When Sam Mitchell plays his 300th game on Sunday, Hawthorn will become the club with the most 300 game players.

Mitchell will become the seventh individual to play 300 games for Hawthorn, putting the Hawks one ahead of the Bulldogs as the club with the most 300 gamers. Previous Hawks to reach the milestone were Michael Tuck (426 games), Leigh Matthews (332), Shane Crawford (305), Chris Langford (303), Don Scott (302) and Kelvin Moore (300).

The Hawks held the record for most 300 gamers for a number of years until 2006 when they were equaled on five by the Western Bulldogs. The Bulldogs then took the outright lead when Brad Johnson became that club’s sixth 300-gamer in Round 1 2008, but the Hawks quickly caught up again when Crawford played his 300th in Round 19 of the same season. At the start of 2016 one would have expected the pattern of 2008 being repeated, but the Bulldogs’ Robert Murphy was prevented from reaching 300 by injury and so Mitchell’s 300th will give Hawthorn the outright lead. 

Following behind the Hawks and Bulldogs are Essendon, North Melbourne and St Kilda all of which have had five 300 gamers. Mitchell will be the 76th player in VFL-AFL history to reach the mark, 52 doing so at a single club.

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There is a problem with discussing the games in which players reached 300 games. For many years the VFL included state games played on the same day as a home and away round in players’ games tallies. This affected both Leigh Matthews and Kelvin Moore who, after their careers ended, had their games tallies reduced by eight and one respectively. 

Thus, while Matthews’ 300th was celebrated in Round 5 1984, records now say he did not play it until Round 13 of that season. Moore’s 300th was celebrated in Round 21 of that same season when now it officially happened the following week. In Moore’s case, it was fortuitous he was given another game, as it proved to be his last, and thus if he had not played it he would have ended his career on 299.

Hawthorn won both Moore’s celebrated and actual 300th but, while the Hawks won on the day Matthews’ 300th was celebrated, they lost on what history says was the actual occasion. The Hawks also won the 300th games of Scott, Tuck and Crawford (against St Kilda, North Melbourne and Brisbane Lions respectively), but lost Chris Langford’s 300th against West Coast in 1997.

There are also three Hawthorn players who have reached 300 games through a combination of games at Hawthorn and other clubs - Russell Greene, Paul Salmon and Shaun Burgoyne. All of them played their 300th VFL-AFL games at Hawthorn - Greene and Burgoyne in winning sides, but Salmon in s losing one.

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For the first time since losing to St Kilda by five points in Round 12 1927, Hawthorn has a positive record in games decided by six points or fewer. Hawthorn had a 2-1 record in such games after beating North Melbourne by four points in Round 2 1926. After the loss to the Saints, the ledger remained squared at 2-2 (with one draw) for the rest of 1927 but then, after losing by three points in Round 1 1928, it remained in deficit until the three point win against Adelaide in Round 5 this season. That tied the record back up at 108 apiece, with ten draws and now, after the win against Sydney, the wins are ahead 109 to 108.

2016 has become the fourth season in which Hawthorn has recorded four wins by six points or fewer in a season, the others being 1999, 2001 and 2010.

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Hawthorn has played Richmond 154 times for 69 wins and 85 losses, the deficit being wholly accounted for by Hawthorn losing the first 21 games between the two clubs from 1925 to 1936. The Hawks’ best sequences of wins against Richmond were 16 (1985-94) and 10 (1959-64).

Despite the perception that Richmond is Hawthorn’s bogey team, the Hawks have still won eight of their last 12 matches against the Tigers. However, what is striking is that the four losses came in seasons (2008, 2012, 2013 and 2015) when Hawthorn went onto play in the Grand Final and were by significant margins of 29, 62, 41 and 18. The sequence of losing to Richmond in years when the Hawks made the Grand Final has one exception which was 2014, when Hawthorn thrashed Richmond by 66 points in the two clubs only meeting in Round 6. The two clubs have already met once this season with the Hawks winning by 46 points in Round 7.

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25 years ago, in Round 18 1991, the third placed Hawks had a real struggle to beat the 12th placed Richmond at Waverley, eventually prevailing by six points – 13.16.94 to 13.10.88. Paul Dear played an excellent game accumulating 28 disposals.

In similar fashion, 40 years ago in Round 18 1976, Hawthorn had to work hard at Princes Park to defeat a Melbourne team having its best season for a number of years, winning 16.17.113 to 14.11.95. John Hendrie was outstanding with 21 kicks and five goals, while Rodney Eade got to enjoy his first win after debuting in the loss to Carlton the previous Saturday.

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Hawthorn has played 88 Round 18 matches (there were no Round 18’s in 1925, 1942 or 1943) for the poor return of 36 wins and 52 defeats. Recent seasons have been better with the Hawks winning four Round 18 games in succession versus Melbourne (2011), Essendon (2012 and 2013) and Sydney (2014), before the hiccup against Richmond last season.

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Jason Dunstall had an amazing season against Richmond in 1992, booting a club record 17 goals in Round 7 and following it up with a further bag of 12 in Round 22. In his whole career, Dunstall kicked 111 goals against Richmond, behind only his 116 against the Bulldogs. Peter Hudson holds the Hawthorn Round 18 record with a tally of 9 against St Kilda in 1970. The previous highest before Hudson had come 30 years earlier when Jim Bohan kicked 8 in 1940.