Last Sunday’s win against Carlton was just the ninth time that Hawthorn has won a game after trailing by more than five goals at half-time.

Carlton joins Geelong (4 times), St Kilda (twice), Melbourne and the Bulldogs as teams who have surrendered half-time leads of more than 30 points against Hawthorn.

In a nice piece of symmetry, the comeback against Carlton came 30 years after the biggest half-time deficit which the Hawks have overcome, which was 49 points versus Geelong in Round 6 1989. And, in a further odd historical quirk, five of the nine biggest comebacks from half-time deficits in Hawks’ history have now occurred in years ending in nine – 1949, 1979, 1989, 1999 and 2019.

Looking forward to this week, there is no clear pattern to what happens the week after these big comebacks. In the eight previous cases, the Hawks have recorded four wins and four losses in the following game.

Hawthorn met Melbourne in Round 7 as recently as two years ago. The Hawks went in as big underdogs having won just one of the opening six games of the 2017 season but proceeded to score an upset three-point victory – 14.10.94 to 14.7.91.

Hawthorn set up the win by skipping away to a 27-point quarter time lead, which was largely maintained until Melbourne kicked four quick goals late in the third quarter. A dogged final term got the Hawks to a well-deserved victory. Skipper Jarryd Roughead booted four goals and gun recruit Tom Mitchell had 31 disposals.

Hawthorn’s five-point win against Carlton continued the club’s outstanding recent record in games decided by six points or fewer. In the past four seasons, Hawthorn has played in 17 such games for the remarkable record of 13 wins, one draw and just three losses. This recent positive run has seen Hawthorn go ahead in the overall record in these games, with 118 wins, 111 losses and 11 draws.

The Hawks also have an exceptional record against Carlton in close games with a 10-2 record in the last 12 games decided by a goal or less between the clubs.

Hawthorn has won 15 of its last 17 games against Melbourne, including 13 consecutive wins from 2007 to 2016. Hawthorn’s best sequence of wins against any opponent is the 22 consecutive victories it racked up against Melbourne from 1973 to 1984. The two clubs have played each other 163 times, with the Hawks winning 87 and the Demons 76.

This week could see the club record for the most consecutive Round 7 wins broken. The Hawks won eight consecutive Round 7 games from 1971 to 1978 and have equaled that with another eight on the trot from 2011 to 2018.

A costly display of inaccuracy prevented Hawthorn extending the record in Round 7 1979, as the team kicked 0.14 in the first half against Fitzroy at the Junction Oval. Trailing by 47 points at half-time, the Hawks hit back strongly in the second half to only go down by 12 points – 11.24.90 to 14.18.102. Norm Goss was Hawthorn’s best player with 25 kicks and three goals.

The overall Hawthorn in Round 7 record is 47 wins, 46 losses and one draw.

25 years ago, in Round 7 1994, Hawthorn continued its revival with a 13-point win against reigning Premier Essendon at Waverley – 12.16.88 to 11.9.75. It was a tight contest all day with the Bombers leading by three points at half-time and the Hawks by four points at the final change. Jason Dunstall kicked four goals, Anthony Condon had 31 disposals and Jason Taylor pulled in 11 marks at centre-half forward.

50 years ago, in Round 7 1969, Peter Hudson was held goalless for the first time in his career (in his 43rd game), but Hawthorn still defeated Richmond by nine points – 8.13.61 to 7.10.52.

An MCG crowd of 36,933 saw Peter Crimmins, Des Meagher and Rod Olsson be amongst the best players for the Hawks. Hawthorn had gone into the match in third place, with the Tigers second, and this result, combined with a loss by top team Geelong, saw the Hawks go to the top of the ladder with a 6-1 record. Amazingly, Hawthorn’s percentage of 100.3 was just the eighth best of the 12 teams, as it was still suffering from the 128-point loss to Carlton in Round 2.

Hawthorn has now gone 11 games without scoring 100 points. The most recent century came in Round 20 last season when the team registered 16.11.107 against Essendon, It is the longest such sequence since a run of 17 century-less scores in 2004. However. 2018-19 has been very different in terms of results with six wins in the last 11 games, compared to just one victory in the 17 matches in the 2004 sequence.

Further back in history lower scores were more common with sequences such as 33 consecutive scores below 100 in 1965-66 and the all-time Hawthorn record of 59 consecutive failures to bring up a ton from 1930 to 1933.

The Round 7 individual Hawthorn goal-kicking tally is the highest for any round. In Round 7 1992, Jason Dunstall kicked 17 goals against Richmond, falling just one short of Fred Fanning’s VFL-AFL record of 18, but bettering the previous Hawthorn record of 16 set by Peter Hudson in 1969. That bag of 16 at Glenferrie in 1969 remains the club record against Melbourne.