This week, Hawthorn will be hoping its good recent record against Western Bulldogs outweighs its lack of success in both Gather Round and in games played on 11 April.

Hawthorn has won its past four games against the Bulldogs, starting in Launceston in 2023, followed by two 2024 victories (in Round 8 and an Elimination Final) and in Round 13 last season.

In contrast, the Hawks have lost all three of their previous Gather Round games and have only won once from nine games on 11 April, however, the sole victory was a big one, a 77-point thrashing of Collingwood in Round 3 1987.

Easter Monday’s epic encounter produced the Hawks’ fourth one-point win against Geelong, the most against any opponent. The previous one-point victories over the Cats were in 1948, 1979 and 2018.

Hawthorn has now won 16 games by one-point in its VFL-AFL history, with Monday’s being its first since Round 1 2021 against Essendon at Docklands.

Between the 2021 and 2026 wins by one-point, Hawthorn recorded six victories by six points or fewer, all of which occurred at University of Tasmania Stadium. Overall, Hawthorn has now won 128 games decided by six points of fewer, compared to 123 defeats, with 13 draws.

Jack Dalton and Flynn Perez joined select company by debuting in a one-point win. There were five debutants (3 AFL, 2 club) in Round 1 2021 but, apart from that game, there have just been four previous examples of Hawthorn debuts in one-point wins.

The most memorable of these was Jack Fitzpatrick, who kicked the winning goal against Collingwood on his club debut in Round 23 2016, and the most significant was future Premiership star, Col Youren in Round 1 1958.

Hawthorn’s most recent AFL debutant prior to Dalton, Ethan Phillips also made his debut in a game decided by one-point, but in much less happy circumstances, as it was in a shattering defeat by Port Adelaide in Round 10 2024.

Dalton and Perez debuted in front of a bigger crowd than any previous Hawks’ player. The previous holder of this record was Mitch Hallahan, who also debuted on an Easter Monday, in his case Round 5 2014, when 80,222 attended Hawthorn’s 19-point loss to Geelong.

Monday’s attendance of 84,712 was Hawthorn’s third highest ever home crowd and its seventh biggest home and away one. The club has now had 12 home and away crowds above 80,000 in its VFL-AFL history, six of which have occurred in the past three seasons. The opponents in 80,000-plus games have been Geelong (5 times), Collingwood (4) and Richmond, Carlton and Essendon once each.

Flynn Perez joins several illustrious predecessors in playing for Hawthorn after having Sandhurst, Sturt and North Melbourne in his football resume.

Two of Hawthorn’s all-time greats, Graham Arthur and Brendan Edwards, joined the Hawks from Bendigo League club Sandhurst in the 1950s. Another recent Hawk to come from Sandhurst was Fergus Greene. Prominent names to join Hawthorn after playing for Sturt include Clayton ‘Candles’ Thompson, Rick Davies and Chad Wingard.

Terry Moore, who debuted for Hawthorn in 1979, was the first Hawk to have previously played for North Melbourne. Perez becomes the seventh with the most prominent being three-peat stars, Josh Gibson and David Hale.

The Hawks and Bulldogs have met at the Adelaide Oval on a previous occasion, with Covid-era fixturing seeing the Bulldogs defeat the Hawks by 36 points there in Round 17 2020.

Overall, the Hawks hold an 88 -81 advantage in the head-to-head rivalry between the clubs in the VFL-AFL since joining the competition together in 1925, with two draws (in 1996 and 1999), a remarkably close statistic given the 13-2 Premiership differential between the clubs.

Hawthorn won eight consecutive games against the Bulldogs from 2010 to 2016, the winning sequence started and ended with thrilling three-point victories.

Hawthorn has played 100 games in Round 5 for 42 wins and 58 losses (having a bye in 1993). The Hawks have only won once in Round 5 in the past eight seasons, but it was a memorable victory, against Geelong on Easter Monday 2022. 

10 years ago, in Round 5 2016, Paul Puopolo played the best game of his career, gathering 23 disposals and kicking five goals, including the match-winner, as Hawthorn defeated Adelaide by three points -17.10.112 to 17.7.109.

20 years ago, in Round 5 2006, Mark Williams kicked the winning goal at a wet MCG as Hawthorn defeated Essendon by one-point – 12.12.84 to 12.11.83. The best players included ex-Bomber Danny Jacobs, who took 15 marks, Chance Bateman, Ben Dixon, Shane Crawford, Joel Smith, Tim Clarke and Sam Mitchell.

50 years ago, in Round 5 1976, the Hawks made it five wins in a row to start the season with a 19-point victory against Essendon at Windy Hill – 14.10.94 to 10.15.75. Michael Moncrieff kicked five goals, while the best players were headed by Peter Knights, John Hendrie and Don Scott. The only sour note was a hamstring injury to Leigh Matthews.

70 years ago, in Round 5 1956, Hawthorn defeated St Kilda in a low-scoring game at the Junction Oval by 21 points – 6.12.48 to 3.9.27. The Age reported that John O’Mahony ‘with clever control of a greasy ball, outplayed three opponents in a brilliant display’.

Round 5 produced what was then the highest, and remains the second highest, individual goal tally in Hawthorn history, when Peter Hudson kicked 16 against Melbourne at Glenferrie in 1969.

Jason Dunstall holds the Hawthorn individual goal-kicking record against the Bulldogs with 14 goals at Waverley in Round 19 1996. This contributed to his overall tally of 116 goals versus the Bulldogs, his most against any opponent.