Hawthorn and Me
As the Hawks celebrate 100 years in the VFL/AFL our team share their Hawthorn origin stories.
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As Hawthorn Football Club continues to celebrate 100 years in the AFL this weekend in their game against Richmond, the Hawks Insiders have come together to pen a collective piece highlighting exactly what Hawthorn means to them.
From childhood memories to unforgettable finals, heartbreaks to triumphs, and legendary names etched in time, this is a tapestry of lived experience told through the eyes of devoted supporters. Whether they were born into brown and gold, found their way to it through fate, or came to embrace it as family, each voice here adds to the rich fabric of what it means to be a Hawk.
This isn’t just about football — it’s about identity, connection, and a century-long story that continues to soar.
How long have you been a Hawthorn supporter?
SIMON MORAWETZ: I've been a Hawks supporter since Sydney lost 34 out of 35 games in 1992–93. I was a six-year-old Swans fan at the time (following my dad), and somewhere during that stretch, it all got too much. I was given permission to change teams — on the condition I could only do it once. I agreed. My brother put all the teams in a hat and I eliminated them one by one. One of my earliest memories is picking out Sydney and the sense of relief that followed. In the end, I had a 50-50 shot at becoming a lifelong supporter of either Hawthorn or Collingwood. Fate smiled on me that day.
MICK COWAN: Since birth – 1962. The first game I clearly remember was the 1971 Grand Final, kicking brown and gold balloons in the lounge room with the family.
NAT MARTIN: I can’t remember ever not being a Hawks fan. Dad lost my sister to Collingwood, but he had me over the line first—not that I had much of a choice!
ASHLEY BROWNE: Since 1971, when I became aware of some family history. I have vague memories of celebrating that year's flag and have been at every Grand Final since.
ANDREW WEISS: Since 1987, when a family friend (Michael Sion) lured me away from the evil clutches of my older brother and his Essendon allegiance. I’ve thanked him every year since.
DANIEL PRINS: It was predetermined—both my parents were Hawks supporters, and all four of my grandparents chose Hawthorn after migrating from the Netherlands. As a kid, I used to confuse the Hawks and Brisbane Bears because of the colours, but I was, and always have been, a born-and-bred Hawk.
BRAD KLIBANSKY: Thirty-six years. My family came to Australia from South Africa in the late ’80s. On my first day at school, my principal Jenny Wright told me, “Don’t come back tomorrow unless you go for Hawthorn.”
DARREN LEVIN: See above, but make it 1993. We supported my dad’s best mate’s team — but this was post the 1991 Flag and we had many miserable days at Waverley before the team started to play well.
What was the first Hawthorn game you went to and what do you remember?
MORA: I remember going to see Hawthorn v West Coast at Waverley Park in 1995. We weren’t much chop then, saved from the spoon by an insipid Fitzroy in their second-last season. West Coast were much better – they made a semi-final that season – and we lost, but I can remember telling my mum we did well to keep them under 100 points (they scored 97). It was a different game back then.
MICK: The first game that left an impression on me was 1973 when Leigh Matthews kicked 11 goals against the Bombers at VFL Park. In days where full forwards were expected to be the dominant goal kicker, Matthews as a rover was some feat, along with 41 possessions.
NAT: It was Round 7, 2000 at the MCG against the Bulldogs. Easter. My first time on a plane, we flew to Melbourne from Hobart on a Kendell! I was six, nearly seven. I actually remember it vividly — my Aunt lived in Charles St Abbotsford at the time and I remember catching the train in from Collingwood to Jolimont. We sat in the AFL members in the Southern Stand, we won by about five goals. It was Anthony Rock’s 250th (the image of him being chaired off in front of us is still imprinted in my brain for some reason) and Kris Barlow kicked the sealer.
ASH: Hawthorn v Carlton. Glenferrie Oval, 1972. Until that day, the only Hawthorn fans I knew or had ever seen were my dad, my uncle and my cousins. To see 20,000 or so fellow Hawks around the ground was just magic. I was hooked.
WEISSY: I distinctively remember being at the 1994 Qualifying Final when we drew to North Melbourne at Waverley and then lost in Extra Time. But my membership card from that years shows that I went to 17 matches in the season (not just Hawk games), so clearly went to a few prior — just can’t remember them!
