The last time Hawthorn played in a 1 v 2 game was in Round 9 2001, a match which saw the Hawks cop a 65 point thrashing from Essendon at Docklands.
However, overall the Hawks have a positive record of 16 wins and 8 losses in top-of-the-table clashes (since their first such game versus Melbourne in 1961) including a run of nine consecutive victories from 1977 to 1988.
Interestingly, only 6 of the 24 games have been previews of the season’s Grand Final, although Hawthorn has played in the Grand Final in 12 of the 18 seasons in which it has contested a top-of-the-ladder game during the home and away season.
Note - for anybody wondering, the big home and away game versus Geelong in Round 17 2008 was not 1 v 2, as the Hawks were 3rd at that stage (the Bulldogs were 2nd). And also note that these statistics do not include Grand Final re-matches in Round 1.
Hawthorn has previously played the Swans twice in top-of-the-table games - both in 1986.
In Round 7, 2nd placed Hawthorn (5-1), took on the unbeaten Sydney at Princes Park and came away with a 33 point win - 18.25.133 to 15.10.100. Robert Dipierdomenico starred with 30 disposals, 2 goals and 3 Brownlow votes.
In Round 19, they again met as the top two on the ladder, this time with Hawthorn 1st, but the two teams shared 14-4 records and separated by just 0.5 per cent. It proved to be a mismatch as Hawthorn handed out a 98-point football lesson to the Swans - 27.9.171 to 10.13.73. Monday’s Sun commented that “it was the Hawthorn of old - fast, furious, mean and very aggressive”. Particular features of the performance were the tackling, and the run-on style, especially in running the ball out of defence.
A new record Sydney crowd of 39,763 saw all the Hawks’ forwards got among the goals with Jason Dunstall and Dermott Brereton each kicking 5, Peter Curran 4 and Gary Buckenara 3. Best players included Peter Russo, Buckenara, Richard Loveridge, Michael Tuck and Robert Dipierdomenico. Dipierdomenico got another 3 Brownlow votes; votes which helped him win the Medal a few weeks later.
The 2012 Hawks have equalled the club record for most consecutive century scores, having put together a sequence of 11 beginning in Round 10.
The record was originally set in 1982 when Hawthorn reached the century in 11 consecutive games from Round 14 to the First Semi Final.
Hawthorn has played South Melbourne / Sydney 150 times, recording 82 wins, 66 defeats and two draws. Each club had periods where they dominated the other with South putting together sequences of 15 wins (1929-37) and 13 wins (1944-51), while the Hawks’ best sequences were 13 from 1971 to 1977, followed by 11 from 1981 to 1986.
In the mid 2000s, the Swans won six in a row, before Hawthorn stopped the run at the MCG in 2008. In 2009 and 2010 the victories were shared, while last season Hawthorn scored a meritorious 46 point win at the SCG in Round 9 and backed it up with a 36 point Semi Final triumph. However, in Round 5 this season, the pendulum swung again as the Hawks surrendered a 20 point half-time lead to lose by 37 points.
Last season’s 46 point Round 9 win at the SCG was the club’s first at the venue since 2003. In that 17 point victory Luke Hodge and Sam Mitchell were both playing their 27th games and already their quality was becoming apparent as Mitchell got the 3 Brownlow votes and Hodge 2.
Prior to the 2003 success, one has to go back to 1994 to find another Hawthorn win against Sydney in Sydney. Overall, the Hawks record at the SCG stands at 12 wins and 12 losses, but one of the wins was against North Melbourne, so the record against Sydney is 11-12. Hawthorn has also played at one other Sydney venue, Stadium Australia, for one loss in 2009.
After the Swans moved to Sydney in 1982, the Hawks won the first five encounters between the two clubs at the SCG. Then after a couple of defeats, the Hawks won another four in a row to take the record to 9-2, before the tide turned after 1994.
Hawthorn’s score of 19.15.129 against Gold Coast on Sunday was identical to Hawthorn’s score in its first game against the Suns at Aurora Stadium in Round 13 last season.
