Hawthorn star Jack Gunston opens up on the back injury that wiped out his 2021 season, trade talk and what he thought of the club’s coaching handover
Jack Gunston has opened up on Hawthorn’s failed coaching succession plan, explaining why he went to the club’s board and how the players reacted.
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Sitting on the couch at night had become almost too much for Jack Gunston to bear.
From the moment he got out of bed in the morning until the moment he went to sleep at night, the nerve pain from his injured back was constant.
Even the simplest of actions could set off shooting pain in his sciatic nerve all the way down his leg.
When it was at its worst, there was little the Hawthorn forward could do but lie on the ground.
“There were times at night where I would just get to the end of the day and I would just lie there in a bit of pain,” Gunston said.
“I couldn’t sit on the couch comfortably, I was just down on the ground, sort of curled up in a little ball.
“The nerve pain was really draining. It would just be there from the moment you wake up and you have a shower and bend over to get the soap or whatever and you feel it straight away or getting out of bed.
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“I would get grabbing pain or shooting pain in the hamstring and all the way down the calf to the achilles …. I wouldn’t wish nerve pain on anyone.
“It was definitely challenging at times and the pain was pretty bad.”
Gunston’s problems began in the 2020-21 off-season when he slipped a disk in his back doing weights.
It would ultimately wipe out his 2021 season – for all but one match – and result in two back surgeries.
He had experienced some little “back hiccups” before but they usually calmed down after a week or two. This one was different. It hung around and then the sciatic pain kicked in.
Gunston and Hawthorn medical staff waited to see if it would settle before deciding pre-season back surgery was the best course of action.
“We went in and we had a bit of disc that was chipped off into the nerve,” Gunston said.
“So we took that out and just shaved a little bit (of the disc) off.
“It all went well from there and when I got back to play in Round 7, I didn’t even complain about a sore back at training at all. It all went really well and I was really positive and I thought that was probably the end of it.”
But Gunston’s joy after his return was short-lived.
The following week before the Hawks’ Round 8 match against West Coast, Gunston jarred his back doing some pummeling in the warm-up.
“It just grabbed. It was nothing major but it was enough to just go ‘OK, you’ve had an operation so let’s just cool your jets’,” the 30-year-old said.
“So I pulled out of that game and then from there it just wouldn’t settle down again.”
In a bid to avoid surgery, Gunston had tried everything.
Hands on physiotherapy and chiro, epidural injections in the lower back as well as “nerve tablets” to dull the pain.
But in the end, a second back operation last August was the only option. This time around, Gunston had “two centimetres of disc and scar tissue taken out”.
“Seeing that visually gave me a lot of confidence that there was something there,” he said.
“With these kinds of injuries – when they are nerve pain – you start questioning ‘Is it just in your mind?’.
“But when you see it visually and something gets taken out and cleaned up, you know something was going on in there.”
THE HANDOVER
While Gunston’s career was on hold, Hawthorn was in a state of flux. The club announced in early July last year it would implement a coaching succession plan for life after Clarkson, who would coach out his contract – which ended at the end of 2022 – before handing over the senior coaching reins to Mitchell from 2023.
But it didn’t take long for the grumblings to begin.
Little more than three weeks after the succession plan was announced, it was over. Clarkson announced he would step aside as coach at the end of the year to allow Mitchell to take over as coach from 2022 and let the club “free itself from my shadow”.
In between the plan’s unveiling and Clarkson pulling the pin, there were reports of player frustrations over the right approach to the exiting of the club coaching great.
Gunston, who played in three premierships under Clarkson, was reported to have been at odds with young members of the playing group, who were pushing for the handover to be brought forward.
The premiership Hawk said talk of a fired-up players meeting had been wide of the mark but he had voiced his frustrations to club leaders about the “messy” handover.
“There was definitely not a heated player meeting, that probably missed the mark a little bit here,” Gunston said.
“But I definitely did go and have a chat with the board, the CEO, (president Jeff) Kennett, (football director Richie) Vandenberg just to see what was going on.
“I wouldn’t say it was heated but I definitely asked a lot of questions because it was a pretty messy time for this footy club and I love this footy club and I don’t like being in the news for the wrong reasons.
“There were a lot of questions asked from the playing group …. at that time we just wanted some answers just to know what was going on and be in the loop.”
Gunston acknowledged his close relationship with Clarkson but said the issue was not so much who was coach but rather how it was handled.
“I think everyone wishes it was handled a bit differently and a bit smoother and there are a few of us that are pretty close with ‘Clarko’ but in saying that, we are just as close with Sam having played and been in those premierships with him,” Gunston said.
“In the end, for us it didn’t matter who was coach, just it probably would have been a bit nicer if it was a smoother exit and especially for someone who has done a lot of great things for this football club.
“I think the whole football club would have liked for it to have gone a lot smoother.”
TRADE TALK
At the end of a challenging season for Gunston and the Hawks came what loomed as an eventual trade period for the club.
In Mitchell’s quest to secure a high-end draft pick, there was speculation the club’s senior stars were on the market and could be pushed out.
Alongside the likes of Tom Mitchell, Chad Wingard and Jaeger O’Meara, Gunston’s name was flagged as possible trade bait.
But Gunston didn’t have an issue with the trade talk. He has been around the game long enough to know football today is a business.
Gunston said he was never in danger of leaving the Hawks. The lines of communication with Mitchell stayed open during the trade period and he was told he was a wanted player.
“I understand footy is a business and I left the Crows after two years,” Gunston said.
“So if a football club wants to come to me – as long as they are open and happy to chat – then I am happy to chat and if it works for both parties, it works for both parties.
