HAWTHORN - Part One: 1902 to 1988

Affiliated: MJFA 1902-14; VFA 1914-24; VFL 1925-89; AFL 1990-present

Club Address: P.O. Box 52, Hawthorn 3122, Victoria

Home Ground: Melbourne Cricket Ground  (Hawthorn also plays several 'home' matches a year at York Park, Launceston)

Formed: 1902

Colours: Brown and gold

Emblem: Hawks

Premierships: SENIORS - 1961, 1971, 1976, 1978, 1983, 1988-89, 1991 (9 total) RESERVES - 1958-59, 1972, 1985 (4 total) UNDER 19s - 1972 (1 total) OTHER PREMIERSHIPS - Championship of Australia 1971; NFL Championship 1976; VFL/AFL Night Series 1968-69, 1977, 1985-86, 1988, 1991-92 (8 total - record); Dr. Wm. C. McClelland Trophy 1961, 1971, 1984-85 (joint winners)-86, 1988 (6 total)

Brownlow Medallists: Col Austen 1949#; Robert Dipierdomenico 1986; John Platten 1987; Shane Crawford 1999 (4 total)

Norm Smith Medallists: Colin Robertson 1983; Gary Ayres 1986 & 1988; Paul Dear 1991 (3 Medallists/4 Medals)

All Australians: Peter Hudson 1969; Bob Keddie 1969; Leigh Matthews 1972; Kelvin Moore 1979; Michael Tuck 1979 & 1983; Gary Buckenara 1983, 1985 & 1986; Dermott Brereton 1985; Russell Greene 1985; Rod Lester-Smith 1985; John Platten 1986, 1987 & 1988; Chris Langford 1987; R.Morris 1987; A.Hall 1988 (18 total)

AFL All Australians: Darren Jarman 1992 & 1995; Jason Dunstall 1992 & 1994; John Platten 1992; Ben Allan 1993 & 1994; Chris Langford 1994; Shane Crawford 1996, 1998, 1999 & 2002; Paul Salmon 1997; Jonathan Hay 2001; Joel Smith 2001 & 2003; Trent Croad 2005; Peter Everitt 2005; Luke Hodge 2005; Campbell Brown 2007 (20 total)

V/AFL Top Goalkickers: John Peck (75) 1963, (68) 1964 & (56) 1965; Peter Hudson (125) 1968, (146) 1970, (150) 1971 & (110) 1977; Leigh Matthews (68) 1975; Jason Dunstall (132) 1988, (138) 1989 & (145) 1992 (11 total)

Hawthorn's Official 'Team of the Century': Click here

Highest Score: 36.15 (231) vs. Fitzroy 11.8 (74) in round 6 1991 at North Hobart Oval 

Most Games: 426 by Michael Tuck 1972 to 1991

Record Home Attendances: 1. Waverley - 92,935 in round 11 1981: Hawthorn 18.19 (127); Collingwood 12.9 (83)  2. MCG - 55,019 in round 18 2007: Hawthorn 17.17 (119); Essendon 7.14 (56)  3. Glenferrie Oval - 36,000 in round 1, 17 April 1965: Carlton 12.19 (91); Hawthorn 8.6 (54)  4. Princes Park - 35,042 in round 9, 28 May 1977: Collingwood 22.10 (142); Hawthorn 16.12 (108)  5. York Park - 20,971 in round 12 2006: Hawthorn 16.9 (105); Richmond 8.16 (64)

Record Finals Attendance: 118,192 for 1971 grand final at the MCG: Hawthorn 12.10 (82); St Kilda 11.9 (75)

