Jack Gunston is poised to become just the seventh Hawthorn player to kick 50 or more goals in a season on five or more occasions.

Gunston’s four goals against Adelaide took him to 49 for the season, meaning he needs just one more major to bring up the half-century and see 2025 join 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018 as seasons when he has achieved the feat. The 2014 and 2015 seasons were the only previous ones where he reached 50 in the home and away season.

Unsurprisingly, the previous six to reach 50 in five or more seasons include many of Hawthorn’s great forwards headed by Jason Dunstall (12 times) and followed by Leigh Matthews (10), Lance Franklin (7), Peter Hudson (6), Jarryd Roughead (6) and Michael Moncrieff (5).

In the 50 seasons from 1975 to 2024, Hawthorn played 39 home games against Collingwood recording an incredible 30 wins and just nine defeats.

Hawthorn played its first home games at both Princes Park and the MCG against Collingwood, ironically, given the subsequent history, losing both games. The games in Round 2 1974 and Round 1 2000 were played in contrasting weather conditions, producing a 23-point defeat in the wet in the former and a 54-point loss in the heat in the latter.

Hawthorn finished with a 10-3 record in home games against Collingwood at Princes Park, 10-2 from 1975 onwards and has an incredible 14-3 record in home games against Collingwood at the MCG, with the only defeats, after the initial 2000 one, coming in 2005 and 2022. The Hawks also played nine home games against Collingwood at Waverley for a 6-3 record and lost a single home game to the Magpies at Docklands in 2006.

The home game record against the Magpies includes a sequence of 14 wins from 1980 to 1997 and 10 consecutive wins from 2008 to 2021.

Overall, the recent results between Hawthorn and Collingwood have alternated, with four wins apiece in the last eight encounters. Currently, Hawthorn has won 71 and Collingwood 101 from 172 meetings, the deficit of 30 being a massive improvement from when it was 56 in 1974 (15-71).

When Hawthorn had a scoreless second quarter last Friday night, it obviously made winning difficult, but history shows that it was not impossible as there have been three Hawthorn victories despite having a scoreless quarter.

The first was away to Footscray in 1952 when the Hawks failed to score in the third quarter but with a half-time lead of 27 points and only conceding 1.4 in the third, the Hawks recorded a comfortable 23-point win.

The second was in front of a massive Junction Oval crowd of 34,900 in 1963, when Hawthorn led St Kilda by 10 points at three-quarter time. Despite failing to score in the last term, the Hawks restricted the Saints to 0.6 and won by four points.

The most recent instance was also in an away game, to Geelong in 1996. Leading by seven points at half-time, Hawthorn was outscored by 3.4 to 0.0 in the third quarter but then a big final term saw the Hawks defeat Geelong by two points.

Friday night’s quarter-time score of 5.3 was the third highest Hawthorn has had when then kept scoreless in the second quarter. It is behind two scores of 5.4, against Geelong in 1927 and Fitzroy in 1946, with Hawthorn losing those games by 99 and 25 points respectively.

Last Friday night’s crowd of 50,654 was Hawthorn’s ninth 50,000-plus crowd for 2025, extending the new club record for a home and away season, with the prospect of a tenth this Thursday against Collingwood. The previous record of seven had been recorded on four occasions – 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2017.

Round 22 first appeared on the fixture in 1970 and has been contested every year since, except in the Covid-shortened 2020 season. For most of its existence, Round 22 was the final round of the home and away season, but in 1991-92, 1994, and since 2011, there have been further rounds played.

Hawthorn has a 36-18 record in the 54 games the club has played in Round 22. The Hawks were victorious in six consecutive Round 22 matches from 2010 to 2015, and then a further three up to 2021. After a loss to Richmond in 2022, the team bounced back with victories against the Western Bulldogs in 2023 and Carlton in Round 22 last season.

10 years ago, in Round 22 2015, Hawthorn recorded a comprehensive 72-point victory against Brisbane Lions in Launceston – 21.8.134 to 9.8.62. There were 12 individual goalkickers headed by Jack Gunston with four. Liam Shiels had the most disposals with 34 while Jarryd Roughead was also outstanding with 30 disposals and three goals.

40 years ago, in Round 22 1985, Hawthorn accounted for fellow-finalist North Melbourne by 64 points – 23.11.159 to 14.11.95. In just his 11^th game, Robert Handley got the three Brownlow votes for his 22 disposals and three goals, but unfortunately these proved to be the only votes of his 23-game Hawthorn career.

Jason Dunstall holds the Hawthorn record for most goals in a game versus Collingwood, having booted 11 in both 1989 and 1990. Next best has been Michael Moncrieff’s 10 in 1976.

Both Peter Hudson and Jason Dunstall regularly kicked large tallies of goals in Round 22. Hudson kicked 11 (1970), 10 (1971) and seven (1977), while Dunstall booted 12 (1992), 11 (1989) and 10 (1988, 1993 and 1996).