This week, Hawthorn is aiming to break a 10-game sequence of the home team winning encounters between the Hawks and the Suns.

In total, the home team has won 17 of the 20 games between Hawthorn and Gold Coast, with the only away successes recorded by Hawthorn at Carrara in 2011 and 2014, and Gold Coast at the MCG in 2017. Since the 2014 victory at Carrara, Hawthorn has lost six away games to the Suns, three at Carrara, two in Darwin and one at the SCG.

The overall record between the clubs is currently 13-7 in Hawthorn’s favour, after the Hawks recorded a comfortable win at University of Tasmania Stadium in Round 7 this season.

Hawthorn has a 6-6 record at People First Stadium, but its first and most recent wins were both by massive margins. The first was in Round 12 1987, when Hawthorn thrashed Brisbane by 95 points – 24.21.165 to 11.4.70, with Jason Dunstall kicking 11 goals and Dermott Brereton five. The most recent, in Round 4 2014, saw Hawthorn triumphant against the Suns by 99 points - 23.10.148 to 7.7.49, with Jack Gunston kicking five goals and Jarryd Roughead four.

This Friday night, Hawthorn plays its first game on 19 June this century.

This means that this century, Hawthorn will have played on every date from 22 March to 9 September. The second last date within that period to have a 21st-century game was 10 May, the date on which Hawthorn played Melbourne last season.

Hawthorn’s most recent game on 19 June, in Round 12 1999, was a truly memorable one. In the second quarter, the Hawks trailed St Kilda at Waverley by 63 points but fought back to win by 13 points – 17.7.109 to 14.12.96 – the second biggest comeback in VFL-AFL history. Nick Holland took 12 marks, kicked five goals and received the three Brownlow votes.

The crowd of 59,556 at the MCG last Friday week was a new record for a home and away game between Hawthorn and Western Bulldogs. The previous record was only set earlier this season when 48,451 attended the match in Gather Round at Adelaide Oval. Prior to this season, the record had been 48,090 at Docklands in Round 23 2017.

This season has also seen Hawthorn achieve new record home and away attendances against Geelong, Fremantle and Melbourne. The previous two seasons saw the Hawks have new record home and away crowds against Adelaide, Brisbane Lions, Carlton, Essendon, and Richmond, which means there have been new records for Hawthorn against nine of the 17 opposition clubs since the start of the 2024 season.

Jai Newcombe has joined his co-captain, James Sicily, as the two most recent Hawthorn players to receive 10 Coaches’ votes in a losing team. Newcombe received 10 votes from the coaches for his 36-disposal game against the Western Bulldogs, which was the first instance of a Hawk receiving the maximum votes in a loss since Sicily (with 28 disposals and 13 marks) did so in a one-point defeat by Richmond in Round 19 2023.

Jarman Impey is moving up the order of most games played for Hawthorn after being recruited from another VFL-AFL club.

Impey has now played 159 games for the Hawks, moving ahead of Ian Bremner (158) and joining Brent Guerra on 159. Just ahead of him are Josh Gibson (160), Ben McEvoy (161) and Joel Smith (163). Once he passes that trio, he will only have the top three – Jack Gunston (261), Shaun Burgoyne (250) and Russell Greene (184) ahead of him.

Round 15 has historically been one of Hawthorn’s best rounds, producing 50 wins, 46 defeats, two draws (in 1944 and 1956) and having three byes, including in the past two seasons. In the 27 seasons from 1970 to 1996, Hawthorn’s Round 15 return was remarkably good, with 24 wins and only three losses. The Hawks most recent Round 15 win was against GWS in 2021.

30 years ago, in Round 15 1996, Hawthorn defeated Geelong by two points at Kardinia Park – 11.8.74 to 10.12.72. What was particularly noteworthy about this game was that the Hawks did not score in the third quarter, just the third occasion in Hawthorn’s VFL-AFL history that the team had won a game after a scoreless quarter.

Despite trailing by more than three goals early in the last quarter, Hawthorn fought back and snatched the lead when a shot from Tony Woods bounced through and increased it when Nick Holland took a towering mark and goaled. Geelong cut the margin to two points with under a minute to go, but the Hawks held on for a great win, Paul Salmon was best-on-ground.

40 years ago, in Round 15 1986, Hawthorn won a low-scoring encounter with St Kilda by 21 points – 8.11.59 to 5.8.38, in front of a Princes Park crowd of just 6,979. The Hawks’ sluggish start could be excused as they had won the Night Premiership during the week. After trailing by 11 points at half-time, Hawthorn finally hit the lead midway through the third quarter. Terry Wallace had 30 disposals.

50 years ago, in Round 15 1976, Hawthorn had to fight hard all day to defeat Collingwood at Waveley by 12 points – 18.11.119 to 16.11.107. Michael Moncrieff kicked four goals, and John Hendrie was rated Hawthorn’s best player.

60 years ago, in Round 15 1966, Hawthorn defeated North Melbourne by one point – 12.11.83 to 11.16.82. An Arden Street crowd of 5,835 saw first-year rover, Peter Crimmins kick four goals and another first-year player and Des Meagher have a game-high 26 disposals. Captain Graham Arthur was also outstanding with 22 disposals and two goals.

The best individual return for a Hawthorn player in Round 15 is 12 goals, recorded by Peter Hudson in a 23-point win against eventual Grand Final opponent St Kilda at Glenferrie in 1971. Jarryd Roughead’s six goals in his final game in 2019 is the record for Hawthorn against Gold Coast.