The 11 goals the Hawks kicked last Friday night took the number of goals the club has scored since Round 1, 1925 to 21,990, so a further ten are required to reach the milestone.
For those wondering when the major milestones occurred, the 10,000th goal came against Richmond at Waverley in Round 3, 1975, and the 20,000th in the Semi Final against Port Adelaide at Football Park in 2001.
The crowd of 86,179 last Friday night more than doubled the previous biggest attendance for a Hawthorn versus Geelong home and away game. The previous record of 41,694 was actually the lowest for Hawthorn against any of the other nine Victorian clubs. That mantle now passes to St Kilda, against whom the biggest crowd is 43,181. Other Victorians clubs whose meetings with Hawthorn have not produced a 50,000 crowd are Western Bulldogs (45,527), North Melbourne (47,705).
Ten of Hawthorn’s 17 matches thus far in 2008 have been watched by crowds of over 40,000, way ahead of the previous record of seven for a full 22-game home and away season. With at least three more 40,000 crowds almost guaranteed, the previous record will end up being smashed.
Lance Franklin achieved two individual goal-kicking landmarks last Friday.
Franklin’s first goal for the night meant that he had kicked a goal in 50 consecutive appearances – just the third Hawk to do so, after Jason Dunstall (72) and Peter Hudson (61).
Franklin’s second goal took him to 200 career goals, the 24th Hawthorn player to reach the mark. He is the third current Hawthorn player with more than 200 goals for the club, behind Shane Crawford (in 19th place with 221) and Mark Williams (in 21st place with 210 goals).
Last week this column compared the Round 16 loss to St Kilda to a very similar game in Round 12, 1976. There are other analogous features of 1976 and 2008. The Hawks reached the half way mark of both home and away seasons with a 10-1 record, in both the Hawks were 13-2 after 15 rounds, and also in both the Hawks lost in Rounds 16 and 17. One cannot be sure how 2008 will finish, but if 1976 remains a guide Hawthorn will finish with a 16-6 record before reeling off three Finals wins and a Premiership.
1976 was typical for the 1970s Hawks as they did worse in the second half of the home and away season in every year they made the Grand Final. In 1971, the first half was 10-1 and the second 9-2; in 1975, the first half was 10-1 and the second 7-4; while in 1978 the first was 9-2 and the second 7-4.
Other years which saw Hawthorn have bad declines in the second half of the home and away season were 1969, 1981 and 2001. In each of those seasons, Hawthorn won 8 in the first half and 5 in the second, and fell three places on the ladder, particularly costly in the former two when narrowly missing the Finals.
When Collingwood won its 13th Flag in 1958 they had won 55 of 58 games against Hawthorn. Since then, the Hawks hold a 50 to 38 advantage, plus there is also the significant matter of nine premierships to Collingwood’s one in that period.
The overall record in the 146 matches between the two clubs is Collingwood 93 wins and Hawthorn 53. Hawthorn has won the past two encounters – by 8 points at Docklands in Round 13, last season and by 65 points in Round 7, this season at the MCG.
Hawthorn has played eighty Round 18 matches (there were no Round 18’s in 1925, 1942 or 1943) for the poor return of 31 wins and 49 defeats. Hawthorn lost 13 consecutive Round 18 encounters from 1944 to 1955. The Hawks second worst sequence was one of six from 2001 to 2006, mercifully ended by a 63 point win over Essendon at the MCG in Round 18 last season.
The record individual goals record by a Hawthorn player in Round 18 is a tally of 9, kicked by Peter Hudson in 1970. His nine came out of a team total of only 11.11, as the Hawks lost to St Kilda at Glenferrie by 25 points. The previous highest before Hudson had come 30 years earlier when Jim Bohan kicked 8 in a 56 point thrashing of Fitzroy in Round 18, 1940.
The best effort by a Hawk against Collingwood is 11 by Jason Dunstall in both 1989 and 1990, followed by Michael Moncrieff with 10 in 1976.
