By Jake Niall
In 2007 and 2008, Hawthorn recovered from a period of tumult and several years of under-performance to stun the competition with a team that had risen unexpectedly ahead of schedule.
Then, as now, they were piloted by an ambitious young coach.
Then, as now, they had a raft of youngsters who played with precocious flair.
Jack Ginnivan and Connor Macdonald were all smiles after the Hawks’ win over the Western Bulldogs.Credit: AFL Photos
Then, as now, their brand was entertaining and a touch cocky.
So, it was quite reasonable to ask Sam Mitchell, who had been a cornerstone of those insurgent teams – he skippered the 2008 premiership – if he saw parallels between then and now.
“Well, I think one of the great traps is to look backwards,” said Mitchell. “What I know about the ’07-08 (years) is that we weren’t looking back at anything. So I think this group has been outstanding at looking forwards.”
Jack Gunston didn’t arrive at Hawthorn from Adelaide until the 2012 season, just as the Hawks were launching a run of four grand finals and three flags. Unlike Mitchell, he’d never played in a Hawthorn side as young as this version.
“They’re not overawed by anything,” said Gunston in the rooms after the Hawthorn’s youthful spirit and verve overwhelmed the tired Bulldogs.
Sam Mitchell has his side firing on all cylinders.Credit: AFL Photos
“(They) just, I don’t know, dance to the beat of their own drum – just roll with the punches and (a crowd of) 97,000 doesn’t seem to bother them.”
Compare – at least this week – the mindset of the young Hawks to that of the team they meet next weekend, the hapless Port Adelaide, who exhibited all the signs of a team that played fearful football – scared to make mistakes, lacking conviction in some contests and in moving the ball, unsettled to the point that they lost direction with the footy and were completely inept without it.
Glory days: Jack Gunston has made an impact up forward on his return to the Hawks.Credit: AFL Photos
So, another way to understand the approach of Mitchell’s 21st century dance club – using Gunston’s explanation as evidence – is to guess (and that’s all this column can do) that the Hawks are playing not only “with freedom” but freed from anxiety. Unshackled in their minds, they are willing to take risks on the field.
And Mitchell’s team, clearly, has been given licence for self-expression. Celebrations are commensurate with World Cup round ball goals and, increasingly, shared with the fans, a section of whom donned high pointy Harry Potter-style hats in tribute to their diminutive “wizard”, Nick Watson.
It’s been said of Ron Barassi that he coached to “unlock” players, rather than extract from them. Mitchell seems to be of like mind with the late Ronald Dale, who, despite the fire and brimstone, also was willing to temper his temper – to some extent – for eccentrics such as Brent Crosswell, Sam Kekovich and Peter “Crackers” Keenan.
Hawthorn’s exuberance was the story of the elimination final, more so than any particular performance, tactic or incident. If the Bulldogs were sluggish and laboured – Marcus Bontempelli so subdued by his MVP standards that 97,000 fans wondered if he was injured – they were made so, to a large extent, by the relentless energy of the younger team.
Whatever has inspired Mitchell’s man-management method – and coaches draw on all kinds of motivational tools and psychological theorems these days – it is based on an awareness that the young men of 2024 aren’t the same as in Mitchell’s generation.
“It’s a different time now,” said Gunston, comparing the 2012-2015 period to this one. “The world’s different.
“Sam embraces each individual and you’ve got to teach individuals in their own way, and that’s what he does, and it’s great to see that he’s been able to evolve from a player to a coach, and you get buy-in from the players.”
One of the striking features of these Hawks is the large group of newcomers to the team this year: Massimo D’Ambrosio, Watson and his fellow gadfly Jack Ginnivan, ex-Sun Mabior Chol, teenage key forward Calsher Dear and Gunston himself, who made his prodigal return.
Watson and Dear – kids who were picked early and late in the 2023 draft – have been outlandish for first year players, while D’Ambrosio, who left Essendon for better opportunities and contract security (how must Essendon people feel watching him and Hawthorn), made the All-Australian squad.
Macdonald with Massimo D’Ambrosio, who made the switch to the Hawks from their old enemy, the Bombers.Credit: AFL Photos
Significantly, amid the freedom of expression in this happy team, both D’Ambrosio and Gunston made the same point about the playing of roles, and how each player knows his.
“I feel like, coming here, I’ve got a lot of clarity on my role, sat down with Sam and figured out how I could get better in my wing role, really help my teammates and contribute to team wins,” said D’Ambrosio, who added of Mitchell’s mantra: “He wants us to play with a bit of freedom, but knowing if we have a mistake we have coverage, to have blokes that are supporting us. We know there’s going to be mistakes, we have to be able to embrace them.”
Can the Hawks go all the way? They’ve already defied all sorts of conventions and past patterns and the fact that they were 0-5 this year.
“I feel like we can go all the way,” said D’Ambrosio. “Everyone wants to, but we’ve just got to take it week by week.”
History says odds are against them, but, as LP Hartley wrote, “the past is a foreign country, they do things differently there”. Ditto the 2024 Hawks.
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