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Hawthorn Hawks

Honour Roll

VFL/AFL Grand Finals:

Brownlow Medallists:

Norm Smith Medallists:

John Coleman Medallists:

Games Records:

Goals Records:

Season Awards:

Team History

(Courtesy of the Official AFL Website www.afl.com.au)

Anyone watching Hawthorn win four premierships in the mid-1980s may have been forgiven for thinking the team had a long and rich history behind it, but the opposite was the case.

Hawthorn had a less than flattering record in the Victorian Football Association and may have surprised many by being admitted to the VFL in 1925.

Originally adopting the nickname of the Mayblooms before becoming better known as the Hawks, the club languished near the bottom of the ladder for many years and it was not until 1957 that it tasted its first finals appearance.

But success would finally find its way down to Glenferrie Oval in 1960 with the appointment of four-time club best and fairest John Kennedy as coach.

The Hawks soon became known as Kennedy's Commandos as he instilled a new discipline and fitness structure into the club and success soon followed with the club's first premiership the following year and further flags in 1971 and 1976.

By the time Kennedy had stepped down at the end of 1976, the Hawks were no longer the laughing stock of the league, but their most successful period was still to come.

David Parkin collected another flag in 1978, but three years later Allan Jeans took over and oversaw the club dominate the competition in a way rarely seen before.

After winning the flag in 1983, the Hawks never finished worse than first or second until 1990 and in that time collected another three flags including back-to-back flags in 1988 and 89 - although Alan Joyce took over in 1989 with ill-health forcing Jeans out for the year.

The Hawks collected another flag in 1991, but since then success has eluded them. Many people believe no other team will dominate the competition the way Hawthorn did during that era.

After a strong finish to the 1998 season and then taking out the 1999 pre-season Ansett Cup, many are predicting the Hawks to be big improvers after a period of rebuilding through the mid-1990s.

Some of the great names to have played for the Hawks include Leigh Matthews - regarded as one of the greatest players of all time - champion full-forward Peter Hudson, Michael Tuck - the league games record holder with 426 games, Dermott Brereton and Chris Langford to name just a few.