Campbell Brown's extraordinary attack on Matthew Lloyd on Saturday evening - questioning the Bomber's courage and character by calling him a serial sniper - had its roots in a round-three match in 2005 when Lloyd cleaned up young Hawk Josh Thurgood, who was playing just his third game.

That day at the MCG, both players charged in opposite directions for the ball and only one of them got up. It happened that Lloyd was wearing an arm guard after a recent forearm injury and it was that hard fibreglass object which caught Thurgood flush in the face, inflicting a depressed fracture of his cheekbone.

The Essendon full-forward - aka The Velvet Sledgehammer - was later cleared by the Match Review Panel of any wrongdoing as the forearm guard was approved by the AFL prior to him wearing it. But the Hawks were clearly aggrieved at the treatment meted out to Thurgood, their skinny rookie with the red dreadlocks.

When the two teams met later that season, Lloyd had clearly been lined up in the Hawk cross-hairs. And as the players trooped off for half-time, a melee erupted in which Brown clocked Lloyd - earning him a four-week suspension - and Brown's team-mates Danny Jacobs and Peter Everitt also roughed up the Essendon full-forward, earning themselves fines at the tribunal for wrestling.

Brown had also been outed for four weeks the previous season when he belted another Bomber, Jason Winderlich, in the "line in the sand" all-in brawl - again at the MCG, scene of just about every Hawk-Bomber bloodbath since 1983.

So, as has been noted in the aftermath of Lloyd's high hit on Brad Sewell on Saturday, these teams have a long history. And truth be told, that history stretches back more than quarter of a century. From those three straight grand finals in 1983, ‘84 and ‘85, in which much blood was spilled, until 2004, ‘05 and now this match.

Today, we discover that Sewell has suffered a fractured cheekbone and eye socket. That only spells more trouble for Lloyd. He'll plead not guilty and say he only had eyes for the ball and that he was half-pushed into the contest by Ryan Schoenmakers directly behind him.

But, given the AFL's accent on protecting the head - especially the heads of those players who are trying to win the ball on the ground, as Sewell was doing - I seriously doubt whether that defence will cut much ice with the tribunal. Lloyd must now be long odds to be available for Friday's first final against Adelaide.

If Lloyd does somehow manage to beat the charge, Hawthorn's sense of anger and frustration after its lame title defence this season - and Buddy Franklin's controversial suspension last week - will turn into outright apoplexy. Expect Jeff Kennett to blow a gasket and Alastair Clarkson's eyes to roll around in his head like a slot machine, particularly after his advice for the Match Review Panel on SEN on Monday morning.

Also expect the bad blood between these two clubs to live on for a few more years yet. Or for as long as Campbell Brown is wearing the brown-and-gold, anyway.