The first to do so was Alec Albiston, who was captain-coach when he played his 150th game in a thrilling one-point win against Geelong at Kardinia Park in 1948. This set a trend which has seen six of the eight captains celebrate the milestone in winning teams, most recently in 2021, when Ben McEvoy’s 150th Hawthorn game saw a win against the Brisbane Lions.
The four other captains to celebrate game number 150 by captaining a win were John Kennedy Snr. (1958), Graham Arthur (1963), David Parkin (1971) and Shane Crawford (2000). The two captains to suffer defeats in their 150th games were Peter Crimmins (1974) and Sam Mitchell (2009).
Last Saturday’s winning margin of 66 points against Collingwood was Hawthorn’s second-biggest ever against a reigning Premier. The only larger victory was by 75 points against 1980 Premier Richmond in Round 6 1981.
It was the fifth occasion when Hawthorn has inflicted a 10-goal defeat on a reigning premier with others, besides 1981 and 2024, being by 62 points (Richmond 1975), 61 points (Kangaroos 2000) and 60 points (Carlton 1971). It was only the second occasion when Hawthorn has recorded a victory over Collingwood as reigning Premier, the other being a 43-point win in 1991.
Nick Watson’s nomination for the AFL Rising Star makes 2024 the 10th consecutive season when Hawthorn has had at least one nominee. It also consolidates Hawthorn in fourth place on the list of clubs with the most nominations. Watson is the 46th Hawk to be nominated since the award was introduced in 1993, which puts the club behind only Brisbane (52), Melbourne (50) and Essendon (47).
Hawthorn has an outstanding record against Adelaide at Adelaide Oval having won four of five games there. Oddly, the Hawks’ only loss was in a designated ‘home’ game there in one of the quirks of the Covid-era fixture in 2020. Hawthorn recorded wins in 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2019.
The 2017 victory was a stunning upset as the 17th-placed Hawks toppled the ladder-leading Crows by 14 points in a Round 14 Thursday night game, with Ricky Henderson starring against his former club.
The good record against the Crows at Adelaide Oval is something of a contrast with the record at Football Park where the Hawks won just four of 15 matches against Adelaide, recording those rare wins in 1993, 1994, 2008 and 2013.
In total, the Hawks and Crows have played 48 times, with Hawthorn holding a 26-22 advantage. After Hawthorn won 10 of 11 encounters between 2012 and 2019, recent seasons have seen alternating results so Hawthorn will be hoping to make it consecutive wins after the 27-point victory in Round 12 this season.
The run of success on 20 July was certainly continued by last Saturday’s big win, with Hawthorn now winning its last eight 20 July games, not tasting defeat on the date since 1946.
Saturday also saw Hawthorn centuries for and against tally back level, this time at 708 apiece. This is just the sixth time in 100 seasons that the figures have been tied, the others being at 0, 660, 703, 704 and 707. The biggest lead Hawthorn had on this metric was 17 late in the 2018 season, and the largest deficit was 194 during the 1968 season.
