Sydney lost by 101 points against St Kilda in Round 10 of 1998, a result that was remarkable at the time as Sydney sat in 2nd place on the ladder (St Kilda were 5th with a percentage below 100), and became all the more remarkable a few months later when the Swans would go on to defeat St Kilda in the 1998 Finals, but in the time since, Sydney’s consistent performances have meant that their greatest defeat of the 21st Century was a 93-point defeat to Geelong in Round 6 of 2023, which was their only defeat by 90+ points over a span of 26 years.

Until Saturday night, when Port Adelaide capped off a game that started with them leading 72-0 by demolishing the Swans to the tune of 112 points, finally ensuring that every AFL team has lost by 100 points since 2000.

This also makes the 2024 Swans only the third team in league history to sit on top of the ladder and lose a game by 100+ points, and the first since Fitzroy’s 150-point poleaxing of eventual minor premiers North Melbourne in Round 13 of 1983, the only game in history in which 3 players from the same team kicked at least 7 goals in a game (Fitzroy had Matt Rendell kick 8 goals, with Mick Conlan and Bernie Quinlan kicking 7 apiece)

Which means the team that now has the longest run without losing a game by 100+ points is….

Hawthorn, who were last defeated by 100 points in Round 13 of 2005 against none other than Port Adelaide.

Funnily enough, Port Adelaide’s last defeat by 100+ points against Hawthorn…

And Hawthorn’s last defeat by 100+ points is against Port Adelaide.

Further to it, Hawthorn’s record winning margin is against Port Adelaide (165 in 2011), and Port Adelaide’s record winning margin (117 in 2005) is against Hawthorn.