DANNY: My memory from my childhood is poor if I’m honest, I remember games and periods of games, but I was so young when I first attended, and we went to every Saturday game at Waverley, that I can’t remember specifics. What I do remember is sitting on the timber bench seats at Waverley, joining in with all the Hawthorn chants at the top of my lungs.
BRAD: I was seven years old. Round 1, 1992. Dunstall kicked 12.
DAZ: Mid-1990s at Arctic Park against maybe Adelaide? Honestly, I’m struggling to remember last week’s Eagles game.
What is the best/favourite game you have been to?
MORA: Hands down it’s the 2013 Prelim. I don’t need to tell anyone reading this why. It was my birthday, too. My favourite non-final was watching Buddy kick nine against Essendon in 2007, including five in a quarter.
MICK: Favourite home and away game — playing the Cats at Princes Park in Round 6 1989, the Cats were leading by 49 points at half-time (17.6 to 9.5), the Hawks then flipped the switch to win the game 26.15 to 25.13. Watching from the Heatley Stand end, a Geelong mate made his way from the scoreboard at half-time and I said to him that they couldn’t lose from here — he wasn’t so sure such was the aura of this team at the time. This was the game where Jeansy described Garry Ayres as “a good driver in heavy traffic. Favourite GF – 2008 purely for the fact that it came from nowhere in terms in respect to the age of the group and the dominance of the Cats across the season just ahead of 1989 win which gave us the first back-to-back flags in the club’s history.
NAT: The 2013 Preliminary Final. It was my first year living in Melbourne, I was 20, living on campus at Deakin Burwood. We’d lost 11 in a row to them and had nothing to show for being the best side in the AFL for nearly 2 years. I’ve never been so nervous before a game, I honestly don't think a Hawthorn game before or since has meant so much to me. That game changed the course of history. To be 20 points down at three quarter time with that familiar feeling of dread but finally get on the right side of a close one, in one that mattered so much, was beyond euphoric. The roar when Puopolo and Roughead ran it down the Southern wing at the end (where I was sitting) is the loudest noise I've ever heard at a Hawthorn game. I got home at 4am.
ASH: Been so many. Grand Finals and the 2013 prelim aside, watching the Bud tear the Dogs apart in the 2008 qualifying final was special. I was at Huddo’s comeback game in 1973, a brilliant day at the footy except that we lost.
WEISSY: So many to choose from. Obviously the 1999 Round 12 game against the Saints will forever be a favourite, together with the 2013 prelim, and all the Grand Finals — with 2008 and 2014 being standouts.
DANNY: There are so many. My favourite at Waverley was the Andrew Weiss match. Round 12, 1999 against the Saints. I was at the Buddy vs Essendon game with Buddy tearing Cale Hooker apart down the wing where I was sitting. If you forced me into one game though, the 2008 Grand Final, in standing room behind the Hawthorn cheer squad. Epic.
BRAD: 2008 Grand Final. Not sure this game can ever be beaten as the best ever!
DAZ: Is this the most I’ve ever agreed with Brad? It has to be 2008. I scored a last minute ticket for terrible reasons — my nana was sick in hospital and took a turn for the worst so I took my dad’s ticket. I will never forget the feeling at half time after Mooney missed that shot thinking, “Maybe we can actually pinch it?” The Dew and Cyril magic in that Premiership Quarter is absolutely iconic. When we started rushing those behinds in the final quarter, the emotions really kicked in. I had finally seen a Hawthorn flag, but my parents weren’t there to experience it with me. 2013 was a dour game but at least we got a chance to experience it as a family.
Which Hawthorn game in history do you wish you’d been at?
MORA: The breakthrough 1961 Grand Final.
MICK: 1991 Qualifying Final vs. West Coast – Some of the usual crew made the trek across for the game, I couldn’t go across and with the “too old, too slow” moniker doing the rounds, winning the first interstate final in WA set up the 1991 GF win.
NAT: I could pick any of the Grand Finals but I think it’s the Merger Game? Given I was only three in 1996 I have no memory of it, but the prospect of Hawthorn not being around is so foreign to me. The emotion must’ve been absolute fever pitch, Dunstall kicks 10.3 including his 100th, we win by a point to make the 8 and Langford makes his famous statement coming off. Iconic.
ASH: 1961 Grand Final.
WEISSY: Forever regret not being at the 2001 Semi Final against Port when all my mates went, and not being at Waverley the day that Jason Dunstall booted 17 against the Tigers. Otherwise would have loved to be at the 1989 Grand Final as well.
