The two teams have met 20 times since the Dockers joined the competition in 1995, with the Hawks holding a 14 to 6 advantage.
The Hawks’ have a 6-4 record against Fremantle in 10 games in Perth. The six wins were in 1996, 1998 (at the WACA), 1999, 2001, 2005 and 2008 and the four losses came in 1997, 2002, 2006 and 2007.
After five comparatively comfortable wins – by margins of 57, 42, 34, 23 and 54 – last season‘s Round 2 encounter was tighter. The Hawks did build a handy half time lead of 27 points, but the Dockers cut the margin to 10 at the final change, before the Hawks won 16.16.112 to 14.13.97
Franklin and Roughead each kicked 4 goals and despite the closeness of the result the Hawks scored a Brownlow whitewash – 3 votes to Sewell, 2 to Young and 1 to Mitchell.
If you are a Melbourne-based Hawks fan and you think you have not seen your team play Fremantle for a long-time you are right. Hawthorn last played the Dockers in Melbourne at Docklands in Round 18, 2001. Since then, all the Hawthorn home games against Freo have been played in Launceston. This also means the two teams have never played at the MCG.
There have been seven players who have played for both Hawthorn and Fremantle. Three of them played for Fremantle before Hawthorn, three for Hawthorn before Fremantle, and one had a spell at Freo before returning to the Hawks.
Interestingly, the three players to come to Hawthorn - Brendan Krummel, Todd Ridley and Kingsley Hunter - had also played for clubs other than the Dockers before arriving at Glenferrie, West Coast, Essendon and the Bulldogs respectively.
Two players, Ben Allan and Greg Madigan left Hawthorn to join Freo in their debut year of 1995, while Luke McPharlin went there after two seasons in brown and gold in 2000-01.
The seventh player who has played for both clubs was Trent Croad, who as everyone knows was traded to the Dockers at the end of 2001, but was then traded back two years later. In doing so, he joined Lew Gough, George Bennett and Bernie Jones in the select group of four players to have left Hawthorn and then returned.
One of Hawthorn’s wins against Fremantle was ten seasons ago, in Round 3, 1999. The Hawks travelled west with a 1-1 record, having beaten Collingwood away in Round 1 and lost to Adelaide at home in Round 2. A Subiaco crowd of 21,958 saw the Hawks lead by narrow margins at every change (8, 2 and 9 points), before a 5.4 to 1.3 final term saw the Hawks pull away for a clear win – 16.16.112 to 11.12.78.
Hawthorn had 11 individual goal-kickers, headed by Aaron Lord and Daniel Chick 3 each and Ben Dixon 2. The Brownlow votes were a clean sweep with Paul Salmon (3), Angelo Lekkas (2) and Shane Crawford (1), while other good players with Daniel Harford and Angelo Lekkas, the latter in his 50th AFL game.
1999 was a year when Hawthorn had fluctuating fortunes, highlighted by losing five consecutive games from Rounds 13 to 17, and then winning the last five games of the season.
25 years ago, in Round 8, 1984 the Hawks scored a stunning win over Carlton – 23.13.151 to 12.11.83.
It removed something of a bogey for Hawthorn who had won only two of the previous 13 against Carlton, including losing both matches in the Premiership season of 1983. The Hawks went in on top with a 6-1 record, while Carlton was third and 5-2
The match was effectively over as a contest at quarter time as the Hawks booted 10.3 in the opening term, maintaining a lead of around 7 goals for much of the game. In the final term, Hawthorn booted 6.5 to 2.0 to the delight of the brown and gold component of the Princes Park crowd of 31,946. John Kennedy booted 5, Chris Langford 4 and Leigh Matthews and Dermott Brereton 3 each. The list of best players was a long one including Mew, Dipierdomenico, Greene, Kennedy, Wallace, Tuck, Schwab, Matthews, Brereton, Robertson and Russo.
The win started what remains the record sequence of seven wins by Hawthorn against Carlton, including victory in that season’s Qualifying Final.
40 years ago in Round 8 1969 Hawthorn completed its best start to a season to that stage of its 45 season League history. A four point victory over Geelong at Glenferrie meant Hawthorn had won 7 of 8, the past three by under 2 goals. What was remarkable was that Hawthorn’s percentage was only just over 100 per cent, because its one loss, to Carlton in Round 2, had been by the massive margin of 128 points.
Round 9, 1969 has a special place in Hawthorn history – to find out why it does read Footy Flashbacks next week.
In 83 Round 8 matches, Hawthorn has won 40 and lost 43 (having had a bye 1992). It has been one of the better rounds for the Hawks in recent times, with seven wins in the last nine seasons, including a last season overcoming a 32 point quarter time deficit to defeat Port Adelaide by 15 points in Launceston.
The big names dominate the leading goal-kickers in Round 8. Peter Hudson booted 13 in this round in 1970 (against South Melbourne), while Jason Dunstall kicked 10 in 1994 (against Brisbane). The most goals by a Hawthorn player against Fremantle are the 8 by Mark Williams in Round 1 2006, in Launceston.
