The youth movement has been in full effect at Hawthorn as they embark on one of the most unlikely premiership tilts in recent memory.
Beginning the season at 1-5 and fresh off a 76-point thrashing at the hands of Sydney, the young Hawks have since rebounded to win 12 of their final 15 games heading into Round 24, showing the resolve of a team well beyond their years.
In just his third year at the helm, Sam Mitchell has been lauded as a “genius,” weaponising his young guns to play a style of football that has run rings around some of the competition’s best.
Jai Newcombe, James Worpel and Will Day have been game-changers in midfield. Dylan Moore and Massimo D’Ambrosio have emerged as legitimate All-Australian contenders, while captain James Sicily is also vying for his second straight AA blazer.
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Most recently, Calsher Dear has entered the fray and notched eight goals over the past four games, including three on Sunday in a 63-point win over Richmond to earn a Rising Star nomination.
Of the above listed, only Sicily is older than 25.
But it’s two relics from Hawthorn’s triple premiership teams of the 2010s that have the potential to be the X-factors in determining how deep into September these hungry Hawks can go.
The two oldest players on the list, Jack Gunston (32) and Luke Breust (33), are outliers in this Hawthorn team.
Jack Gunston celebrates a goal in his 250th AFL game. (Photo by Morgan Hancock/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)
But like many of their teammates, their form has peaked down the stretch of the season to put themselves firmly in position for selection ahead of an inevitably unpredictable finals campaign, should Hawthorn confirm their spot in the eight with a win over North Melbourne on Saturday.
Gunston has booted 12 goals over the previous three games, including a season-high of five against Richmond.
Breust’s season-high came just a few weeks earlier as he slotted home four goals against Collingwood en route to a 66-point win. Since then, he has been asked to provide a spark off the bench, confined to the substitute role in the past three games. But he has continued to be a threat up forward, highlighted by two goals against Carlton despite spending just 24 per cent of the game on the ground.
While the pair’s form hasn’t remained at these heights for the entire season, one thing that hasn’t wavered is their constant leadership for this maturing Hawks list.
After falling to pick 56 in last year’s draft, Calsher Dear has completely shattered expectations in season 2024 since debuting in Round 8 against the Western Bulldogs, with 19 goals to his name after 14 appearances.
Upon snapping home the first goal of his career on debut against the Dogs, the first man the 19-year-old embraced under the roof at Marvel was who he credits a lot of his success to this year, Jack Gunston.
“The amount of experience that has been passed down to me from players at the club, especially Jack, has just been so huge for me and the start of my career,” he said Tuesday night.
The same sentiment has widely been echoed about Breust, one of the club’s vice-captains for 2024.
The leadership and experience of his former premiership teammates is not something lost on coach Sam Mitchell.
“It’s quite valuable to have him (Gunston) and Luke Breust down there (in the forward line) being able to generate a bit of the footy smarts you need to play in that area of the ground,” Mitchell told the media after his side’s win over Richmond.
The Hawks’ attack has been flying over the last several weeks, averaging 116.4 points over the past five rounds, despite key forward Mitch Lewis’ season-ending knee injury in Round 17’s loss to Geelong.
The efforts of Dear, Dylan Moore, Mabior Chol, Connor MacDonald, Nick Watson and Jack Ginnivan cannot be overstated as Hawthorn have risen to have arguably the most potent forward line in the competition. But Gunston and Breust equally cannot be forgotten heading onto a stage that they have dominated so many times before.
Over the course of their finals careers, Breust has recorded 25 goals, while Gunston edges him with 35, including kicking four in each of the Hawks’ 2013 and 2015 grand final triumphs.
Both know a thing or two about getting the job done in September, and for a list that is relatively untried heading into this time of year, this is where their experience will be needed more than ever.
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