Round 22 was first contested in 1970 and, in the 42 seasons since, Hawthorn has won 27 and lost 15. In the Clarkson era, Hawthorn holds a narrow 4-3 lead in Round 22 games, including wins in the past two seasons, versus Collingwood in 2010 and Carlton in 2011.
Only in 1991, 1992, 1994 and 2011 has Round 22 previously not been the final round.
10 years ago, in Round 22 2002, Shane Crawford’s 200th game proved to be a night of mixed emotions. Hawthorn scored a solid 18 point win against Geelong, but this was not enough to lift it into the Final Eight. A 5.3 to 0.2 opening term gave some hope that the Hawks would get the 10 goal win required to get ahead of Geelong on percentage, but from then on they never looked like achieving this sort of margin as the game meandered to an 11.9 to 8.9 final score. It proved academic anyway, as West Coast’s win against the Kangaroos lifted it to 8th ahead of both Geelong and Hawthorn.
Crawford himself was outstanding, getting the 3 Brownlow votes, while the 1 vote was also notable as it was Sam Mitchell’s first. Ten years on there are three survivors from that Hawks team still in brown and gold (Bateman, Hodge and Mitchell), versus six members of the Geelong team (Chapman, Enright, Johnson, Kelly, Scarlett & Wojcinski).
20 years ago, in Round 22 1992, the third last round of the season, Hawthorn thumped Richmond by 84 points at the MCG, highlighted by a 10 goal final quarter. Jason Dunstall’s 12 goals took his season’s tally against the Tigers to a remarkable 29 (after his 17 earlier in the season). Dunstall also took 16 marks while Tony Hall had 31 disposals and kicked 3 goals. The win was the Hawks third in a row and put them back in the Six for the first time since Round 16.
30 years ago, in Round 22 1982, the Hawks tuned up for the Finals with a comprehensive 88 point Princes Park thrashing of lowly St Kilda. In unseasonably warm conditions, Hawthorn only led by 18 points at half time, but then turned on a 15.15 to 5.5 second half to assert its superiority. Gary Buckenara kicked 6 goals (including 4 in the third quarter) and Michael Moncrieff 4, while the best players Peter Russo, David O’Halloran, Colin Robertson and Richard Loveridge. A sidelight to this game is that it was Gary Ablett’s last game for Hawthorn - he had 18 disposals and kicked 3 goals.
At half-time, with top team Richmond trailing North, it had appeared the Hawks might be a chance of finishing as minor premiers but, in the end, had to settle for 2nd as they prepared for their first Finals appearance since 1978.
40 years ago, in Round 22 1972, Hawthorn’s loss to St Kilda, combined with an upset win by Essendon against Collingwood, cost the Hawks a spot in the inaugural Final Five. The Hawks trailed for most of the game at Glenferrie, but accurate kicking in the third quarter (5.0 to 2.6) cut the deficit to nine points at the final change. However, the Saints steadied and ran out 19 point winners. Michael Moncrieff kicked 5 goals (making a total of 32 in his last 5 games), while Leigh Matthews and Michael Porter each booted 3. Those three were all included in the Hawks’ best six, along with Leon Rice, Des Meagher and David Parkin.
Despite the loss, Hawthorn would still have retained 5th position on percentage, if Collingwood had held on to its 8 point three quarter time lead at Windy Hill. However, a dropped mark by Peter McKenna late in the game proved costly and Essendon won by 5 points, meaning Hawthorn with a 13-9 record and a healthy percentage of 111.1 missed out on the Five.
However, it was not all gloom and doom for the Hawks at the end of the 1972 season, as both the Reserves and Under 19s went on to win Flags, as did the Hawthorn team in the Under 17s junior competition.
Both Peter Hudson and Jason Dunstall regularly kicked large tallies of goals in Round 22. Hudson kicked 11 in 1970, 10 in 1971 and 7 in 1977, while Dunstall contributed 10 in 1988, 11 in 1989, 12 in 1992 (not the final round), 10 in 1993 and 10 in 1996.
Hudson also holds the individual goals record for Hawthorn against the Swans, twice kicking 13. He kicked 13 goals against South Melbourne in consecutive matches in Round 11, 1969 and Round 8, 1970. Both matches were at Glenferrie and on both occasions he kicked the very accurate 13.2.
