Optus Stadium is poised to become the ninth venue at which Hawthorn has played a VFL-AFL Final.

The good news is that the Hawks have an excellent first-up record at new Finals’ venues with six victories and just two narrow defeats. Hawthorn won its first Finals at MCG (1957), Waverley (1975), Subiaco (1991), Docklands (2000), Football Park (2001) and Sydney Showground (2025), but lost its first Finals at SCG (1996) and Adelaide Oval (2024) by heartbreaking margins of six points and three points.

The first ever VFL-AFL Final played outside Victoria saw the Hawks travel to Western Australia to face West Coast in a Qualifying Final at Subiaco in 1991.

Top team, the Eagles, with a 19-3 record, were hot favourites against a Hawthorn side which had recovered from a slow start to the season to clinch second with a 16-6 record.

The Hawks trailed at quarter-time and then lost Dermott Brereton to injury but gradually gained a slight ascendancy leading by 11 points at half time and nine points at the final change. The game remained in the balance until late in the final term when the Hawks kicked away to win by 23 points – 18.16.124 to 15.11.101. The home fans were stunned; many long-term Hawthorn fans regarded it as one of the club’s greatest ever wins.

Stephen Lawrence was clearly BOG, not just dominating the ruck contests with 30 hit-outs, but also amassing a staggering 30 disposals, 14 marks and a crucial long goal. Several of the midfielders were excellent, including Darrin Pritchard, Ben Allan, Anthony Condon, Andrew Gowers and John Platten, while Paul Dear was outstanding in filling Brereton’s shoes.

This week, Jack Gunston will play his 270^th Hawthorn game and move to outright 11^th on the club games list, edging ahead of Gary Ayres and Jason Dunstall (both 269 games). Gunston’s five goals against West Coast in Round 24 took him to 571 Hawthorn goals, closing in on Jarryd Roughead (578) and Lance Franklin (580).

By making the All-Australian team in his third AFL season, Nick Watson has exceeded the efforts of several Hawthorn greats, including Shane Crawford (1996), Luke Hodge (2005) and Lance Franklin (2008) who all first became All-Australians in their fourth seasons. Watson has made the team earlier in an AFL career than any Hawk since Darren Jarman in his second season in 1992. Tom Mitchell and Josh Battle did so in their first seasons after transferring to Hawthorn from other AFL clubs.

2026 is just the third occasion when Hawthorn has finished fourth on the ladder at the end of the home and away season, having failed to win a Final in either of the previous two. In 1993, under the second version of the Final Six, Hawthorn lost a home Elimination Final to fifth-placed Adelaide by 15 points and, in 2018, went out in straight sets, losing to Richmond and Melbourne.

The Hawks and Dockers have met in three previous Finals, with Hawthorn winning the 2013 Grand Final and 2015 Preliminary Final but losing an Elimination Final in 2010. Hawthorn also has an excellent overall record against Fremantle, leading the head-to-head 29 to 16 from 45 games. However, in recent seasons, the Dockers have had the better of the encounters, winning eight of the past nine, with the sole Hawthorn victory by 13-points in Launceston in 2024.

Hawthorn’s first game at Perth Stadium, against Fremantle in 2018, resulted in a 59-point victory, but the Dockers have won the next six between the clubs there, with margins including 13 points twice, 15 twice and 16. Overall, at the venue, against all opponents, Hawthorn has a 5-7 record.

No game between Hawthorn and Fremantle has ever been decided by under a goal. The closest margin between the clubs has been nine points, once each way, with the Dockers winning by that margin at Waverley in 1997 and Hawthorn doing so in Launceston in 2004.

It is over 90 years since Hawthorn has lost a game on this week’s match date, 3 September. Since losing against Essendon on 3 September, in Round 18 1932, Hawthorn has won its past five games on the date, including Finals’ victories in 1977 and 1983. This week will be the second time Hawthorn has played a Final on a Thursday, the other one being the 2018 Qualifying Final against Richmond.

It will be a historic day for the AFLW team on Sunday which it plays the first home game at Dingley. It will be the first home game at a Hawthorn home-base since the final game at Glenferrie 53 years ago, on 1 September 1973, when the Hawks defeated South Melbourne by 37 points – 16.20.116 to 11.13.79.

This week’s AFLW opponent, Adelaide, is one of just two teams which Hawthorn has not beaten (the other being North Melbourne). The two teams have met twice previously with the Crows winning by 26 points at Unley in 2024 and by 21 points at Frankston last season.

Last Sunday’s game against Collingwood was Hawthorn’s 50^th in the AFLW. The 28-point victory against the Magpies took the Hawks’ win-loss record to 27-23. Tamara Smith has played 48 of the 50 games and now leads the career games tally, having passed Tilly Lucas-Rodd, who played all 47 games in the first four seasons.

50 years ago, in the 1976 Qualifying Final against North Melbourne, Leigh Matthews played a stunningly good game, having 31 kicks, two handballs, seven marks and kicking seven goals.

Hawthorn took mediocre form into the Finals, having lost four of the last seven home and away games but, after a slow start, got on top of North to win by 20 points – 14.19.103 to 12.11.83. Matthews was a clear best-on-ground with others in the best including John Hendrie, Barry Rowlings, Don Scott, Geoff Ablett, Rodney Eade and Peter Knights.

Mark Williams holds the record for most goals by a Hawthorn player against the Dockers, kicking eight against them in Round 1 2006 in Launceston. The record for most goals by a Hawthorn player in the first week of the Finals was set by Michael Moncrieff with eight majors in the 1978 Qualifying Final versus Collingwood and equalled by Lance Franklin against the Western Bulldogs in 2008.