The lowest score to which Hawthorn has kept an opponent in any away game was 3.9.37 which was all St Kilda managed at the Junction Oval in 1956.
Under Alastair Clarkson’s coaching, the four lowest scores to which Hawthorn has kept opponents have all been at Aurora Stadium - North Melbourne 4.12.36 (2006), Brisbane 5.11.41 (2008), Brisbane 7.1.43 (2010) and Fremantle 5.9.39 (2010).
While the Kangaroos had an inauspicious start against Hawthorn at Aurora in 2006, managing to kick just four goals, they have since squared the ledger between the two clubs at the venue at 2-2. The four games to date have produced alternating results, with the Hawks winning low-scoring games in 2006 and 2009, but losing in 2007 and in Round 5 last season, the Hawks’ most recent defeat at the venue.
If Hawthorn wins this Sunday, it will be the first ‘clean sweep’ at Aurora since the Club began playing four home games at the venue per season in 2007. The Club recorded a ‘clean sweep’ in the three home games there in 2006.
While this will be the fifth game against North at Aurora, Hawthorn has hosted no other Victorian club more than once at the venue - Richmond (2006), Geelong (2007), the Bulldogs (2008) and St Kilda (2009).
Geelong's massive score and winning margin last Saturday shuffled Hawthorn a spot down the records for highest scores and winning margins of all time. Hawthorn’s record score of 36.15.231 (versus Fitzroy at North Hobart in 1991) is now the fifth highest in VFL-AFL history, while the Club’s greatest winning margin of 160 points (versus Essendon at the MCG in 1992) is now the 11th biggest in VFL-AFL history.
Michael Osborne has become the 54th Hawthorn player to reach the 150-game milestone, and just the second Queenslander to do so, after Jason Dunstall (269 games). Another Queenslander, Stephen Lawrence went very close finishing on 146 games.
And to celebrate the occasion, the magnificent goal Osborne kicked at the 13 minute mark of the first quarter was the 100th of his career. He is the 55th player to reach the mark at Hawthorn. And all this happened on the day after his 29th birthday last Friday.
Sad news of the death at the age of 95 last Friday of Laurie Peters, who played 24 games for Hawthorn from 1940 to 1944. Recruited from Kew, his best year was clearly 1944 when he played the last 16 games of the season.
Peters maintained his involvement with Hawthorn for many years, being on the committee of the Past Players and Officials Association from 1972 to 2006. He is survived by his wife Jeanne, son Brad and family.
2011 is the second consecutive season in which Hawthorn and North Melbourne have been fixtured to play each other only once in the home and away season, which oddly follows a sequence of eight consecutive years when drawn to play each other twice.
In the eight consecutive seasons (2002-09) when the two teams met twice, the results were split 1-1 five times, the Roos won both matches in 2004 and 2005 while, in 2009, Hawthorn finally managed to beat North twice in the same season for the first time since 1992.
The recent glut of meetings, plus the fact that the two clubs have met 15 times in Finals, means that the 164 games against North is the most Hawthorn has played against any club. The next highest figure is 157 games against Carlton.
The overall record between Hawthorn and North is 88 to 74 (with two draws) in the Hawks’ favour with the lead accounted for by the Hawks’ 14 consecutive wins over North from 1985 to 1993.
40 years ago, the 1971 Hawks suffered their heaviest loss for the season losing to Carlton by 39 points at Glenferrie. Hawthorn actually had one more scoring shot than Carlton but kicked inaccurately to record 11.15.81 to 19.6.120. Peter Hudson and Bob Keddie each kicked three and Leigh Matthews two. Despite the loss, Hawthorn still remained 10 points clear on top of the ladder, while reigning Premiers, Carlton, were still a game, plus percentage, out of the Four.
25 years ago, the 1986 Hawks doubled the score of their Round 20 opponents, Collingwood, kicking 20.24.144 to 10.12.72. Collingwood had begun the 1986 season disastrously, but after Leigh Matthews had taken over as coach, the Magpies had recovered to be just outside the Five. Given the importance of the game and the supposed fanaticism of Collingwood supporters, a disappointing crowd of 16,529 came along to Princes Park. Perhaps the absent Magpie fans knew what was going to happen as Hawthorn piled on 5.8 to 1.0 in the opening term, backed up by 6.6 to 1.3 in the second.
Perhaps the greatest historical significance of this game is that it was the one which won Robert Dipierdomenico a Brownlow. He secured his final votes for the season, and it is little wonder he got three for a game in which he had the most disposals (28) and kicked the most goals (five).
20 years ago, the 1991 Hawks saw the Round 20 results open up their chances of securing second position, a crucial advantage under the first version of the McIntyre Final Six. Hawthorn itself ground out a 14 point win against 10th placed Footscray at Waverley Park.
Meanwhile, over at Princes Park, the 11th placed Carlton scored a two point win over second placed Geelong. So now the Hawks and Cats were separated by just 5.2 per cent and both faced the prospect of heading to Perth to play the high-flying Eagles over the next two weeks.
A noteworthy feature of the win against the Bulldogs is that, for the second time in four rounds, the 38 year old Michael Tuck secured the three Brownlow votes.
There was a Round 20 played in 1945 and there has been one every year since 1968. In 1945, 1968 and 1969 it was the final round of the home and away season.
In 1945, the Hawks played eventual Grand Finalists, South Melbourne, at their temporary war-time home ground of the Junction Oval, losing by 36 points.
Hawthorn recorded wins in both 1968 and 1969, against Fitzroy and St Kilda respectively, with Peter Hudson booting 8 goals in each game, to finish with 125 and 120 for the seasons.
Overall in Round 20, Hawthorn has won 24 and lost 20. The Hawks had a pair of Round 20 wins versus Essendon in 2005 and 2006, and then after three consecutive losses, returned to the Round 20 winners’ circle with a 21 point victory over Melbourne last season.
The record individual goal tally for Hawthorn against North is 10 held jointly by Alec Albiston (Round 1, 1940) and Jason Dunstall (Round 22, 1988).
The Round 20 Hawthorn record is also held by Dunstall who kicked 12 against Essendon in 1992. Other 10 goal-plus Round 20 hauls were Dunstall’s 11 versus Collingwood in 1990 and Michael Moncrieff’s 10 against Essendon in 1972.