Overall Success Rate 1925-2007: 46.7%

# indicates awarded retrospectively by the VFL in 1989 after having initially been lost on a countback of votes.

GREAT GAMES LINKS:	Bombers Surge Home
MINI-BIOGRAPHIES:	Geoff Ablett   Alec Albiston   Ben Allan   Dean Anderson   Andy Angwin   Graham Arthur   Col Austen   Gary Ayres   Jack Barker   George Bennett   Jack Blackman   Jimmy Bohan   Dermott Brereton   Morton Browne   Gary Buckenara   Jack Carmody   Kevin 'Skeeter' Coghlan   Norman Collins   Len Crane   Peter Crimmins   Wally Culpitt   Kevin Curran   Des Dickson   Robert Dipierdomenico   Jason Dunstall   Rodney Eade   Brendan Edwards   Neil Ferguson   Ted Fletcher   Jim Francis   Allan Goad   Mark Graham   Jack Green   Russell Greene   Jack Hale   Alex Hall   Daniel Harford   'Jiggy' Harris   Malcolm Hill   Nick Holland   Paul Hudson   Peter Hudson   Alf Hughes   Bert Hyde   Jim Jackson   Darren Jarman   Bohdan Jaworskyj   Allan Jeans   Bernie Jones   'Killer' Kaine   Darren Kappler   Bob Keddie   John Kennedy senior   Peter Knights   Chris Langford   Ian Law   Steve Lawrence   Rod Lester-Smith   Clarrie Lonsdale   Leigh Matthews   Ivan McAlpine   Luke McCabe   A. Stan McKenzie   Des Meagher   Chris Mew   Michael Moncrieff   Kelvin Moore   Ron Nalder   Phil O'Brien   Peter O'Donohue   David O'Halloran   John O'Mahoney   David Parkin   Ian Paton   Neil Pearson   John Peck   Clive Philp   John Platten   Ted Pool   Reg Poole   Darrin Pritchard   Shaun Rehn   Don Roach    Colin Robertson   Jim Robison   Barry Rowlings   Peter Russo   Paul Salmon   Peter Schwab   Brad Scott   Don Scott   Bob Sellers   Keith Shea   Roy Simmonds   Stan Spinks   Stuart Stewart   Clayton 'Candles' Thompson   Michael Tuck   Ted Utting   Wally Williamson   Ray Wilson   John Winneke   Allan Woodley   Gary Young   Maurie Young   Colin Youren
XXXX

Under the gruelling commando-style regime based on circuit training which was introduced by Jack Hale during the 1950s, and which John Kennedy, who was appointed Hawthorn coach in 1960, elaborated on and augmented, the players reached a pinnacle of physical fitness that had probably never previously achieved in the history of Australian football. There was no finesse about the Kennedy approach, but no one could deny it was effective. During his first season as coach the Hawks had their first ever win at Victoria Park over Collingwood - the club which, ironically, edged into fourth place at the end of the home and away season ahead of the Hawks on percentage. One season later, however, Hawthorn finished at the head of the premiership ladder with 14 wins from 18 matches, and went on to reach the grand final after a hard-fought second semi final win over reigning premiers, Melbourne.

In terms of pure footballing ability Hawthorn's team in 1961 could only really be described as ordinary, but in spite of this they achieved the ultimate when, on grand final day, they comprehensively outplayed Footscray to the tune of 43 points. With fitness fanatic Brendan Edwards in irrepressible form in the centre, and with strong supporting performances from rover Ian Law, ruckman John Winneke, wingman John Fisher, ruck-rover and captain Graham Arthur, and half forward Ian Mort, the Hawks gave new meaning to the phrase 'pressure football' (a term which, during the 1960s, came increasingly to be regarded as a synonym for 'quality football' - in Victoria, at any rate).

A statistical analysis of the 1961 grand final helps bear this out.  The overwhelming majority of kicks (60.1%), by both teams, were wayward, in part because of slipshod execution - the drop kick, in particular, which was used 24.0% of the time, did not lend itself to pinpoint accuracy - but chiefly because the ball carrier was compelled to dispose of the ball hurriedly either in order to avoid being tackled, or because he was already being grabbed by an opponent.  This also helps explain what might seem to some to be the surprisingly high incidence of handball in the match.  Between them, the teams executed a total of 106 handpasses, but far from denoting any observable adherence to the principles of 'play on' football, this merely reinforced the fact that players were, typically and repeatedly, being harassed into getting rid of the ball as quickly and expeditiously as possible.  On only 8 occasions during the entire match did players who had marked the ball decide not to walk slowly and purposefully back and take their kick, but instead play on by handballing to a team mate.  Moreover, 5 of these instances occurred during the dying minutes of the final term, when the outcome of the match had been determined.

Rather than being used proactively, as a means to open up or force the play, virtually all the handpasses made during the game were reactive, typically made as a desperate last resort, often blindly, by players either being, or about to be, tackled.  As a result, some 33% of handballs ended up going straight to an opposition player.  To modern eyes, therefore, much of the football produced in the 1961 grand final appears slipshod, errant and uncoordinated.  Players did not so much impose their wills on the game as respond, instinctively, and often almost desperately, to its ebbs and flows.  Constructive creativity quite simply never came into play.  Only once during the entire game was there a sequence of as many as 3 consecutive handballs by players from the same team.  A player's automatic response upon gaining possession of the ball in space was to kick it as far as he could in a goalwards direction.  Short or medium distance kicks aimed at finding a specific team mate did occasionally occur, but so infrequently as to appear anomalous, and so inexpertly as to provoke a singularly unvarying pejorative reaction from the TV commentary team - "Oh no, they're messing around!"   Such sentiments presumably encapsulated the contemporary viewpoint, which would appear to have been that any attempts on the part of players to impose order and coherence on the game are fruitless, and hence to be scorned.  Thus, in the main, play in the 1961 grand final comprised a relentless sequence of long kicks forward interspersed with frenetic tussles for possession.  Hardly any kicks could be categorised as 'passes', and many went either directly to an opposition player, or out of bounds.

