Eight reasons why Hawthorn can get excited about the 2019 season
Hawthorn has a proven track record of getting the best out of recruits from rival clubs and Chad Wingard could be the latest in a long list. Can he help lead them to more premiership success? Eight reasons the Hawks can get excited for 2019.
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Hawthorn surged to the top four last season after missing the finals the previous year but after a straight sets finals exit, what can we expect from Alastair Clarkson’s team in 2019?
CHRIS CAVANAGH takes a look at how the Hawks are placed for the upcoming season and why the addition of Chad Wingard could be huge.
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EIGHT REASONS FOR HAWTHORN TO GET EXCITED
WINGARD FACTOR
The Hawks have a proven track record of being able to get the best out of recycled players and will have high hopes for their latest acquisition — Chad Wingard — in 2019. The former Port Adelaide forward said after his trade period move that he felt deep down he needed a new challenge to revitalise his career, having had two down years since his career-best football was produced in 2015 and 2016. In 2015, Wingard averaged 19.2 disposals and kicked 53.27 from 22 games to finish second in the Power’s best-and-fairest count. If he can rediscover such form, the Hawks will be over the moon.
OTHER PICK-UPS
Chad Wingard aside, the Hawks also picked up a couple of other handy recruits they believe can have an immediate impact in 2019. Hard-running midfielder Tom Scully joins from Greater Western Sydney, where he was restricted to just one game by an ankle injury in 2018 but finished fifth in the club’s best-and-fairest the previous year after averaging 23.1 disposals from 24 games. The Hawks have backed in their medical team to get the 2009 No.1 draft pick’s ankle right, despite many holding major concerns over it. Mid-sized defender Jack Scrimshaw also comes in, a No.7 draft pick in 2016 who has plenty of x-factor.
BIRCHALL BACK
Be wary, for he has played only five games in the past two years. However, defender Grant Birchall could prove a very handy ‘virtual recruit’ should he finally get himself fit for 2019. Knee problems have made for a “frustrating 18 months”, but the four-time premiership Hawk started this pre-season fighting fit and is targeting a spot in the club’s Round 1 side. Birchall averaged 22.9 disposals and 6.1 marks as a rebounding defender in his last full season in 2016 and rarely wastes the football, possessing a piercing left-foot kick.
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POTENT FORWARDS
Interestingly, Champion Data ranks Hawthorn’s forward line as the third-most talented entering 2019. The addition of Chad Wingard no doubt helps that rating, while the Hawks also had five players last season kick 20 or more goals in Luke Breust (54), Jack Gunston (51), Jarryd Roughead (34), Isaac Smith (26) and Paul Puopolo (20). All of those players are on the list again next season and similar outputs — along with the addition of Wingard — should ensure Hawthorn can post plenty of winning scores.
RISING STARS
The Hawks had two Rising Star nominees in the final four rounds of last season in a good sign for the future. One was James Worpel, a goalkicking midfielder who grew a cult following as he finished his debut season having averaged 17.5 disposals from 11 games. The other was midfielder-forward Harry Morrison, who averaged 14.5 disposals and 4.8 marks from 21 games in his second season after playing a sole match the previous year. Worpel was pick 45 in the 2017 national draft and Morrison pick 74 the previous year but both look absolute gems who are only getting better.
HERO HARDWICK
It was little surprise that Tom Mitchell won Hawthorn’s best-and-fairest last season, the prolific midfielder also claiming the Brownlow Medal. However, defender Blake Hardwick finishing second in the count was a surprise to many. After 44 games across three seasons, Hardwick has never polled a Brownlow Medal vote but is doing plenty right and averaged 16.4 disposals from 24 games in 2018. Hardwick was also recognised as the Hawks’ ‘Most Promising Player’, his coaches clearly believing there is still plenty of growth left in the talented youngster, who only turns 22 in February.
FIT O’MEARA
In 2013, former Essendon captain and football commentator Tim Watson declared then Gold Coast youngster Jaeger O’Meara could be “the greatest midfielder that’s ever played the game”. However, a persistent knee problem has hampered O’Meara for much of his career since and restricted him to a combined six games in three years from 2015-17. The good news last season was O’Meara managed 21 games for the Hawks, averaging 24 disposals, 4.9 clearances and kicking 16 goals. It is a long way off ‘greatest ever’ territory, but the Hawks will be hoping the 24-year-old can continue to build fitness and form and take his game to another level in 2019, for he certainly has talent to burn.
JAMES SICILY
Many had Hawk James Sicily in their mid-year All-Australian team for 2018, only for the defender to have his season derailed by a broken wrist in Round 17. The blow saw him finish the home-and-away campaign having played just 14 of a possible 22 matches, ruling him out of any final end-of-year teams. However, you can bet Sicily will be pushing for All-Australian selection for the first time again in 2019 if he can stay on the park, being one of the competition’s premier intercept defenders. Sicily will start next season aged 24 and is coming off a 2018 campaign in which he averaged 23.3 disposals, 7.1 marks and 4.9 rebound 50s.
THE NUMBER: 5
The Hawks are the oldest and most experienced team for 2019, with nine players over the age of 30. The 25-29 year-old bracket is their strength, ranked fifth for quality.
Source: Champion Data
TAB ODDS
Premiership: $13
Top-8: $1.75
Most losses: $101
TRAJECTORY
2014: 2nd (17-5, premiers)
2015: 3rd (16-6, premiers)
2016: 3rd (17-5, semi-final)
2017: 12th (10-1-11)
2018: 4th (15-7, semi-final)
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