This Sunday, Hawthorn will be playing Melbourne in Round 5 for the first time in 46 years.

The last time the two clubs met in Round 5 was at Princes Park in 1975 and Hawthorn equalled its best-ever start to a season by winning a fifth consecutive game.

The Hawks won by 55 points, 19.22.136 to 11.15.81 with Hawthorn having 12 individual goalkickers headed by Leigh Matthews with four and John Hendrie three. The following week’s Record listed the best players as Hendrie, Martello, Moore, L. Matthews, Knights, Crimmins and Trott.

Another Round 5 meeting between Hawthorn and Melbourne was in 1969, with the Hawks winning the Glenferrie encounter by 32 points – 21.10.136 to 14.20.104. Peter Hudson kicked an astonishing16 goals, a new club record and only two fewer goals than what remains the VFL-AFL record of 18 booted by Melbourne’s Fred Fanning in 1947. Hudson’s 16 remains the second highest tally in Hawthorn history, only bettered by Jason Dunstall’s 17 in 1992.

Hawthorn’s best sequence of wins against any opponent is the 22 consecutive victories against Melbourne from 1973 to 1984. More recently, the Hawks recorded another long sequence of victories against the Demons, 13 in a row from 2007 to 2016. Overall, the two clubs have played each other 165 times, with the Hawks winning 87 and the Demons 78.

Tim O’Brien’s next game will see him become the individual who has played the fifth most games in the iconic number 23 at Hawthorn. O’Brien has currently played 82 games in number 23, level with Ted Fletcher who wore the number from 1948 to 1952. Fletcher moved to number one when he was captain in 1953-54.

The top four number 23s are Hawthorn greats Don Scott (302 games, 1967-81); John Peck (213 games, 1954-66); Dermott Brereton (187 games, 1983-93); and Lance Franklin (162 games, 2006-13). Both Brereton and Franklin began their careers in higher numbers.

Other players to have worn number 23 in a Senior game for Hawthorn in recent decades include Simon Crawshay, Justin Crawford, Michael Collica and Nathan Thompson.

It was a new experience for Shaun Burgoyne being the medical substitute in last Sunday’s game versus Fremantle. In the previous substitute system, which operated from 2011 to 2015, Burgoyne was never the substitute. However, he was once substituted out of a game, in the final quarter of Round 23 2015 against Carlton at the MCG. On that occasion, Angus Litherland took his place on the ground.

Hawthorn has played 95 games in Round 5 for 41 wins and 54 losses (having a bye in 1993). The Hawks won their Round 5 games from 2015 to 2017 but has lost the last three - to North Melbourne (2018), Geelong (2019) and GWS (2020).

Five years ago, in Round 5 2016, Hawthorn completed an incredible hat-trick of three-point wins. Having beaten Western Bulldogs and St Kilda by that margin in the previous two games, remarkably Hawthorn repeated the feat against Adelaide in front of a Friday night crowd of 45,781 at the MCG.

Paul Puopolo only received four Brownlow votes in his 10-year AFL career, but he got three in a brilliant best-on-ground performance in this game. He had 23 disposals, six tackles and a career-high five goals, one of which was the winner as the Hawks came from 15 points down at the start of time-on to win 17.10.112 to 17.7.109.

20 years ago, in Round 5 2001, Hawthorn won a high-scoring game at Docklands against the Western Bulldogs by 29 points – 24.11.155 to 19.12.126. The Hawks had several multiple goalkickers headed by Aaron Lord (6), John Barker (5) and Trent Croad (4).

One interesting feature of the game was the Hawthorn debut of former Fitzroy and Western Bulldogs player Matthew Dent, who gathered a respectable 18 disposals in his first Senior appearance in the brown and gold. The 5-0 start to the season equalled Hawthorn’s previous best starts in 1971, 1975, 1976 and 1984.

40 years ago, Round 5 1981 was played on Anzac Day and saw Hawthorn, defeat North Melbourne by 35 points at Princes Park – 17.16.118 to 11.17.83. The Hawks took charge with a 6.3 to 2.4 opening quarter and maintained an advantage all day. Norm Goss booted four goals and Rick Davies three, with Russell Greene a star on a wing with 36 disposals.

50 years ago, in Round 5 1971, Hawthorn continued its best-ever start to a season with a comprehensive 48-point win against South Melbourne at Waverley to make it five wins from five games. South had made the Finals in 1970 but were struggling in the new season.

The Hawks began slowly trailing by four points at quarter-time but improved in the second term to take a 17-point lead to the long interval. The game was ended as a contest when Hawthorn added 5.7 to 0.1 in the third term. Leigh Matthews was best-on-ground, while Peter Hudson would have kicked more than his five goals if not for unusual inaccuracy.