None of this is meant to imply that the Hawthorn system was not revolutionary in its way.  In particular, its side effects were quite significant.  For one thing, as players endeavoured to diminish and counteract the destabilising effects of 'pressure football' they developed noticeably greater facility in their execution of the basic skills.  Disposing of the ball speedily and accurately became paramount, which meant that handball - the quickest method of disposal available to a player - became increasingly important.  Meanwhile the drop kick, which had been a pillar of the game since its inception, began to be supplanted by the drop punt, which was both immeasurably more accurate, and quicker and easier to implement.  In the 1961 grand final the drop punt was used only twice; by the time that the Hawks next claimed a premiership, a decade later, it was the preferred kick of almost all members of the team.

Hawthorn's breakthrough success in 1961 was arguably attributable more to methodology than playing ability, and as such it could not conceivably endure. After dropping to ninth place in 1962 - the biggest ever immediate fall from grace of a reigning VFL premier - Hawthorn recovered briefly to reach the grand final once more a year later, only to be crushed by Geelong. With Kennedy's innovative coaching methods now being almost universally emulated, Hawthorn, which did not possess the champion players of many of their rivals, dropped into the pursuing pack somewhat, although it was nevertheless clear that the side's days as a chopping block were well and truly over.

After seven seasons of fluctuating fortunes, but no further finals appearances, 1971 witnessed a return to glory.  In losing only 3 of their 22 home and away matches for the season, the Hawks of 1971 were everything their predecessors of ten years earlier had been, but they also had more than the odd touch of class to reinforce the work ethic. Rover Leigh Matthews, who would go on to become one of the greatest players the game has ever seen, was a 178 centimetre 89 kilo human guided missile, who also possessed supreme all round football skills and an unerring goal sense. Matthews won the Hawthorn best and fairest award in 1971, the first of eight which he was to secure during a seventeen season, 371 game career. Alongside Matthews in the Hawk class of '71 was Peter Hudson, arguably the greatest full forward of all time, who in 1971 equalled Bob Pratt's long-standing VFL record of 150 goals for the season, and but for injury and misfortune could easily have overturned it. Half forward Bob Keddie, ruckman Don Scott, wingman Des Meagher, full back Kelvin Moore, rover Peter Crimmins and back pocket David Parkin were among the other stars in a Hawk line up which made light of a 20 point deficit at three quarter time of its grand final clash with St Kilda to win in the end by 7 points.

A mixture of complacency - that perennial scourge of reigning champions in most sports - and injuries to key players saw the Hawks drop to sixth place in 1972. The most critical loss was that of Peter Hudson, who sustained a torn cruciate ligament in his right knee during the opening round fixture against Melbourne and missed the remainder of the season. Hudson did not return until the penultimate home and away match of the following year, but he was clearly far from fit. (In point of fact it was not to be until 1977 that he would again manage a full season of VFL football, kicking 110 goals to take his final career record to 727 goals from just 130 senior games.) Meanwhile, the Hawks again just missed the finals in 1973 before returning to the September fray in 1974 when they went out to North Melbourne by 5 points in the preliminary final. Season 1974 also saw the Hawthorn leave Glenferrie Oval to play its home matches at Princes Park for the first time. The following season saw the Hawks head the ladder after the home and away rounds only to succumb to a supremely motivated North Melbourne, which was pursuing its first ever VFL flag, in the grand final.

As so often seems to happen, the taste of grand final defeat worked wonders in terms of spurring the team on during the following season. Allied to this, tenacious club skipper Peter Crimmins was seriously ill with cancer, and a desire to win a flag "for the little feller", as coach John Kennedy referred to him, was overwhelming. When Hawthorn confronted their 1975 nemesis North Melbourne twelve months later in the '76 grand final it was the fifth meeting between the clubs for the year: during the home and away season the Hawks had won by 28 points at Princes Park and 8 points at Arden Street; the clubs had also met in Adelaide in the final of the inaugural NFL Championship series, when Hawthorn had won by 48 points; and, just to reinforce their superiority, the qualifying final at the MCG had seen the Hawks emerge 20 points to the good, so that if ever a team went into a grand final deserving of premiership favouritism, it was Hawthorn in 1976.

