While all of Australia is wrapped up in tennis and cricket mania, we're sitting here at Hawks HQ watching the clock tick away the seconds, minutes, hours and days left until Round 1 (54 days, three hours, 51 minutes and five seconds at the time of publishing, for those interested).

While we await the 2018 action, it's the perfect time to relive Hawthorn successes of the past.

Today, we're counting down the best individual performances by a Hawthorn player since the turn of the century. Here is our top five...

Lance Franklin

Round 10 2012 vs North Melbourne: 23 disposals, 11 marks, 6 tackles, 13 goals

“Thirteen! Thirteen!”

Most Hawks fans can likely still hear commentator Anthony Hudson’s exclamations echoing through their heads, the day that Lance Franklin kicked 13 goals in a demolition show over North Melbourne.

Buddy had received much media scrutiny for his goal-kicking impotency in the lead-up to this Round 10 match-up, having posted 21 goals and 36 behinds in the opening nine rounds.

But Franklin responded in a way only he could, by delivering a performance for the ages.

After his slow start to the season, this game spring boarded Franklin into his fourth All Australian side, as he averaged almost four goals a game for the remainder of the year.

Luke Hodge

Grand Final 2014 vs Sydney: 35 disposals, 12 marks, 4 tackles, 2 goals

Hunting his third premiership medallion and revenge over Sydney after they had stolen premiership success from the Hawks in 2012, Hodge made no mistake in leading the Hawks to their quest for redemption. 

Hodge was the general from the Hawks defence, racking up 35 possessions as well as kicking two goals in the Hawks 63-point triumph.

Hodge became only the third player, after Gary Ayres and Andrew McLeod, to win two Norm Smith Medals, guaranteeing himself football immortality.

It was Hodge’s third premiership and second as captain of the Hawks. 

The nickname ‘Mr September’ had been officially verified.

Tom Mitchell

Round 9 2017 vs Collingwood: 50 disposals, 8 tackles, 8 marks, 5 clearances

In the opening two months of his Hawthorn career, Tom Mitchell had set the competition alight, averaging 34.1 disposals per game to lead the league for possessions.

But in this Saturday night MCG blockbuster against Collingwood, Mitchell went to another level as he set a new club record as he collected 50 touches.

With no Hawk having previously surpassed 44 disposals, Mitchell was dominant in the game with almost half of his 50 touches being contested.

Josh Gibson

Semi Final 2011 vs Sydney: 20 disposals, 8 marks, 8 rebound 50s, 21 one-percenters

Typically, such conversations as these are reserved for offensively outstanding onslaughts.

In this case, it wasn’t quite the number of possessions or goals kicked that renders this game of Gibson’s as amongst the best of the 2000s.

Rather it was the defender’s 21 one-percenters in the semi-final that helped the Hawks overcome the Swans to book a place in the preliminary final against Collingwood a week later.

Gibson’s 21 acts were three times the next highest recording of any player on the ground. 

The mark was an AFL record until last year, when Port Adelaide defender Dougal Howard surpassed Gibson’s tally with 22 in their elimination final loss to West Coast. 

Although, it must be mentioned that Howard’s count was aided by the ten-minute extra time that game required in which he registered another three one-percenters to top the two-time Peter Crimmins Medallist.

Lance Franklin, Elimination Final 2007 vs Adelaide

12 disposals, 7 marks, 7 goals 

Although Buddy kicked bigger bags of goals later in his Hawthorn career, many Hawks fans would attest to this performance being one of the superstar’s most memorable. 

Franklin kicked seven goals for the game, including three in the final term. 

In just his third year in the league, Buddy had delivered a 63-goal home and away season to announce himself as a force of the competition but this game highlighted his love for the big occasion.

Having dominated the final term, Franklin took a mark on the lead with less than a minute to go. From nearly 50 metres out and on a tough angle, Franklin slotted home the match-winner as the Hawks claimed victory by three points.