Jack Gunston’s advice to fellow Crows departee Jake Lever: Ignore the haters
SIX years ago, Jack Gunston left Adelaide in tumultuous circumstances. Ditto Jake Lever. The Hawk star has some advice for the new Demon.
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JACK Gunston has encouraged Jake Lever to ignore the “haters” after the young defender’s almost-identical messy exit from Adelaide.
Six years after Gunston enraged the Crows by citing a desire to be close to family in Melbourne, Lever did the same requesting a trade to the Demons.
Lever was told by the Crows not to attend the best-and-fairest and lashed by captain Taylor Walker for choosing “money over success”, while Gunston was stripped of the club’s Mark Bickley award for best young player.
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“Footy is a passionate game and it has passionate supporters and players and people. No one wants to see you leave their club,” Gunston told the Herald Sun.
“You’re always going to have the haters who are going to say things and it’s just a matter of handling it, moving on and going about your own business and playing your best footy at your new club.
“You’ve got to enjoy the ride and remember that you made the decision for a reason.”
Gunston was in holidays in Europe when news of Lever’s trade request broke, but couldn’t help but be struck by the similarities. The two players even had the same manager at the time — Ned Guy, who was last month appointed as Collingwood’s new list manager.
“I did see a lot of it to be honest,” Gunston said.
“I guess those things always do get a little bit messy, but in saying that, I did have a little chuckle when I saw it all going down.”
Gunston’s move to Hawthorn after two years in Adelaide has been a spectacular success. The forward played in four Grand Finals in his first four years with the Hawks, won three flags and very nearly took home a Norm Smith Medal in 2013.
He warned Lever to brace for next year’s inevitable barrage, with the new Demon scheduled to face his old side at Adelaide Oval in Round 19.
“Probably when you play Adelaide for the first time over there, that’s the full-stop on it,” Gunston said.
“You get that under your belt and you expect it for a few more years after that, but look, it’s footy and you want the supporters to be passionate. Your own fans cheer you and the others will jeer you.”
In his first five trophy-laden seasons in brown and gold, Gunston kicked 39, 46, 58, 57 and 51 goals. But the microscope was turned on him in Hawthorn’s sinking 2017 campaign where he struggled to hit the scoreboard before being reinvented as a defender.
“It was pretty tough playing forward in the first half of last season, so to go down back and learn and play a new role was great. It’s something I probably never thought I’d do,” he said.
“Every player goes through periods of cricitism. For me it was a motivation and it’s how I’ve always chosen to take it.
“It motivates you to get better and it was good that I was able to do that towards the second half of the year.”
Originally published as Jack Gunston’s advice to fellow Crows departee Jake Lever: Ignore the haters
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