in 1957, when he kicked the Hawks only 3 goals for the game. He played in Hawthorn’s first ever Finals team in 1957, thus being one of only five men to have played in both the club’s first Final and first Premiership.
Seven rounds into the 1959 season, Kaine had kicked 26 goals, which placed him second on the League goal-kicking table. It also meant that, at this stage of his career, he had 78 goals from 46 League games. Remarkably, he was to kick just two further goals in the next 57 games of his career. A mid-season trip to Perth saw him tried in defence and that’s where he remained.
The quality and consistency of Kaine’s 1961 season is reflected in the fact that he was included in Hawthorn’s best six players in ten of the 18 home and away games. One of his best performances came in the classic encounter with Fitzroy in Round 14 when it was reported in the press that he “held-up countless attacks” and was in “magnificent form”. He carried his form into the Finals, again being included on most lists of best players in the Second Semi while, in the Grand Final, he kept Jack Slattery goalless.
Having played 45 consecutive games from Round 15 1959 to Round 3 1962, Kaine suffered some injuries, which meant he only played a total of ten games in Hawthorn’s disappointing 1962 campaign. He then had several seasons as a captain-coach in the country.
Jason Dunstall holds the record for the most goals by a Hawthorn player against West Coast, kicking 7 in both 1988 and 1989. He also holds the Round 23 record with 6, recorded in 1994 (see above).
