Being a biased Hawks fan, I’d committed to writing this before the events of today occurred, so bugger it, here’s what we missed out on:

The Gold Coast vs Hawthorn game on Saturday night, which was due to be played at TIO Stadium in Darwin, but has now gone from being postponed to being shifted to the SCG on Saturday night, would’ve been the first time Hawthorn have played a game in the Northern Territory, which would mean that the Hawks will have played at least once in every major state & territory of Australia.

For the record, the only clubs to have played in every major Australian jurisdiction, as of May 27, 2021 are:

Adelaide, Fremantle, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Port Adelaide, Richmond, St Kilda, West Coast and the Western Bulldogs.

It also would’ve continued an odd trend, as noted by Richard Allsop on the Hawthorn website, in that the Hawks’ first game in each jurisdiction of Australia was played in an odd numbered year, beginning with Victoria (1925) and followed by New South Wales (1979), Queensland (1981), Western Australia (1987), South Australia (1991), Tasmania (1991), the ACT (2019) and what would’ve been the NT (2021).

Further to it, if the Hawks had somehow found a way to win in Darwin, which had a likelihood of between naught and zero given their recent form, it would’ve given the Hawks the box set of wins in every major state & territory of Australia, given they ticked off the ACT in Round 21 of 2019, and if you remember from when Melbourne completed the box set after winning in Tasmania in Round 7, there’s a select group of clubs who have achieved the box set:

Looking through the glory of AFL Tables, there’s a few of clubs who also only need one more win in various parts of the nation to join the exclusive club:

Greater Western Sydney, North Melbourne, St Kilda and the Sydney Swans only need a win in the Top End, although all of them bar St Kilda have never played there, Adelaide and Brisbane haven’t won in the ACT, while everyone else needs a win in at least 2 of them, if they ever scheduled by the league to play there.

Carlton and Richmond haven’t won in Tasmania or the ACT, Collingwood and Geelong haven’t won a game in the NT or Tasmania, although the Cats are playing in Hobart in Round 20, and Essendon haven’t won in either Territory.

And, if the Suns had won the game in Darwin, they would’ve only needed to tick off Tasmania to complete the box set, but alas, in the grand scheme, everything I’ve just written means bugger all now.