If the Hawks finish in the top four in 2010 they will become the first Hawthorn team to do so in a year ending in 0. Until now, the best Hawthorn finish in a year ending in 0 has been 5th in 1960 and 1990, and 6th in 2000.
Trent Croad’s off-season retirement, after a year on the sidelines, means that he joins Shane Crawford in finishing his career in the 2008 Grand Final.
Two players finishing their careers in the same Premiership team has only happened once before in Hawthorn history. That was in 1976 when both Ian Bremner and Brian Douge retired in the wake of Premiership success.
Other Hawks whose final games for the club were winning Grand Finals have been Terry Wallace (1986), Russell Greene (1988) and Michael Tuck (1991).
There are five players who have had the much less happy career conclusion of playing in a losing Grand Final team. These were Allan Woodley (1963), Bohdan Jaworskyj (1975), Michael Cooke (1975), Leigh Matthews (1985) and David O’Halloran (1985).
Hawthorn was behind in the head-to-head battle with this week’s opponent, Melbourne, from 1925 until 2008. Hawthorn’s massive 104 point win in Round 1 2008 squared the ledger at 74 wins apiece and follow-up victories in Round 9 of 2008 and the same round in 2009 have put Hawthorn in front - 76 to 74, from 150 games.
Hawthorn lost the first nine meetings between the two clubs and the deficit grew as big as 36 (after a 4 point loss at the MCG in Round 7, 1968) before the Hawks began to reel it in. When the deficit was 36, the two clubs had played 74 games, with the Hawks winning 19 and losing 55. It took exactly the same number of games, and a 55-19 record the other way, for the Hawks to level the tallies at 74-74.
The Hawks did some serious catching up when putting together the club’s greatest ever winning sequence against another club, the run of 22 consecutive victories against Melbourne from Round 13, 1973 to Round 3, 1984.
Hawthorn has had mixed results in the Round 1s of seasons ending in 0, with the highlights being landmark wins in 1930, 1940 and 1990.
80 years ago, in Round 1, 1930, Hawthorn recorded its first ever opening round success, with an 11 point win over St Kilda in front of 18,000 fans at Glenferrie. Recent inductee to the Hawthorn Hall of Fame, Bert Hyde, booted 5, while new recruit the 31 year old Len ‘Tiny’ Mills chipped in with 3 crucial goals. It was also a historic day for football in general as, for the first time, an injured player was able to be replaced - George Bennett was the first 19th man for Hawthorn.
70 years ago, in Round 1 1940, Hawthorn kicked a club record score of 25.11.161 and thrashed North Melbourne by 72 points. Alec Albiston became the first Hawthorn player to kick 10 goals in a game. He was ably assisted by Vin Doherty, who kicked 7 goals in his first game for the club, after crossing from Collingwood, a record for goals on club debut that stood until Michael Byrne kicked 8 in 1982.
Hawthorn’s only other Round 1 win, in a year ending in 0, was also a big one, by 115 points against Geelong at Waverley in 1990, emphatically franking the result of the previous season’s Grand Final. Jason Dunstall kicked 12 goals.
The starts of years ending in 0 were not the best in the Kennedy era. John Kennedy Snr. made his playing debut in 1950 when, not only did Hawthorn lose by 80 points to Geelong in Round 1, but went through the whole season without a win.
In 1960, when Kennedy took over as coach, the club lost the first five games, before hitting form and narrowly missing the Final Four. Then, in 1970, the Kennedy-coached Hawks lost the first seven games of the season. Of course, 18 months after the poor starts to the 1960 and 1970 seasons, Hawthorn won the 1961 and 1971 Grand Finals.
The losing run continued in 1980 when, in Hawthorn’s first League game in March, the Hawks suffered a five point loss to Richmond at Princes Park. The year 2000 saw Hawthorn’s earliest ever Round 1 game, being played on Monday, 13 March in the Olympic year. It was Hawthorn’s first home game as a tenant at the MCG and is not a happy memory as the Hawks were thrashed by Collingwood.
Hawthorn is playing Melbourne in the opening round for the fifth time in the past nine seasons, having played the Demons in Round 1 for three consecutive seasons, from 2002 to 2004 and again in 2008.
Overall, the Hawks have won 6 and lost 2 of their seven Round 1 meetings with Melbourne. The first of these encounters did not take place until 1972, making Melbourne the last of the other Victorian clubs that Hawthorn met in Round 1. That 1972 game will always be remembered for Peter Hudson’s 8 goals before half time and subsequent knee injury.
That day also saw the unfurling of the 1971 Flag prior to the game. The picture of the team lined up for the unfurling has now been used to fill a gap in the Hawks Museum. There was no team photo taken in 1972 so the picture of the Round 1 team has been used as a substitute.
Other memorable moments from Round 1 matches against Melbourne include:
- Jeff Murray receiving a four match suspension for striking on debut in 1978.
- Leigh Matthews kicking 11 goals to spoil Ron Barassi’s return as Melbourne coach in 1981.
- Shane Crawford’s debut in 1993.
- The 104 point thrashing of the Demons in 2008.
Mitch Thorp finished his Hawthorn career having played just two games. There have been 59 Hawthorn players who have played two games, with the majority having played them in consecutive games. However, by playing his two games so far apart - Round 15, 2007 and Round 2, 2009 - Thorp set a new club record for longest gap between the two games for a two game player. The previous biggest span for two games was 21 by Craig Hoyer who played his first game in Round 4, 1981 and his second and last in Round 2, 1982.
Hawthorn needs to beat Melbourne this week to maintain a pattern of alternating Round 1 results. In the past seven seasons results have alternated - wins in 2004, 2006 and 2008 against losses in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009. Last season’s loss to Geelong was the Hawks’ 50th Round 1 defeat, balanced against 35 wins.
The leading individual goalkicker against Melbourne is Peter Hudson who booted 16 in Round 5, 1969. The Round 1 club record is held by Jason Dunstall who kicked 12 in 1990 and 1992, both times against Geelong. Others to reach double figures in Round 1 were Alec Albiston (10 in 1940), Peter Hudson (10 in 1968) and Leigh Matthews (11 in 1981).
