Reflecting on all the topical milestones and achievements, past and present, as we head into Round 4 of the 2018 season. This is 'Footy Flashbacks'....

Playing on 15 April is generally good for Hawthorn, with the last defeat on that date being way back in 1978 when the Hawks went down to North Melbourne at Waverley by 25 points. Since then, Hawthorn has won five consecutive 15 April games, most recently a 56-point thrashing of Adelaide at the MCG in 2012. 

Interestingly, the Hawks’ first game played on 15 April in 1961, a game which resulted in a 25-point home defeat against South Melbourne. It proved to be a poor predictor of what was to come that season as South only won four more games and finished 11th, while Hawthorn powered home to the club’s first ever Premiership. 

When Shaun Burgoyne missed the Richmond game, it ended the fourth longest run of consecutive games in Hawthorn history.

Burgoyne had played 107 consecutive games from Round 19 2013, which places him behind only Andy Collins (189 consecutive games, 1988-96), Michael Tuck (138, 1974-80) and Kelvin Moore (128, 1978-83). The best current sequences of consecutive Hawthorn games are now Isaac Smith (68) and Jack Gunston (50).

Read: Bupa recovery report - Round 4

Hawthorn’s best sequence of wins against any opponent is the 22 consecutive it racked up against Melbourne from 1973 to 1984. More recently, the Hawks defeated Melbourne 13 times in a row from 2007 to 2016.

The two clubs have played each other 161 times, with the Hawks winning 86 and the Demons 75.

Hawthorn has had attendances above 50,000 at three consecutive home and away games for the first time in club history. 

In Round 1, 58,051 saw the match against Collingwood, followed by a crowd of 73,189 on Easter Monday against Geelong and then 70,701 last Sunday versus Richmond, a new record for games between the two clubs.

With both teams having had a positive start to the season, it is certainly possible that there will be another 50,000-plus crowd when Hawthorn play Melbourne on Sunday, which would be the first such attendance between the clubs since the famous ‘merger match’ in 1996.

The attendances in Rounds 2 and 3 are also the first time that Hawthorn has had 70,000-plus crowds at two consecutive home and away games. In total, the Hawks have now had 26 home and away crowds above 70,000 with the first three being at Waverley (in 1981, 1992 and 1999), and the other 23 being at the MCG (all from 2008 onwards).

 

This is only the fourth year in Hawthorn history when Hawthorn has begun the season with wins in the opening two games and then a loss in Round 3. On the three previous occasions when this occurred, the Hawks twice rebounded with wins in Round 4 (in 1957 and 1978) and once suffered defeat (1993). 

In Round 4 1957, the Hawks scored an 18-point win against 1950s powerhouse Melbourne. Hawthorn found itself in the unusual position of playing in the match-of-the-day and also on television in the first season of TV coverage of VFL football. Despite fine weather, the game was low-scoring, with Hawthorn winning 6.15.51 to 4.9.33. The team had many good players including John Kennedy, Geoff Howells, Len Crane, Allan Woodley, Roy Simmonds, Ray Yeoman and Maurie Young. 

Round 4 1978 was a higher-scoring affair which Hawthorn, missing champion Leigh Matthews, won 15.15.105 to Collingwood 14.19.103. In an odd twist, there were no goals kicked by either team from the 13-minute mark of the final term until the final siren. Best players included Michael Tuck, Peter Knights and John Hendrie.

Hawthorn has only ever lost two games to Melbourne in years in which Hawthorn has gone onto win the Premiership. Apart from a 21-point loss in 1988 and a 15-point loss in 1989, the Hawks have won 22 of the 24 encounters between the clubs in the 13 seasons in which Hawthorn has gone onto win the Flag.

On the other hand, Hawthorn has recorded four wins against Melbourne in years when the Demons won the Flag. The first was a six-point win at Glenferrie in 1940, followed by two wins in 1957 and another in 1960. Hawthorn’s losses to the Demons in Melbourne Premiership years include as many as four by 6 points or fewer, including both matches in Melbourne’s most recent Flag-winning year, 1964.

 

Overall in Round 4, Hawthorn has won 40, lost 50, played two draws (1939 and 1996) and had one bye (1991). Hawthorn took longer to win in Round 4 than in any other round. It was not until 1941 that the club tasted success after 15 losses and one draw. The Hawks’ best Round 4 sequence was eight consecutive wins from 1974 to 1981. In recent seasons, Hawthorn has had alternating Round 4 results with wins in 2014 and 2016, and defeats in 2015 and 2017. 

10 years ago, in Round 4 2008, Hawthorn comfortably accounted for Adelaide in Launceston – 17.12.114 to 10.10.70. Lance Franklin kicked 6 goals and Mark Williams 3, while the 3 Brownlow votes went to Chance Bateman for a game in which he had 30 disposals and kicked 2 goals. Also excellent were Brent Guerra (38 disposals), Clinton Young, Shane Crawford and Grant Birchall.

The leading individual goalkicker for Hawthorn against Melbourne is Peter Hudson who booted 16 goals at Glenferrie in Round 5 1969. Michael Moncrieff has the best tally in Round 4, kicking nine goals at Waverley against South Melbourne in 1979.