DANNY: I was two, so I missed it, but the 1989 Grand Final is often talked about as the greatest of all Grand Finals. I wish I was there.
BRAD: 2001 Semi-Final Vs Port Adelaide in Adelaide.
DAZ: It’s shameful I wasn’t at the 2013 prelim, but having experienced all 11 losses of the Kennett Curse live, I just couldn’t stomach another loss against that mob at ‘G. One of the biggest regrets of my life — but maybe this is a butterfly effect moment and had I attended the game, the Hawks would’ve … I can’t even bring myself to finish that sentence.
Best Hawthorn player you’ve seen
MORA: I missed out on the best of the ‘80s (I did catch the back end of Dunstall’s career), but I’ve still been privileged to see some true legends. Buddy Franklin stands above for me, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s the answer even for some a bit older than me as well. His highlight reel speaks for itself, but what strikes me every time I watch it is how so many of those great goals came with the margin under 10 points, or late in the game, or both.
MICK: Leigh Matthews was the best player of the game as acknowledged by the competition. For a player of his size (5’ 10” 178cm) to dominate in a game where tall players were the exulted ones (ie. those who played down the spine or the ruck), Matthews was able to play midfield and pseudo key forward given his footy IQ. As ruthless as any player in a time where anything went and receipts were kept, Matthews as a small man made his teammates play taller. His collision with Barry Cable in a state game almost gave WA another reason to secede from the East Coast.
NAT: The ‘best’ in terms of the most exciting and talented is Lance Franklin. But pound for pound the most reliably consistent brilliant footballer I've seen play for Hawthorn in my lifetime, the man I'd want to play well if my life depended on it — is Sam Mitchell.
ASH: Leigh Matthews. As described by Mick. Lance Franklin a close second.
WEISSY: Jason Dunstall, with Buddy a close second. Still think that what I was able to witness in my time when he was kicking goals for fun in poor sides was the snapshot into how good he was kicking them in the good sides. And no need to go into the incredible talent that Buddy was — provider of the most out of your seat, head-rush moments in my spectating career.
DANNY: Buddy. The greatest Hawthorn player of my generation. The things he could do on the footy field were other-worldly. The only one that comes close in my time was Cyril Rioli in terms of freakishness, but he wasn’t as impactful on the stat sheet and didn’t have the longevity of Franklin. What a player he was.
BRAD: Lance “Buddy” Franklin. We will never see anyone like him in our life time!
DAZ: It’s Cyril. From the second he burst onto the scene in 2008, I knew this kid was different gravy. It’s hard to remember a first year player having such a huge impact on a flag winning side. A big game player whose highlight reel only rivals Bud for sheer, audacious brilliance. How I wish he could one day come back into the fold.
Which Hawthorn player did you never see play but wish you had?
MORA: Peter Hudson.
MICK: Leaving Brendan Edwards to others, reading the reports from that era John Peck may have been the earliest “Hollywood Hawk” winning the Coleman on three occasions in a team that wasn’t known for its skill. In days of limited television coverage, the vision of Peck playing in a state game decking a South Australian player with his coach Bobby Davis suggesting there was justification in the incident that would get 6+ weeks in these days (he got 1 week!).
NAT: It’s Peter Hudson. In a roundabout way he is the reason I follow Hawthorn, as Huddo is the reason Dad follows the Hawks (my grandfather was Essendon). 5.59 goals a game, I mean — come on. The man must’ve been an absolute genius.
ASH: Brendan Edwards. 33 touches in the 1961 Grand Final must have been something. And a shout-out to ‘Delicate’ Des Dickson.
WEISSY: Leigh Matthews for me. All the talk about him being the greatest of all time — would have loved to have seen the quality with my own eyes.
DANNY: Flip a coin between Leigh Matthews and Peter Hudson. Two of the greatest to ever play the game.
BRAD: Leigh Matthews.
DAZ: Lethal.
If you weren’t Hawthorn, who do you think you’d barrack for?
MORA: If it hadn’t been for a historically bad run in the early 90s, I’d probably still be a Swan. if I was choosing from scratch now, I’d choose a team that aligns with people I’d want to go to the footy with. My dad is still a Swan, my brother goes for Geelong, two of my best friends go for Collingwood. It’d probably be one of them.
