The first meeting was at Carrara on Sunday 14 June and was attended by a modest crowd of 7,284. They saw the Hawks score a comprehensive win kicking 24.11.165 to 11.4.70.
Jason Dunstall kicked the first 10 goal-plus tally of his career finishing with 11 goals, ably assisted by Dermott Brereton (5) and John Platten (3). Those three got the Brownlow votes, eventual 1987 Brownlow Medallist Platten getting two, for a game in which he got 34 disposals.
However, the game is probably best remembered for ex-Bulldog Jim Edmond cleaning up Hawthorn’s Russell Morris with an elbow, an incident for which he received a six-week suspension. The Carrara scoreboard flashed up “Cop That” as Morris lay injured on the ground.
Former Hawthorn Premiership player Michael McCarthy was a member of that first Bears team to take on the Hawks, and he has subsequently been joined by a number of others who have played for both clubs.
Two other players in the Hawthorn team that day, Peter Curran and Rodney Eade, ended up at the Bears while others heading north have included Ken Judge, Rod Lester-Smith, Robert Dickson and Andrew Gowers.
More recently the traffic has tended to be in the other direction with those heading south including Nathan Chapman, John Barker, Rhan Hooper and Broc McCauley.
After this round, Alastair Clarkson will have the second longest sequence of consecutive games as coach of Hawthorn. He will move to 175, passing Allan Jeans, who coached 174 consecutive games from 1981 to 1987, before illness prevented him coaching in 1988.
The club record is 221, which John Kennedy achieved in his second spell from 1967 to 1976.
However, there is an argument that Kennedy only coached 148 consecutive games from 1967 to Round 12 1973, as in Round 13 1973 he was away coaching Victoria, leaving assistant Roy Simmonds in charge of the Hawks for their clash with Melbourne at the MCG. This of course would make Clarkson the new record-holder for consecutive games coaching Hawthorn.
Since Brisbane entered the league in 1987, the two clubs have met 40 times with the Hawks having recorded 24 victories and 16 defeats. After Hawthorn won 12 of the first 13 games between 1987 and 1995, the Lions won 10 of the 11 encounters between 2001 and early 2007, but now the Hawks have won five of the past six encounters.
Hawthorn played Brisbane at the Gabba in a remarkable 16 consecutive seasons from 1993 to 2008. In an odd twist, 2012 is now the fourth year in a row when the Hawks have not been fixtured to play there.
30 years ago, in Round 12 1982, Leigh Matthews continued his superb recent form with a stunning 33 disposal and 5 goal game as Hawthorn demolished Geelong by 59 points - 17.10.112 to 6.17.53.
A crowd of 38,086 attended the Queen’s Birthday holiday game at Waverley and saw a tight first quarter with Geelong leading by a point at quarter time.
However, once Gary Buckenara goaled twice in the first nine of the second quarter and Matthews kicked another off the ground, the Hawks took control.
Apart from Matthews, others in the best players were Chris Mew, Michael Tuck, John Kennedy, Terry Wallace and Buckenara.
Twice in the past 40 years, Hawthorn has lost Round 12 matches in years ending in 2 by a solitary point.
In 1972, the defeat was to Melbourne at the MCG - 11.10.76 to 11.9.75, with Charlie Grummisch and second-gamer, Andrew Scott both kicking three goals.
In 1992, it was to Adelaide at Waverley - 15.13.103 to 15.12.102, a defeat where not only did Jason Dunstall kick seven goals, but three Hawthorn players (Darren Jarman, Andrew Collins and John Platten) all received Brownlow votes.
50 years ago, in Round 12 1962, the previous year’s grand finalists, Hawthorn and Footscray entered their second clash for the year.
As they had in Round 1, the Bulldogs triumphed, this time by 18 points - 16.6.102 to 13.6.84. While Footscray kept its finals hopes alive, being outside the four only on percentage, Hawthorn was four games out of the four with its premiership defence in tatters.
A decade earlier, in Round 12 1952, Hawthorn had beaten Footscray by 23 points in a low-scoring game - 9.4.58 to 4.11.35. Jack MacDonald kicked three and Bernie Considine two, while Noel Webster made his debut.
The win saw the Hawks replace the Bulldogs in 10th position, although by the end of the season the two had swapped again.
12 members of that losing Footscray team played in the club’s flag winning team two years later.
A wartime crowd of just 3,000 went to Arden Street in Round 12 1942 saw an inaccurate Hawthorn kick 6.16.52 go down to North 9.10.64. The Hawks led early, by 15 at quarter time and 7 at half time, but the home team gradually gained the ascendancy. Alec Albiston kicked four of the Mayblooms' six goals.
Round 12 1932 was played on Saturday, 23 July and saw Hawthorn travel to Victoria Park where they put up a solid effort, losing by just 24 points - 14.10.94 to 10.10.70.
Jack Ryan kicked four goals to take his tally for the year to 27 from nine games. The significance of the date is that 28 years later, on Saturday, 23 July 1960, Hawthorn broke through for its first ever win at Victoria Park.
For the first time ever on Sunday, Hawthorn did not lose a single quarter in an away game against Port Adelaide. In the previous four wins at Football Park against Port, the Hawks lost at least one quarter, whereas this time they won the first three and squared the final term.
Hawthorn has had a mixed record in Round 12 in recent seasons, with five wins and five losses in the past ten Round 12 matches.
There were three wins in a row from 2006 to 2008 over Richmond, Carlton and Adelaide.
After a blip in Round 12, 2009, when the Hawks managed only one goal in the second half as they lost by 42 points to Brisbane Lions at Aurora Stadium, the Hawks returned to the winning list with a 47-point win against Adelaide at Aurora in 2010, but then last season lost to Geelong by 5 points.
Overall, Hawthorn has won 36 and lost 51 of its 87 Round 12 matches.
Jason Dunstall holds the individual goal-kicking record against Brisbane, a mark he set when he booted 11 against the Bears in the first ever match between the two clubs at Carrara in 1987 (see above).
Dunstall also holds the individual goal-kicking record for Hawthorn in Round 12 - with the 11 at Carrara in 1987, later equalled against Sydney at the SCG in 1994.
