From flags and fame to back pain and reversed trades: Jack Gunston’s journey to 250 games
In his first interview since being traded back to Hawthorn, Jack Gunston opens up to JON RALPH about the toughest milestone of his career and the honest conversations that led to his Hawks return.
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When Jack Gunston eases himself out of bed on Saturday ahead of his 250th game, he will immediately assess whether his back has decided to behave itself.
Is it a good day, when he can get through a full game without some nagging discomfort but too much complaint?
Or is it one of those where everything seems to heighten the pain and soreness – sitting down, standing up, driving in the car, playing 120 minutes of elite contact sport.
Gunston will do so knowing it is his lot as a player who has endured multiple back surgeries, including the shaving of his L5/S1 disc to eradicate the shooting nerve pain that accompanied everyday activities.
And yet in another way it will be a reminder of how hard Gunston has worked for these past 50 games after a dreamlike start to his AFL career where fame, fortune and flags all came in quick succession.
In a neat bit of symmetry, he will play that 250th game against Adelaide, where he started his career for two seasons before crossing to Hawthorn to immediately play in four Grand Finals for three premierships. But he will also hit that milestone in front of 50 family and friends on the same day as Hawthorn’s 2014 premiership reunion.
Gunston famously kicked four goals in each of the Grand Final that bookend the 2013-2015 "three-peat" but the 2014 season brought a career-high 58 goals.
“I normally don’t look forward to milestones and big moments. I don’t love the attention,” Gunston tells this masthead in his first interview since his trade back from Brisbane and only media appearance of a milestone week.
“But my 200th was in the hub and it was a weird time. So I am looking forward to this one with so many family and friends coming along.
“My first 200 games were pretty smooth sailing. I had a trade from Adelaide but other than that my footy journey was pretty good. No injuries, I got to game 200 reasonably quickly.
“Then from 200 to 250 it has been a rocky road. A couple of back operations, my dad’s passing and then going to Brisbane and back.
“So I have experienced a fair bit on the way to 250 games and I am really looking forward to the celebration.”
Gunston will hit that milestone clash having played a significant role in Hawthorn’s round 11 victory over Brisbane with a selfless role negating Harris Andrews that also brought four goals.
In his return to the Hawks he had played seven AFL games but also two VFL contests, fully embracing the mentoring role that might also mean he isn’t in Sam Mitchell’s plans every week.
The 32-year-old admits he has been so blessed to have had this career, even if the back issues of the past few years have taken their toll.
“Most days you wake up and hope you have slept in the right position,” he says.
“It just hangs around. You can sit wrong and be sore for the day. Everyone carries injuries but backs are pretty delicate and can be pretty frustrating at times. It gets a bit sore and then you have a day off and want to play golf to clear your mind and can’t play because you don’t want to sit down for too long, and then you stand up for too long and it’s sore.
“It can wear you down but I have had great support from the Hawthorn doctors and physios and they reassure you that although you have some trauma in your back it’s not structural, it’s mostly inflammation.”
In the eight months since Gunston has returned to Hawthorn since his single year in Brisbane he has sidestepped discussion on that move and the reasons why he returned.
Why?
Maybe he doesn’t want to be taken out of context or to have his quotes about the Lions twisted in some way.
But according to Gunston in his first public comments on the matter there is no secret or revelatory backstory.
He just never quite fit into the on-field system Brisbane played and backed himself to get back into a program he felt comfortable in.
“I want to start off by saying there are absolutely no regrets. Looking back if I end up staying in footy I can say I have been at three different football clubs and three different environments. That can only be beneficial for my development,” he says.
“But it just didn’t pan out the way I had hoped. I think whenever you go to a new team, learn a new system and go away from the system you have been in for so long, it can have its challenges
“I will put my hand up, I struggled to adapt to the way they play. I am just so grateful to be able to be a part of a team that made another Grand Final, even though I wasn’t in the finals team. For them to miss by four points, I feel the pain of those boys. I know how hard they worked. I wanted them to win the premiership so badly.”
Gunston’s Lions season never quite got going with 22 goals from 17 games and a mid-season mini pre-season to get fit before a medial collateral ligament ended his bid to return through the finals series.
By year’s end he knew he wanted to come home, and in the end Hawthorn tall Brandon Ryan’s trade to Brisbane meant Chris Fagan made it happen.
“It was just a couple of end-of-season conversations,” he says.
“It was a pretty open conversation with Fages about how I felt I was going and my role in the side and where I sat. I probably didn’t want to go to a fourth footy club so the pull of coming back to Hawthorn seemed the right thing.
“If it didn’t get done it would have been OK. I was obviously really grateful to Brisbane to allow me to come back to Hawthorn. Finishing my career at Hawthorn hadn’t been in my plans. I loved the lifestyle up there but you have to take ownership of your career.
“In the end it’s my career and I felt strongly enough to make a decision to do that.”
Gunston hopes to play on next year but if not he is open to new horizons in and away from football.
He has recently started a horse racing bloodstock company with former teammate Jon Ceglar and will buy some broodmares in coming days to kick off that venture.
He also has an interest in football administration just like father Ray, a long-time AFL administrator who died of a heart attack in 2022.
But what has surprised him as he embraces the mentoring role at Hawthorn is just how much he enjoys teaching kids like first-year key forward Calsher Dear, whose own father Paul passed away in 2022 only weeks from Ray Gunston’s death.
“It’s probably a connection I would rather we didn’t have,” he says of that connection as part of his mentoring role with Dear.
“But it is something that has brought us a lot closer and it was an icebreaker at the start. But I am loving it, absolutely loving it. I was so invested in my career for a long time but I have started to really enjoy the teaching side of things. It has changed my outlook a little post-football.
“I am more open to potentially coaching than I was two years ago. I get so much enjoyment out of watching Calsher. I get as much thrill out of him taking a mark and what we have worked on than me doing it and I am genuine about that.”
Gunston still pinches himself to have played in a forward line that included Lance Franklin, Jarryd Roughead, Lance Franklin, Cyril Rioli and Luke Breust.
When Jordan Lewis texted him from Las Vegas to introduce him to Hawthorn the final line of his text message came with a message from Franklin not to get in his way.
Gunston wasn’t sure what to think and yet Franklin taught him how to lead with presence, how to get a metre’s separation with a well-timed block on his opponent before a lead.
Last weekend he did exactly that against Andrews, with assistant coach Brett Ratten making a beeline to him at training with the instruction to teach Dear that move in coming weeks.
So he has come full circle as he prepares for that Adelaide clash, more mentor than matchwinner but still embracing the ride.
“I am really open minded about what next year looks like. If this is my last year I go with a smile and if I can go on again and it benefits every single person then I would love to.”
“It’s a cool journey to have been on with so many stories and so many memories.”
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