MICK: This is something that I have never ever given any thought to. Growing up in the Richmond recruiting zone in the days when players came out for training sessions; along with couple of cousins (plus guys from the neighbourhood) who were on their list at times, and having being taught by the sister of a Tigers player (Marty McMillan), likely I’d be a Tiger.
NAT: Not a question I’ve ever really thought about, but I've always had a small soft spot for the Dogs given Mum follows them.
ASH: Some family history. My father played reserves footy for Hawthorn. My uncle played in the 1961 premiership team. So, the Hawks are in the blood. But if Ron Cook hadn’t knocked on the family door to recruit first, my uncle, and then my dad, the family would have remained diehard Melbourne fans and that likely would have been passed down to me. Yikes.
ASH: Would probably have stuck it out with my brother and Essendon. Can you imagine? So grateful not only for me — but for Ethan and Evagayle having been brought into this world to experience a culture of success!
DANNY: I can’t say this is something I’ve given much thought to, but if I was forced to choose I think it would probably be Carlton. That makes me kinda sick to write. Thank the Lord for the Hawks.
BRAD: No one (editors note: this is a lie and the answer is obviously Carlton)
DAZ: Absolutely loathe putting this in writing but it’s Carlton. When my family arrived from South Africa in the early 1990s, we all picked the Hawks, but my uncle’s side were swayed to the Blues by a family friend. When they won un 1995 and we finished second bottom, I started thinking I had made a huge mistake. A lesson in trusting the process. Can you actually imagine supporting that club?!
What does Hawthorn mean to you?
MORA: Of course, there’s a sense of community and common ground with other Hawthorn fans, but that would come with any club. To me, Hawthorn specifically means success. The club is built for it. The fans expect it. I’m not interested in this current crop winning a Premiership — it has to be a bunch of them. To other clubs, this can come across as arrogant or greedy or spoilt. Maybe it is. It’s just the natural result of our club clearing its bar over and over again.
MICK: Connection with my old man and memories of sharing a passion with him.
NAT: Apart from family, the Hawks are the one constant in my life from the get-go that have never changed. You can change a lot of things in your life, but not your footy team. They are my purest and strongest sporting love, it is pretty stupid we allow a group of 23 people wearing a brown and gold jumper to dictate our mood during the winter months but you can’t ever tell me footy doesn't matter. I’ll be a tragic Hawthorn nuffy until the day I'm no longer here.
ASH: Outside of my family, I can’t think of anything else that has brought me more joy for longer than watching the Hawks. Alive for 12 flags and been at 11 of them. That’s pretty cool.
WEISSY: Everything. Experiencing all of life’s emotions — the ups and downs, through the vehicle of a sporting club, which is pretty incredible. Having an outlet to be able to switch off from the day-to-day going ons in the world. And being able to share something I am so passionate about with my kids — in particular the bond shared with Ethan, is an incredible thing to experience.
DANNY: It’s everything. I loved the connection that I had with my Opa’s (grandfather in Dutch), especially my Opa Steve, who would take us to Saturday afternoon games when my Dad had a soccer match on. The connection I have with my Dad and the ability to debrief on a game post-match. Now I see the excitement and connection with my three sons as their love for the Hawks continues to grow and I can’t help but think about how special it is that we all share this bond. It’s generational. Hawks Insiders has only added fuel to my Hawthorn love. The connection with the HI community and the Insiders themselves is incredibly special, and something I hold close to my heart.
BRAD: True love. A club that has given me so much happiness and joy over the years. A club that always strives to be number one.
DAZ: Friendship, family, community. The Hawks have backgrounded so many special moments with my daughters, my parents, and my family from America, who were lucky enough to witness the 2015 Flag when they were living here. Creating the community and brotherhood we now have with the Hawks Insiders has taken my Hawks love up a few notches (to say the least).
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Nice stuff everyone. Today choked me up a bit. Been following the Hawks since Glenferrie days standing in the outer initially on some pretty cold miserable days but watched those great early champs, Brendan Edwards, Graham Arthur, Gary Young…great to see he’s still going strong, John Peck, Colin Youren, Des Meagher, Parko and a few tough nuts Neil Ferguson Delicate Des Dickson and Norm Bussell. I could go on but it’s been a privilege to support this club and in grain it into my kids and grandkids.
Absolutely loved this boys ... brought a tear to the eye 🤎💛