In fact, the two clubs did not meet at the MCG in any game until 2001, but have now met there nine times, with the Hawks holding a narrow 5-4 advantage.
Luke Hodge has become the 13th individual to captain Hawthorn in a final.
Of the last 15 appointed captains of the Club only John Peck and Peter Crimmins missed out on leading the team out in a Final.
Peck had to give up the captaincy after two games, when Graham Arthur reversed his decision to retire as a player, and Crimmins became ill on the eve of the 1974 Finals and then, the following September, failed to convince the selectors that he was sufficiently recovered to justify selection.
Interestingly, given Hawthorn’s positive overall finals’ record, more than half the 13 finals’ captains have begun with a loss. In fact, there were six in a row who did and what a list of names - Don Scott (1974), Leigh Matthews (1982), Michael Tuck (1986), Gary Ayes (1992), Chris Langford (1994) and Jason Dunstall (1996). Hawthorn captains, who had wins in their first Finals as skipper, were John Kennedy (1957), Graham Arthur (1961), David Parkin (1971), Shane Crawford (2000), Richie Vandenberg (2007) and Sam Mitchell (2008).
This week, Hawthorn will be trying to avoid losing three consecutive finals for just the second time in the Club’s history. Hawthorn lost four consecutive finals between 1992 and 1996, while previous pairs of losses came in 1977 and 1985-86.
Hawthorn has previously only lost two Qualifying Finals which provided an option of redemption - in 1974 and 1982. In both cases, Hawthorn bounced back with big wins in the First Semi Finals.
In 1974, Hawthorn thrashed Collingwood by 50 points - 21.12.138 to 13.10.88, having set up the win by outscoring the Magpies by 33 points in the opening term. Leigh Matthews was the star having 21 kicks and kicking seven goals. Other forwards amongst the goals were Michael Moncrieff with 4 and Charlie Grummisch with 3, while other good players were Brian Douge, Kelvin Matthews, Michael Tuck, Peter Knights and Alan Goad.
In 1982, Hawthorn thrashed North Melbourne by 52 points - 24.22.166 to 18.6.114, after trailing by six points at half-time. Dermott Brereton made a memorable debut with five goals, but the best player was the same as eight years earlier. Leigh Matthews had an incredible 37 disposals (29 kicks and eight handballs) and kicked four goals. Others with high disposal counts were Peter Russo with 33 and first year player, Richard Loveridge, with 29.
Hawthorn has played South Melbourne / Sydney 148 times for 81 wins, 65 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 Round 15, 2008. In 2009 and 2010 the victories were shared and in the only meeting this season Hawthorn scored a meritorious 46 point win at the SCG in Round 9.
Games between Hawthorn and Sydney have only attracted crowds of over 40,000 on three occasions. The biggest was the 72,130 who attended the final AFL game at Waverley in Round 22 1999, followed by 48,398 at the MCG in 2007 and 47,752 in the 1987 Qualifying Final at Waverley.
In the 1987 Qualifying Final, Hawthorn held a comfortable 27 point half time lead over Sydney, before a 14.8 to 3.2 second half confirmed the superiority of the brown and gold. The goals were spread around with Dermott Brereton six, Gary Buckenara five and Jason Dunstall five. Buckenara also had most disposals with 32, just ahead of Robert Dipierdomenico 31.
In the 1996 Qualifying Final, the eighth placed Hawks had to travel to Sydney to take on the top-placed Swans and despite losing Jason Dunstall to a serious knee injury were still level with the home team at the 27 minute mark of the final term, before losing by a goal. Best players for the Hawks were Paul Salmon, Mark Graham, John Platten, Daniel Harford, Craig Treleven, Nick Holland, Tony Woods and Shane Crawford.
In the 2001 Elimination Final, Hawthorn began badly trailing by 19 points at quarter time, but gradually got going, cutting the margin to five at half-time and then powering away with a 14.11 to 5.5 second half. John Barker kicked four goals and Daniel Chick three, and both those players were in the best along with Shane Crawford, Joel Smith, Nathan Thompson, Nathan Lonie, Tony Woods, Richie Vandenberg and Steven Greene.
50 years ago, the 1961 Second Semi was an epic Final, with Hawthorn winning through to its first ever Grand Final. It was a high standard game, full of incident, in which for several agonising last quarter minutes, the Hawks clung to a one-point lead, until a Morton Browne goal sealed Hawthorn’s a seven point first ever Grand Final appearance. John Peck kicked 4 goals and Garry Young was best-on-ground. The only dampener was the knee injury which forced second rover Kevin Connell from the ground at half-time and left him in serious doubt for the Grand Final. You can read the full story of the 1961 Second Semi, and the season as a whole, in Gold’n Brown Jubilee: The Story of the 61 Hawks available at Hawks Nest.
40 years ago, Hawthorn survived a late St Kilda fightback to hang on for a two point win in the 1971 Second Semi Final. Leading by 33 points at the final change the Hawks could only add 1.2 in the final term, and were lucky the Saints kicked an inaccurate 5.9 to make the final score - Hawthorn 12.18.90 to St Kilda 12.16.88. Peter Hudson kicked seven to take his season’s tally to 147 and Alan Martello kicked three, while good players included Bruce Stevenson, David Parkin and Don Scott. As in 1961, the happy mood was marred by an injury; this time to 19 year old centre half back Peter Knights. The match is also notable as the Hawthorn game, other than a Grand Final, to have been watched by the largest crowd - 99,822.
Since the final eight was introduced in 1994, Hawthorn has only played in the second week of the Finals three times in 2000, 2001 and 2007. In all cases, Hawthorn got there by winning Elimination Finals (against Geelong, Sydney and Adelaide) so playing after a Qualifying Final loss is a new experience. In 2000 and 2007, the Hawks lost to North Melbourne but, in 2001, scored a stunning upset win over Port Adelaide at Football Park.
Since the current version of the Final Eight was introduced in 2000, Hawthorn’s 2001 win against Port remains one of just two instances of an Elimination Final winner beating a Qualifying Final loser. The other came when Collingwood beat West Coast in extra time in 2007.
This Friday night Hawthorn will potentially take the field without both Lance Franklin and Jarryd Roughead for just the fourth time since the pair was drafted in the 2004 National Draft. On the first occasion in Round 22 2009, the Hawks lost a highly charged game against Essendon, but this year the Hawks won without the pair against Essendon in Round 14 and Gold Coast in Round 24. Hawthorn has won the last five games Franklin has missed and overall in his seven years at the club is 11-10 in the 21 games he has missed.
Peter Hudson 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. Three Hawthorn players have kicked eight goals in Finals - Michael Moncrieff in 1978, Dermott Brereton in 1985 and Lance Franklin in 2008.