After the by now familiar premiership hangover in 1977 under new coach David Parkin (the Hawks finished third, losing the preliminary final to eventual premiers North Melbourne by 67 points) things reverted to what was increasingly coming to seem like normality in 1978. After finishing in second spot on the ladder at the end of the home and away rounds, Hawthorn scored victories over Collingwood in the qualifying final and North Melbourne in the second semi to win through to their third grand final in four seasons. The opposition was once again provided by North Melbourne and, just as in 1976, the Hawks proved much too accomplished; after a hiccup or two in the second quarter they raced away to a commanding 22 point lead at three quarter time, and the fact that a few late goals brought North to within 18 points at the end did nothing to disguise the fact that Hawthorn had been eminently comfortable winners. Young Robert Dipierdomenico, without the handle bar moustache which would become his trademark in later years, starred on a half back flank to be most people's choice as best afield; he was closely followed by Leigh Matthews, who bagged 4 goals in a typical all action roving display, full back Kelvin Moore, ruck rover Michael Tuck, and centreman Terry Wallace.

David Parkin had made a quick impact as coach and, at least in part, this may have been due to the fact that, while he shared his predecessor Kennedy's passion for fitness and hard work, in terms of personality he was very different. Whereas Kennedy was very much the disciplinarian, whose word was law, Parkin adopted a more modern, consensus based approach in which the views of players were always welcome. Ultimately, however, he may have been a little in advance of his time: Hawthorn struggled in 1979 and 1980 (10 wins each year) and when, at the end of the 1980 season, Parkin crossed to Carlton it was neither an entirely unexpected nor a particularly amicable divorce. Just by way of demonstrating that there was nothing wrong with his coaching methods, Parkin immediately took the Blues to back to back premierships, and he subsequently went on to prove himself one of the most highly respected and successful coaches in the history of the game.

Allan Jeans was a man with a formidable coaching pedigree. During a sixteen year stint at St Kilda he had masterminded that club's most successful ever period, including a first (and to this date only) premiership in 1966, and two other grand final appearances in 1965 and 1971. In 1980 Jeans was forty-seven years old and was coaching the New South Wales state side. Hawthorn President Ron Cook had earlier worked with Jeans when both men had had connections with the Victorian state side, Jeans as coach and Cook as chairman of selectors, and Cook was extremely keen to see Jeans appointed to the Hawthorn post. Other names bandied about by the media included Peter Hudson, and former Richmond champion Kevin Sheedy, but in the end it was Cook's judgement which held sway. "We wanted a fresh face, but someone mature and stable, someone who was terribly keen, who wanted to prove himself again," (see footnote 2) said Cook. As subsequent events were to show, the Hawks got precisely what they wished for.

Ironically, much the same words could have been written after both the 1984 and 1985 grand finals, but on these occasions it would be the Bombers who would earn the kudos. Once again, as in the early sixties, the Hawks had established a new benchmark and other clubs - or, in this case, one specific other club - had been swift to emulate and then overtake them.

A 33 point loss to Carlton in the 1987 premiership decider was disappointing, but by no means a disgrace, and in 1988 the Hawks bounced back with arguably their, and indeed any club's, most devastating ever grand final performance. The opposition was provided by Melbourne, making its first grand final appearance for twenty-four years, and the eventual winning margin was 16 goals, which remained a league record for a premiership deciding match until 2007. Hawthorn was coached this year by Alan Joyce, who stood in for Allan Jeans while the latter was recuperating from major surgery after suffering a brain haemorrhage. Full forward Jason Dunstall kicked 7 goals in the grand final, while Paul Abbott and Dermott Brereton chipped in with 6 and 5 respectively. After a closely contested first fifteen minutes the Hawks were unstoppable, with second time Norm Smith Medallist Gary Ayres, forwards Brereton, Abbott and Dunstall, rover John Platten, and Brownlow Medal winning wingman Robert Dipierdomenico particularly impressive. (Incredibly, after more than sixty seasons in the VFL, Dipierdomenico was the first Hawk player to receive football's highest individual award, although later the league would confer retrospective Brownlows on players who had earlier tied for the award but lost on countback; in 1949 Hawthorn's Col' Austen had been one such player, making him technically the club's first Brownlow Medallist.)

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Footnotes

1.  Hawthorn played a total of 140 VFA matches for a success rate of 41.4%.  Only once, in 1923, did it reach the finals, bowing out at the first hurdle on that occasion to Port Melbourne.  Perhaps the club's single most memorable achievement during its VFA tenure was its feat in kicking a competition record 30.31 (211) against Prahran, which managed just 6.9 (45), on 5 August 1922.  Hawthorn's score in this match remained an Association record for seventeen years.  Return to Main Text

2.  The Hard Way by Harry Gordon, page 190. Return to Main Text