Hawthorn has an outstanding record against Adelaide at Adelaide Oval having won five of six games there against the Crows.

Oddly, the Hawks’ only loss was in a designated ‘home’ game there in one of the quirks of the Covid-era fixture in 2020. Hawthorn’s victories were recorded in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019 and last season.

The good record against the Crows at Adelaide Oval is something of a contrast with the record at Football Park where the Hawks won just four of 15 matches against Adelaide, recording those rare wins in 1993, 1994, 2008 and 2013.

In total, the Hawks and Crows have played 50 times, with Hawthorn holding a 28-22 advantage. After Hawthorn won 10 of 11 encounters between 2012 and 2019, there was a period of alternating results, before the Hawks won the last three encounters, at the MCG and Adelaide Oval last season, and at University of Tasmania Stadium earlier this season.

The Round 14 2017 Hawthorn victory at the Adelaide Oval was a stunning upset as the 17^th-placed Hawks toppled the ladder-leading Crows by 14 points – 14.12.96 to 12.10.82.

After a bright start by the Hawks, the game seemed to be going to script when the home team kicked the last three goals of the second quarter to lead by 18 points at half-time. Neither team could make much impression in the third term until a pair of Ryan Burton goals put the Hawks right back in the game.

Trailing by five points at the last change, the Hawks dominated with 5.5 to 2.4 in the final quarter, with two of the five goals coming from ex-Crow Ricky Henderson, which on top of 30 disposals saw him earn a richly deserved three Brownlow votes.

Henderson is one of six Adelaide players to subsequently play for Hawthorn, along with Randall Bone, Lance Picioane, Shaun Rehn, Jack Gunston and Kyle Hartigan. Those moving in the opposite direction include Matthew Robran, Tony Hall, Darren Jarman and Kyle Cheney. The Adelaide Premiership teams of 1997-98 are the only other club Premiership teams to contain three past or future Hawthorn players - Robran, Jarman and Rehn.

Last Thursday night’s crowd of 51,271 was Hawthorn’s eighth 50,000-plus crowd for 2025, a new club record for a home and away season. The previous record of seven had been recorded on four occasions – 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2017.

All eight 50,000-plus crowds thus far in 2025 have been at the MCG, but this Friday night could see the Adelaide Oval added to the list, with two previous Hawthorn games there against the Crows (in 2014 and 2019) having reached the 50,000-mark.

Hawthorn has equalled the club record for the most wins in a season by margins in the 20s, with six already in 2025 against Sydney (20 points), Essendon (26), Carlton (20), Western Bulldogs (22), St Kilda (20) and Carlton (24). The only other season in Hawthorn’s VFL-AFL history with six wins by margins in the 20s was 1988, the most significant of which was a 21-point victory over Carlton in the Second Semi Final.

For his outstanding game against Carlton, James Sicily received 10 Coaches Votes for the ninth time in his career, having previously done so twice in both 2018 and 2019, three times in 2023, and once last season.

St Kilda’s comeback against Melbourne happily meant Hawthorn lost the dreaded record of having conceded the biggest three quarter-time lead.

Just 8,209 fans were at the Gabba in Round 16 1995 when the Hawks led by 45 points - 13.10 to 5.13 - at the final change, before being outscored 9.7 to 1.3 in the last quarter to lose by seven points – 14.20.104 to 14.13.97. A Hawthorn player, Darren Jarman, still received the three Brownlow votes. Current Hawthorn President, Andy Gowers, was a member of the victorious Bears team.

It is one of the strange quirks of Hawthorn history, given how successful the club has been, that the biggest three-quarter deficit the Hawks have overturned remains the 25-point margin obliterated by a 7.5 to 0.1 final term against Richmond in 1956. Since then, Hawthorn has lost nine times after leading by 25 points or more at three-quarter time.

Since it was first contested in 1970, Round 21 has been one of the best rounds for Hawthorn, with 39 wins and only 15 defeats, including victories in 13 consecutive Round 21 matches between 1982 and 1994, eight consecutive wins from 2006 to 2013, and seven more from 2016 to 2023 (there was not a Round 21 in 2020).

It was slightly ironic that having won in several consecutive Round 21s when the team was not Finals-bound that last year the team suffered a Round 21 defeat (to GWS by two points), the team’s only defeat in the last seven games of the regular season.

40 years ago, in Round 21 1985, Hawthorn won the clash of the co-tenants against Carlton at Princes Park by 23 points – 15.17.107 to 12.12.84. The Hawks sets up the victory with a 6.7 to 0.4 opening term, although Carlton fought back to reduce the margin to six points by half-time. Robert Handley and Leigh Matthews both kicked three goals, the latter’s all coming in the last quarter, while Terry Wallace was outstanding with 38 disposals. 

Jason Dunstall holds the Hawthorn individual goal-kicking record against Adelaide, kicking nine goals on three separate occasions – in 1993 and 1994 (both at Football Park) and in 1996 (at Waverley).

Dunstall and Peter Hudson share Hawthorn’s Round 21 goalkicking record. Hudson kicked nine goals in Round 21 in both 1970 and 1971, while Dunstall recorded the same tally in 1986 and 1989.