Hawthorn takes positive records in both Preliminary Finals and in Finals against Geelong into this Friday night’s game.

The Hawks have a 9-6 record in Preliminary Finals, including winning their past four in consecutive seasons from 2012 to 2015, and have a 6-4 advantage over Geelong in Finals.

Hawthorn has not lost a knockout Final against Geelong since 1963.

Since the defeat in the 1963 Grand Final, Hawthorn has defeated Geelong in two Grand Finals (1989 and 2008), one Preliminary Final (2013) and an Elimination Final (2000). In non-knock-out finals, the results have been shared, with the Hawks winning the 1991 Second Semi and 2014 Qualifying but losing Qualifying Finals in 2011 and 2016.

Four of the past eight finals between Hawthorn and Geelong have been decided by six points or fewer, with another decided by nine points.

Massimo D’Ambrosio will play his 50th game for Hawthorn this week and will thus join a very select group to have reached the milestone in just two seasons.

David O’Halloran played his 50^th game in the 1977 Preliminary Final loss to North Melbourne, while John Platten’s 50^th was the dramatic 1987 Preliminary Final victory against Melbourne. O’Halloran and Platten played every game from debut to their 50ths, whereas D’Ambrosio has missed one game, against Sydney in Round 7 last season.

This season is just the fourth in Hawthorn’s VFL/ AFL history when it will play as many as 26 games, the previous three being 1985, 1987 and 2015.

In 1985, Rod Lester-Smith was the only individual to play all 26 games, as was Shaun Burgoyne in 2015, whereas in 1987, six players did so, making a total of eight Hawks who have played a 26-game season. This Friday night, they will be joined by the five Hawks who have played every game in 2025 - Josh Battle, Massimo D’Ambrosio, Blake Hardwick, Dylan Moore and Jai Newcombe.

Of course, we are all hoping for an unprecedented 27 games in 2025.

Luke Breust’s career came to an end in sad fashion last Saturday, but he has had the most stellar career in the brown and gold. He finishes in third place on the Hawthorn games list (308) and seventh on the goals list (553), his top 10 position in both a distinction he shares with just Leigh Matthews and Jarryd Roughead.

Hawthorn famously won the 2013 Preliminary Final after losing its previous 11 games against Geelong. Twelve years later, the Hawks enter the Preliminary Final having lost the previous four games against Geelong, but have won four of the previous 11, the most recent victory coming on Easter Monday 2022.

Overall, Hawthorn trails Geelong 76 to 96 in the head-to-head, with one draw (in 1963) after 173 games between the two clubs.

Last Friday night was the first time Hawthorn won a Final when not wearing brown and gold stripes. The only previous Final when the Hawks had not worn the stripes was the 2015 Qualifying Final defeat against West Coast at Subiaco. Also of note is that Hawthorn’s last five finals wins have been in white shorts. The most recent victory in brown shorts was the 2015 Semi Final win against Adelaide.

Victory in last week’s Semi Final ensured that the longest gap between top-four finishes in Hawthorn’s modern history will remain at nine seasons, with the period from 2016 to 2024 equaling that from 1992 to 2000. The club’s only longer period without a top-four finish was the ancient history of 32 years from 1925 to 1956.

This Friday will be just the second time in its VFL-AFL history that Hawthorn has played a game on 19 September. The one other occasion was the 1987 Preliminary Final when Hawthorn came from 22 points down at three-quarter-time to defeat Melbourne by two points via a Gary Buckenara goal after the siren.

The Gary Ayres Award was introduced in 2016, so it missed the Hawthorn three-peat. That means the coaches have now awarded votes in eight Hawthorn Finals. Before this season, only two Hawks had received votes in multiple finals - Shaun Burgoyne in both Finals in 2016 and Jai Newcombe in both finals last season. Newcombe has now become a four-time voter-getter, with last Friday night seeing Jack Gunston, Lloyd Meek and Nick Watson becoming two-time vote recipients.

10 years ago, in the 2015 Preliminary Final, Hawthorn defeated minor premier Fremantle at Subiaco by 27 points – 15.4.94 to 10.7.67. There were many highlights, including Matt Suckling’s massive goal on the three-quarter-time siren, but the decisive moment came with the Dockers pressing hard in the last quarter when Cyril Rioli pounced on a dropped mark and goaled. The best players were headed by Sam Mitchell, Luke Hodge, Josh Gibson and Taylor Duryea.

40 years ago, in the 1985 Preliminary Final, Hawthorn overcame a spirited Footscray team to win by 10 points – 16.13.109 to 15.9.99 – to secure a third consecutive Grand Final appearance. After a quiet game, Leigh Matthews made a decisive contribution in the final quarter with two brilliant goals, while Ken Judge, Richard Loveridge, John Kennedy, Jason Dunstall and Rod Lester-Smith were among the best.

Jarryd Roughead’s six goals in the 2014 Preliminary Final against Port Adelaide was a new Hawthorn Preliminary Final record, beating the five recorded by Jason Dunstall (1986), Gary Buckenara (1987) and Mark Williams (2008).

The individual goal-kicking record for a Hawthorn player versus Geelong is 12 by Jason Dunstall in 1990 and 1992, both at Waverley and both in Round 1.