The Hawks and Cats have played 149 times, with Hawthorn winning 67, Geelong 81and one draw. At the MCG, the record is 11-4 in Geelong’s favour, although of course it was in the Hawks’ favour at 4-3 after the 2008 Grand Final.
As has been well-documented, Hawthorn has lost its last eight matches against Geelong. This is the club’s longest losing sequence against Geelong since the 1960s. From Round 18 1963 to Round 3 1967, the Hawks lost eight consecutive games against Geelong and, unlike the current sequence, many were by big margins. It is Hawthorn’s longest losing sequence against any club since losing ten in a row to Essendon from 1998 to 2005.
The sequence of eight losses to Geelong in the 1960s was actually part of a longer sequence of eleven games in which Hawthorn did not beat the Cats as before the eight losses there was a draw in Round 7 1963 and then two further defeats. The run of eight defeats is the equal record against Geelong together with another from 1949 to 1953. On the other side of the ledger, Hawthorn’s longest winning run against Geelong is 11 set between 1985 and 1990.
Hawthorn has played 49 Round 19 matches, winning 27 and losing 22. There was a Round 19 played from 1945 to 1949 (to make up for games missed during the War) and again in 1952 (to compensate for the ‘propaganda round’). However, it did not become a permanent fixture until 1968, although Hawthorn had a bye in the round in 1991. Hawthorn won its first Round 19 game in 1945 defeating North Melbourne by 7 points at Glenferrie and also its most recent one last year thrashing Fremantle by 51 points at Subiaco.
Sam Mitchell has moved into the top 20 on the all time Hawks career games list. Mitchell has now played 214 games and is 19th place, having gone past John Peck (213), Andrew Collins (212), David Parkin (211) and Darin Pritchard (211) in recent weeks.
There was sad news in recent days with the death of 1940s Hawks’ player Jack King at the age of 93.
King played 69 games from 1941 to 1945 and kicked 37 goals, 25 of which came in the 1944 season. He kicked a career high of 7 against North Melbourne in Round 17 1944. A year earlier he played in another game against North, the most crucial game in Hawthorn’s first quarter century in the VFL, the one point loss meaning Hawthorn missed the chance to make the Finals.
King came to Hawthorn from East Burwood and he was named in that club’s team of the century and was also included in the team of the century at Scoresby.
Hawthorn has recorded three scores over 150 in a single season for only second time since 1993, with the score of 180 against Essendon added to ones of 174 versus North in Round 10 and 193 versus GWS in Round 15. The only other recent season with three such scores was 2008. However, 2012 and 2008 are both a long way from the club record which is eight, set in 1987, with several other seasons in the high-scoring 1980s being close behind.
The 27.18.180 Hawthorn recorded on Friday was the club’s second highest against Essendon, only surpassed by the 32.24.216 the Hawks recorded against the Bombers in 1992.
Hawthorn is in one of the top two positions on the ladder for only the second time since winning the 2008 Premiership. The only previous time was when the Hawks were 1st after a big win over Melbourne in Round 1 2010.
As has been discussed in the past two weeks’ columns, the record for most consecutive wins by 40 points or more has stood at seven since South Melbourne set it in 1934. Hawthorn equalled it with the Collingwood win and now has the record to itself after the thrashing of Essendon.
10 years ago, in Round 19 2002, Hawthorn scored a thrilling 8 point Friday night win over Collingwood, after trailing by the same margin at half time. Simon Cox was the star with 27 disposals and kicked the sealing goal, while others in the best players were Campbell Brown, Shane Crawford, Nathan Thompson, Nick Holland, Kris Barlow and Angelo Lekkas.
20 years ago, in Round 19 1992, Hawthorn failed to kick a single goal in the second half in a 75 point thrashing by St Kilda at Waverley. Fielding a team with 17 of the preceding season’s Premiership 20, the Hawks were competitive in the opening half, trailing by just 10 points at the long interval, but then fell away disastrously.
30 years ago, in Round 19 1982 at Princes Park, Leigh Matthews continued his stellar run of form with an 8 goal haul against a Collingwood side which performed much better than their lowly position on the ladder might indicated they might. The Magpies hit the front just before three quarter time but in the last quarter Matthews put the issue beyond doubt.
The Age described his seventh goal as follows: “Matthews trapped by three defenders in a forward pocket with his back to the goals, appeared confronted by a problem to which there was no solution. Ten seconds later we were all aware of how foolish was that assessment. Turning 360 degrees, he confronted one defender, baulked and kept going. To the next two he cheekily held out the ball, somehow carved a path through them, waved goodbye and raced off into the open goal”.
Michael Tuck and Terry Wallace were also outstanding with 34 and 30 disposals respectively.
40 years ago, in Round 19 1972, 19 year old Michael Moncrieff kicked his second consecutive bag of 7 goals, but the Hawks lost a crucial battle with Richmond by 11 points at Glenferrie.
Jason Dunstall holds the individual goal-kicking record for Round 19, setting it in 1996 when he kicked 14 against Footscray at Waverley on a Saturday night. He also holds the individual goal-kicking record for a Hawthorn player versus Geelong kicking 12 in both 1990 and 1992, while Wally Culpitt kicked 10 in 1944.
