DON’T underestimate the win over Hawthorn. Not for a moment.

For more than 50 years, no VFL/AFL team has been better than Hawthorn.  

It can’t be disputed.

They’ve won all of their 13 premierships since 1961. No other side has come close to winning that many flags in that period.  

Interestingly, in many ways, the VFL/AFL has been defined by three teams over the league’s history.

From 1897-1938, Collingwood dominated the landscape with 11 premierships.

In 25 years, from 1939-64, Melbourne won 10 of its 12 premierships – a remarkable achievement and one that anyone who was born from 1965 onwards, and bleeds red and blue, finds shattering.

Since 1965, or really since 1971, Hawthorn has won 12 flags.

This year, the Hawks are aiming for their fourth premiership in succession. Only Collingwood has achieved this feat, from 1927-30. If Hawthorn was to equal this record, it would be phenomenal, particularly in an 18-team competition.

The Hawks sit on top of the ladder, having dropped just four matches for the season – an outstanding achievement in anyone’s language.

They have lost to Geelong (fifth on the ladder), Greater Western Sydney (fourth) and the Sydney Swans (second) and on Saturday they went down to Melbourne (11^th) by 29 points at the MCG.

The fact that Melbourne hadn’t defeated Hawthorn since May 19, 2006 (round eight that season) showed just how significant that win was for the red and blue.

It’s arguably Melbourne’s greatest win since its most recent finals victory in 2006, when Neale Daniher guided the red and blue over St Kilda, which was Grant Thomas’ last game as coach.

From 2007-16, Melbourne lost to Hawthorn by an average of 52.07 points. That’s an aggregate of 677 points in 13 matches, from round two, 2007 to round 11, 2016.

But how about this?

From 1925-68, Melbourne won 55 of its 74 matches against Hawthorn.

But from 1968-2016, the Hawks have claimed 66 victories and the red and blue have chalked up just 20 wins.

So for this almost 40-year-old, seeing wins over Hawthorn have been rare.

The first one wasn’t until round 13, 1984, which to this day remains one of my favourite football memories – I can still remember going to the game with my Hawthorn supporting Dad. It was a great childhood memory. (I recently saw a clip of this match on YouTube, which took me back!)

It was the day Melbourne defeated Hawthorn by 17 points at Princes Park – and ended an 11-year losing streak. That’s right, from 1973-84, the Dees lost 22 times to Hawthorn.

That’s right 22 times in a row!

And you reckon 13 times from 2006-16 was bad!

Peter Moore, who won the Brownlow Medal in 1984, received three votes for that game. And I can remember Alan Jarrott starring, along with Kelvin Templeton and David Williams kicking four goals each. Robert Flower, Gerard Healy and Alan Johnson were just some of the other Demons running around that day. Greg Healy (seven games) and Graeme Yeats (six) were just youngsters.

Melbourne’s win over Hawthorn in 1988 – and I’m not talking about the Grand Final – was another great win. The Hawks lost just three games for the season and that round seven game was a beauty.

Who could forget the back-to-back matches in 1990, when Melbourne defeated the reigning premiers in round 22 and the elimination final by 12 points and nine points respectively? The performances of Tony Campbell and Peter Rohde on Hawthorn superstars Jason Dunstall and Dermott Brereton were outstanding and pivotal in the wins.

Those games in 1984, 1988 and the back-to-back games in 1990 are probably my favourites Melbourne wins against the Hawks, along with 2016, rounding out a top five.

Apologies to Allen Jakovich’s lazy eight goals against Hawthorn in round 17, 1994 (which ended up being his last game for the Dees) and David Neitz’s bump on Luke McCabe in 2002. 

So the 2016 win will be etched in Melbourne supporters’ memories for some time to come.

The debut of Sam Weideman, the return of Clayton Oliver, Max Gawn’s towering contested grabs, Jack Viney’s ball-winning ability (he won a personal best 39 disposals), Cam Pedersen’s mark, Billy Stretch’s goal to put the red and blue back in front, Dom Tyson’s back-to-back majors to ice the game and Nathan Jones’ smile after finally getting a win over Hawthorn – after 220 matches – were just some of the new memories created.

The fact that it resulted in Melbourne’s best season in 10 years and further enhanced the improvement shown under coach Paul Roos and his team were other highlights to take away from the game.

As Roos said post-match, it was a “fantastic win” and he was “just so proud”.

“The leaders – Nathan [Jones], Bernie [Vince], Tommy McDonald, Maxy Gawn, Jack Viney – they were fantastic, and then some of the young players [were too]. Dom Tyson's game again, [was] an elite game in the midfield, Clayton Oliver's looking better after a spell and Angus Brayshaw [impressed],” he said.

“To win those games, you have to have everyone playing good footy and we did.

“I just hope they take that feeling [and realise] the effort that's required … against great teams, but the reward is worth it. A lot of this is learning and the penny starting to drop. Hopefully, as they move into the off-season, it has a huge bearing on where our footy club goes.”

I’m sure it will. It was too infectious not to have an impact.