Jack Gunston has become the first Hawthorn player to hold the outright lead in the Coleman Medal for more than a decade.

After 12 rounds of the 2026 season, Gunston has 35 goals, one ahead of Gold Coast’s Ben King and Geelong's Jeremy Cameron. Prior to Gunston, Jarryd Roughead was the most recent Hawthorn player to have a solo lead in the Coleman Medal race, holding a two-goal lead after Round 20 2014.

Since 2014, there have been a handful of cases of Hawthorn players sharing the Coleman Medal lead, most recently by Gunston himself after Round 1 this season, but Gunston is the first Hawk to have the lead all to himself for 12 years.

Gunston is also now just six behind Luke Breust on the Hawthorn career goals list. His five majors against St Kilda took his tally in brown and gold to 547, closing in on Breust’s 553.

Last Thursday night, Hawthorn kept the opposition goalless in the first half of a game for the first time for 14 years and just the seventh time in its VFL-AFL history.

The most recent time before last week, when Hawthorn kept the opposition goalless in the first half, it went on to lose the game. In Round 4 2012, against West Coast at Subiaco, the Hawks restricted the Eagles to 0.12 in the opening half but only kicked 2.7 themselves, so it was not a shock that the final result saw a five-point West Coast win – 5.21.51 to 5.16.46.

One would think that the 2012 game might be unique but remarkably three of the seven goalless opening halves by Hawthorn’s opponents have seen the opposition win the game.

Before last week, Hawthorn’s most recent win after keeping the opposition goalless in the first half was in Round 15 1975, when the half-time score against Richmond at Princes Park was 5.4 to 0.10. The Hawks powered further ahead in the second half to win 14.10.94 to 2.20.32. Peter Knights, John Hendrie, Kelvin Moore, Bohdan Jaworskjy and Leigh Matthews headed the best players.

Hawthorn has also kept the opposition goalless in seven second halves, including recently against GWS in the Canberra snow in 2019 and West Coast in Launceston in 2023.

Blake Hardwick’s four goals in the last quarter against St Kilda was the first instance of a Hawthorn player kicking four goals in a quarter since Hardwick himself did so in the first quarter against Port Adelaide in Round 10 2024.  The most recent player who is not Hardwick to achieve this feat was Mitch Lewis in the third quarter against Port Adelaide in Round 2 2022.

Hawthorn has an 89-81 advantage in the head-to-head rivalry against the Western Bulldogs, with two draws (in 1996 and 1999). The Hawks’ longest winning sequence against the Bulldogs is eight, from 2010 to 2016, the winning sequence started and ended with thrilling three-point victories. Hawthorn has won its last five matches against the Western Bulldogs.

To emphasis how rare home games against Western Bulldogs at the MCG have been in recent seasons, Jack Gunston has only played in one. That was in Round 2 2019, when some controversial umpiring decisions contributed to Hawthorn giving up a 30-point three-quarter time lead to lose by 19 points. The second most recent MCG home game was way back in 2011, although the clubs met in two MCG Finals in the past decade, in 2016 and 2024.

Hawthorn has played 99 matches in Round 13 for 47 wins, 51 defeats and one draw (in 1926), with two byes (2012 and 2017). The Hawks had an unbeaten run in Round 13 from 2010 to 2018. In recent years, Hawthorn has won its past three Round 13 games with victory over Brisbane Lions at the MCG in 2023, a thrilling against GWS at University of Tasmania Stadium in 2024 and last season’s success against Western Bulldogs at Docklands.

10 years ago, in Round 13 2016, Hawthorn had a nine-point win against ladder-leader North Melbourne at Docklands – 14.9.93 to 11.18.84. James Sicily kicked five goals and received a Rising Star nomination and three Brownlow votes.

40 years ago, in Round 13 1986, Michael Tuck played his 300^th game against North Melbourne at Princes Park. The Hawks honoured the occasion by unleashing an 8.9 to 1.2 opening term and cruised to a 60-point win – 21.26.152 to 13.14.92. Best players were Richard Loveridge, John Platten, Terry Wallace, John Kennedy and Rod Lester-Smith.

50 years ago, in Round 13 1976, the two great powerhouses of the mid-70s, Hawthorn and North Melbourne, met at Arden Street. It was a tight, tough encounter in windy conditions, but the Hawks prevailed by eight points - 10.15.75 to 9.13.67. Peter Knights was best-on-ground with eight marks, while first-gamer Don Fletcher gathered a game-high 20 kicks and booted two goals in an outstanding debut.

80 years ago, in Round 13 1946, Hawthorn produced one of the greatest comebacks in its history to defeat Geelong at Glenferrie. Trailing by 38 points at quarter-time and still by 21 points at the final change, the Hawks kicked 9.6 to 1.2 in the last quarter to win by 31 points – 15.22.112 to 11.15.81. Alec Albiston kicked seven goals.

90 years ago, in Round 13 1936, Hawthorn defeated Footscray by 22 points at Glenferrie – 13.13.91 to 8.21.69. Jack Green kicked seven goals.

100 years ago, in Round 13 1926, Hawthorn played the first draw in its VFL-AFL history, in controversial circumstances. Hawthorn led by a point as the bell sounded to signal the end of the game. However, the umpire failed to hear the bell and Gerry Donnelly of North kicked a behind that tied the scores at 10.10.70 apiece. It was only after the all-clear was given that the umpire heard the bell and signaled full time.

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.

Dunstall shares the Round 13 goal-kicking record with Peter Hudson, with Hudson booting nine against Fitzroy in 1971, which Dunstall equaled against Geelong in 1988. They are followed by bags of eight from Peter Knights (1972), Mike Moncrieff (1980) and Simon Minton-Connell (1995).