“But even though it was Covid lockdown then, we were still able to come to the club. So, I was having constant chats with Sam, and we all were.
“We were all in the loop about everything and I know the direction of the footy club and Sam’s message to me was he wanted me here.
“To me, there wasn’t too much in it (trade talk) but in saying that, I understand football is a business and it’s going to happen at some stage.
“If the club came to me and said ‘We are thinking about doing something here’ then maybe that’s where I get on the front foot but to me I just told my manager ‘If anything changes, let me know’.
“Sam and I, we’ve been teammates, so I know he is going to tell me how it is. That’s how we work together. So for me there was not too much going on.”
It’s not the first time Gunston’s name has been thrown around during the AFL’s annual trade frenzy after Collingwood identified him as a target in 2020.
But Gunston, who is out of contract at the end of this year, said he would be happy to play out his days at Hawthorn.
“I haven’t entertained leaving at all yet,” Gunston said
“I’m happy. I love Hawthorn. If they want me here, all going well. But I totally understand that in a way it is a changing of the guard and there are a lot of good young kids coming through.
“I am enjoying teaching these young kids and we’ll see how we go.
“I just want to play footy. I just want to get back out there and even prove to myself that I can get back out there and play footy before I even talk about years ahead.
“Once I get back out onto the park and enjoy some good footy with these young kids, we’ll let that take care of itself down the track.”
MITCHELL’S MEN
Regardless of how the failed succession plan was handled, Gunston was in no doubt about what kind of coach Mitchell will be.
“He is one that thinks outside the box,” Gunston said.
“I reckon he has had a few strategies in his mind for a few years, he has planned for a few years for whenever this would come and it has come a lot quicker than even he thought.
“He is a guy that thinks ahead of the game and thinks differently which is great for us because we – or us older guys – have probably thought about the game the same way for 10-12 years.
“At times I probably felt like a new player this pre-season just with new philosophies and seeing the game differently, which is great for us.
“Sam is an honest and straightforward coach, who will tell you like it is.
“One thing that I think that has really grown with Sam’s development is his care for people. He has always been a family man but actually expressing that to other people and inviting them to invite their families into the club, it has just been great to see and I have probably never seen this group be closer from an 18-year-old to what’s Ben McEvoy – 32? We are a tight group and it’s just really exciting to be a part of something fresh.”
While the Hawks have indicated they are yet to determine exactly what role Gunston will have in the side this year, he expects to start forward when he returns to the field.
“I have done a lot of this pre-season forward and getting back to playing alongside Luke Breust and Chad Wingard, it felt like it had been a while,” Gunston said.
“We will probably go up forward and see what happens from there but I do enjoy playing forward and I feel like that’s where my natural craft is so we will start there.”
CHALLENGING YEAR
Gunston’s injury woes compounded what was a challenging year for the Hawks – on and off the field.
While the 209-game veteran was on the sidelines, the 14th-placed Hawks managed seven wins as they dealt with the off-field drama of the failed coaching succession plan involving four-time premiership coach Clarkson and new coach Mitchell.
Coming off a best-and-fairest season for the Hawks in 2020 when he kicked 31 goals from his 16 games, Gunston found it hard watching on.
“You want to be out there with your teammates, that’s why you play footy and to see them not have the year they wanted and not being able to help or contribute was tough,” Gunston said.
“It was a tough year to be on the sidelines. Being out there training and being able to do a lot of training and then it’s’ like ‘Well why can’t you play?’ and it’s like ‘Because I’m not fully there. I can’t quite compete at the AFL standard’.
“I learnt a lot from sitting in the box, myself and James Sicily did most of the year in there and I was on the bench a few times so in that regard it was great to learn.
“But I guess having the back injury, not being able to play footy, not being able to play golf, or do stuff outside, it was a very bland year last year for me and add in Covid and lockdowns and it was one I am probably ready to move on from.”
BACK TO THE FUTURE
Now, more than 12 months and two back surgeries later, Gunston is pain free, feeling strong and on target for a Round 1 return.
After a year when the three-time premiership star unwittingly became an expert on back anatomy, Gunston has spent the off-season learning from what didn’t work previously – and what more could be done.
Strengthening the lower back with kieser and pilates has been a focus – exercises he plans to incorporate into his routine throughout the season.
Entering his 11th season at the Hawks, Gunston is confident he can get back to playing his best football after putting a forgettable year with injury behind him.
“I believe I can (get back to my best). I am going through each session and not even having to worry about the back while I’m out there,” Gunston said.
“If I was worrying about my back while I was training then I would probably question that. But I’m going out there feeling good because I’ve done everything that I need to do to get back.
“I feel like I have still got some really good football left in me. I don’t know whether it will happen straight away or it will take a bit of the season to get into but I have got the confidence that I’m ready to go.”
While the Hawks have indicated they are yet to determine exactly what role Gunston will have in the side this year, he expects to start forward when he returns to the field.
“I have done a lot of this pre-season forward and getting back to playing alongside Luke Breust and Chad Wingard, it felt like it had been a while,” Gunston said.
“We will probably go up forward and see what happens from there but I do enjoy playing forward and I feel like that’s where my natural craft is so we will start there.”
Gunston’s comeback will take flight in Friday’s practice match against Collingwood, building up from there to a planned Round 1 return.
“I’m planning to play a few quarters against Collingwood and then hopefully a full game against Richmond a week later,” the 2018 All-Australian said.
“So it will just be good to get those games and minutes under my belt and hopefully I’ll be there Sunday, Round 1.”
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