Hawthorn and St Kilda met on equivalent terms in the 1971 grand final, as clubs that had won just one premiership each, in a game so brutal that – as Hawthorn’s then-skipper David Parkin once quipped – the first half was played without the ball.
Since then, the Hawks have won a dozen premierships to St Kilda’s nil, the paths of those two clubs diverging sharply during the 1970s and ’80s, and again in the early 21st century, as one club became powerful and the other found itself forced to rely on the kindness of strangers – ie, the AFL.
Carlton won eight premierships from 1968 until 1995, and none since. Richmond had five flags after their move to the MCG in the mid-1960s and a further three under the Damien Hardwick-Brendon Gale leadership, but were broke and often broken in the intervening 37 years.
A modern-day Hawthorn great, Sam Mitchell knows success.Credit: Getty Images
The Hawks are the only team to have won premierships in every decade from the 1960s; they have been, by any measure, the club that has been most successful since the game turned semi, and then fully, professional.
As they celebrate 100 years in the VFL/AFL, Hawthorn’s story of a club that went from outhouse to powerhouse will be revisited, as key contributors – coaches, players, administrators – are feted.
The celebration also invites an intriguing question: why have Hawthorn been the competition’s most successful club over the past five decades?
Having covered the game most years since the fabled 1989 grand final, I would venture that the Hawks’ success up to that point was due in a mix of stable, prudent administration, exceptional coaches – John “Kanga” Kennedy, Parkin and Allan Jeans were all legends in the coaching caper – and some dumb luck in the allocation of recruiting zones.
The Hawks gained Leigh Matthews, Peter Knights, Michael Tuck, Dermott Brereton, Gary Ayres, Chris Mew, Chris Langford and many others from their metropolitan or country zones. They supported those riches with interstate recruits of the highest value, headed by Jason Dunstall and John Platten, having landed the transformational Peter Hudson from Tasmania in the ’60s.
Alastair Clarkson (right) and Hawthorn skipper Luke Hodge hold the 2015 premiership cup aloft.Credit: Scott Barbour
Hawthorn hit hard times after the Batmobile premiership of 1991, averted a merger and did not revive really until Alastair Clarkson’s arrival, which was quickly followed by that of Lance Franklin, Jarryd Roughead and Jordan Lewis in the seminal draft of 2004.
Good fortune in the allocation of players has been less of a factor in the socialised competition of drafts and salary caps, albeit the father-son and academies can be a lucky dip (Geelong, Collingwood and the Bulldogs having fared well).
Is there something about Hawthorn of the 21st century that might account for that club’s winning ways? There’s never one factor in the mosaic of club success. Stability and financial solidity certainly help, as does calling out the right names at the draft table, appointing the best possible coaches and, increasingly, owning the most capable leaders on the field.
If I was to discern a trait that marks Hawthorn as somewhat exceptional, it would be this: That the Hawks have been able to make tough decisions, in terms of their players and coaches.
Consider first the critical appointment of a senior coach to succeed Peter Schwab. Post-Jeans, the Hawks had yo-yoed between different Hawthorn people – Alan Joyce, Knights, Ken Judge and Schwab.
Jason Dunstall, then the football director on the club board, was the person most responsible for Alastair Clarkson’s appointment, and subsequently, for Clarkson’s retention in the face of a potential removal by Jeff Kennett in 2006 (when the great Leigh Matthews was seen as an option by Jeff).
In Dunstall’s time as football tsar on the board, the football department was largely devoid of ex-teammates from the ’80s and ’90s. Rather, Clarkson was allowed to hire Damien Hardwick, Chris Fagan, Luke Beveridge, Leon Cameron, Brendon Bolton and Mark Evans.
From across the generations they came to celebrate Hawthorn’s 100 years as a club.Credit: Joe Armao
Clarkson, too, did not flinch from tough calls. He let Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell and Lewis leave for other clubs, when many coaches and clubs would have made the safe decision to retain those champions. Hodge might have gone too soon, but Mitchell – and Hawthorn – benefited enormously from his move to West Coast and rapid return.
Clarkson also made the contentious decision to trade Josh Kennedy to the Swans, despite Kennedy’s underestimated talents and nonpareil heritage as the scion of Hawthorn’s first family (Josh Kennedy’s father John Kennedy jnr remains head of Hawthorn’s past players and officials).
If this was a mistake in assessment of a player, as I believe, it says much about Hawthorn – and Clarkson – that they were willing to make such a decision, without concern for political fallout.
Clarkson reckoned Dunstall the most influential figure in Hawthorn’s four-premiership run.
Now a premiership Pie, Tom Mitchell won a Brownlow at the Hawks.Credit: AFL Photos
Clarkson’s successor Mitchell, too, has shown himself to be a less-than-sentimental bloke. He traded out the 2018 Brownlow medallist Tom Mitchell and oft-injured gun Jaeger O’Meara – whom Clarkson had brought in as replacements for Mitchell and Lewis in 2016 – in a move aimed at fast-tracking a revamped midfield, led by Will Day and Jai Newcombe.
Hawthorn mark their players harder than many rivals.
Ned Long played five games for the Hawks. He’s now an important piece for Collingwood.Credit: AFL Photos
Would Clayton Oliver have survived at Hawthorn, on his huge contract in the face of his diminished performance? How many under-performing Bombers would be retained at Hawthorn? One cannot imagine Essendon – or most clubs – letting the equivalent of Hodge and Mitchell walk. Hodge might still be playing for the Bombers now.
Ned Long, despite his unusual combination of size (194 centimetres) and elite running capacity, was jettisoned after two years. Was it the right call? Probably. If Long has prospered at Collingwood when handed opportunity, the reality was that he was never going to supplant Day, Newcombe or even his close friend Josh Ward in the midfield.
Hawthorn’s leaders, such as Dunstall, Clarkson, Mitchell and ex-football boss Graham Wright, are or have been notable for their clear-eyed assessment of players. It is telling the 2025 Hawks have nary a player who is paid more than $1 million annually and yes, they were fortunate to miss on Ben McKay and then land the more capable Josh Battle and Tom Barrass to bolster an under-sized defence.
Which other club, if any, would move on a four-time premiership coach, with a full year remaining on his contract?
Clarkson can hardly complain, either. The values that marked his coaching tenure – that the club’s interests supersede any individual’s – were precisely those that led to his exit.
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