Blake Hardwick will this week join select company by playing 100 consecutive Hawthorn games.

His current sequence of 99 games started in Round 19 2021 and is made more impressive by the fact that he had already achieved a run of 65 consecutive games from 2017 to 2019.

The list of consecutive games for the Hawks is headed by Andy Collins (189), followed by Michael Tuck (138), Kelvin Moore (128) and Shaun Burgoyne (107).

There are three other honourable mentions. One is to Jim McCashney who played 105 consecutive senior games for the club, beginning in the VFA in 1920 and continuing into the VFL-AFL until 1926. The other two are Allan Woodley and Ian Law, whom the AFL classes as playing 110 and 100 consecutive games respectively, but these include State games which meant missing Hawthorn games and breaking the club sequence.

Hawthorn has become the first club to win at least one final outside its home state in four different decades, with last Saturday’s triumph against GWS seeing 2025 join 1991, 2001 and 2015.

2025 is just the second occasion when Hawthorn has had two interstate finals in the same season, the other being 2015 when the Hawks ventured to Perth twice for both Qualifying and Preliminary Finals.

Hawthorn and Adelaide have played in four previous finals, three at the MCG and one at Docklands. The Hawks lost in 1993, but have won the most recent three, in 2007, 2012 and 2015.

10 years ago, in the 2015 Semi Final, Hawthorn bounced back from a Qualifying Final defeat to thrash Adelaide by 74 points – 21.9.135 to 8.13.61. The win was set up by an 8.4 to 2.2 opening term. Luke Breust kicked six goals and Luke Hodge contributed four, with those two joined in the best players by others including James Frawley, Sam Mitchell and Ben Stratton.

In total, the Hawks and Crows have played 51 times, with Hawthorn holding a 28-23 advantage. After Hawthorn won 10 of 11 encounters between 2012 and 2019, there was a period of alternating results, before the Hawks had three successive wins, twice last season and at University of Tasmania Stadium earlier this season, with Adelaide then winning in Round 21 at the Adelaide Oval.

That Round 21 defeat against Adelaide was just the Hawks’ second against the Crows at Adelaide Oval, compared to five wins.

Since the introduction of the Final Eight, 2025 is the fifth occasion Hawthorn has progressed to a Semi Final by winning an Elimination Final. Hawthorn has recorded one Semi Final win with this scenario, against Port Adelaide in 2001, but lost against North Melbourne in 2000 and 2007, and Port Adelaide last season.

Under the Final Eight system, the Hawks have also played four Semi Finals after losing a Qualifying Final, recording victories in 2011 and 2015, but suffering defeats in 2016 and 2018.

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Hawthorn must overturn a lot of history to defeat Adelaide on Friday night, as it is 42 years since a minor premier was eliminated in ‘straight sets’. Since North Melbourne lost both Finals in 1983, 11 other minor premiers have lost their first final, but in all 11 cases they won their next final.

Sam Butler’s pressure last quarter goal against GWS has him among select Hawthorn company as kicking his first goal of a season in a final. Both Dermott Brereton (5 goals) and Michael Cooke (4) made debuts in Finals, while Andy Collins (1987) and Matthew Young (1994) kicked their first career goals in finals, both coincidentally in their ninth game. David O’Halloran is another to kick his first goal for a season in a final, doing so in the 1983 Grand Final when the margin was a little greater than it was when Butler kicked his crucial goal on Saturday.

Last Saturday was the first time Hawthorn had kicked a century score in a final since the 2015 Grand Final when coincidentally the score was also 16.11.107. The Hawks have reached 100 points 38 times in finals, with a 35-3 record in those games, the three defeats coming against Collingwood (1977), Carlton (1982) and North Melbourne (2000).

Don’t be surprised if the margin this week is three points. There have already been five Hawthorn finals this century decided by that margin, as well as four of Hawthorn’s last 14 games against Adelaide.

50 years ago, in the 1975 Second Semi Final, Hawthorn won through to the club’s fourth Grand Final, defeating North Melbourne by 11 points – 12.10.82 to 10.11.71. Debutant Michael Cooke kicked four goals, while Peter Knights was best-on-ground.

In a nice piece of timing, this Friday night’s final is being played exactly 100 years after Hawthorn recorded its third win of its 1925 debut season in the VFL-AFL, a 25-point victory against North Melbourne. On 12 September 1925, Hawthorn won 7.13.55 to 4.6.30, with Lew Gough contributing three goals.

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).

Three Hawthorn players have kicked eight goals in a final – Michael Moncrieff (1978), Dermott Brereton (1985) and Lance Franklin (2008).