‘He’s a gun’: VFL Bomber Will Hoare pushes up as an AFL draft prospect

Will Hoare gave no thought to playing in the AFL until player managers began calling him this year. Now he’s interesting clubs as an intercepting key defender.

This is all a bit new for Will Hoare.

Not long ago he was flat-out making Essendon’s VFL squad.

Now he has a string of clubs chasing him and getting itchy for his signature.

“See that kid over there?’’ a coach said at the VFL awards night, nodding towards Hoare at the Bombers table. “We’re trying to get him. He’s a gun.’’

AFL clubs are also interested in the 197cm defender; last week a recruiter dropped into his home to find out more about the young fellow producing the impressive football.

“It’s a nice change,’’ Hoare, 24, says of the attention, remembering his battle to get noticed, listed and then selected with the Bombers in 2022. He got one game, then four in 2023.

Will Hoare thumps a clearing kick for Pascoe Vale in this year’s Essendon District league grand final against Keilor at Windy Hill, Essendon. Picture: Andrew Batsch

But this year he vaulted to another level, standing out with his contested and intercept marking. Essendon nominated him for the Fothergill-Round-Mitchell Medal as the league’s best Under 24 player, no surprise given coach Blake Caracella declared late in the season that Hoare “continued to be a dominant presence for us in defence’’.

“He’s rounded his game out really nicely and keeps improving week-to-week with starting our attack from the back half,’’ Caracella said.

The recognition has amplified his ambitions. Until this year Hoare had given no thought to playing in the AFL. He was surprised when player managers began calling him (in the end he went with Liam Pickering).

“I was just trying to play the highest level possible and I thought that was the VFL,’’ he says.

“When they (managers) started getting in touch, it made me think maybe I’m good enough to take it the next level. It sort of gave me a bit of belief.’’

Going back was the catalyst for taking Hoare’s football forward.

He joined the Bombers as a forward-ruckman from local club Pascoe Vale, but in 2023 then Essendon VFL coach Leigh Tudor decided to switch him to defence.

It has been the making of him. Playing 16 of a possible 18 games this year, he averaged 13.5 disposals, 6.6 marks and 4.3 rebounds. The two matches he missed came before the mid-season draft, when he was squeezed out of the side by AFL players, an unlucky selectorial break.

“This year was huge for me, a big development year. I feel like I’m only just scratching the surface,’’ Hoare says.

Will Hoare takes a clearing kick for the Bombers. Photo: Rob Lawson/AFL Photos

He gives credit to Essendon VFL assistant coach and former top AFL defender Michael Hurley, with whom he watched countless hours of vision.

Hoare sees him as a mentor. “Actually, he’s like a mate almost,’’ he says. “He just backs me in.’’

Ahead of the mid-season draft there was talk the Bombers would take their VFL defender. They did not and they’ve given him no indication since that he’s in their thoughts.

“I feel I deserve a chance but I’ll just keep putting my head down and backing myself,’’ Hoare says.

Tudor is now his coach at Pascoe Vale, which made the grand final in the Essendon District league this year, losing to Mick McGuane’s Keilor (McGuane calls him a “a really good intercept defender who reads the incoming ball well and impacts the air’’).

The experienced Tudor believes his charge belongs at the highest level.

Will Hoare has the experienced Leigh Tudor in his corner. Photo by Josh Chadwick

“He’s improved year on year, and this year was his real standout year,’’ he says.

Asked about Hoare’s draft prospects, Tudor notes that key defenders are thin on the ground.

“He’s now one of the more experienced key backs in the VFL and I think he’s proved himself at that level now.

“He’s a good one-on-one player, he’s a good intercept mark and he’s getting better at everything all the time. He’s got that great mindset that he keeps trying to get better, he takes on information, he speaks to the coaches. He’s a pro. He’ll thrive in an AFL environment. To what he is now, to what he can be in an AFL program, he’s only going to get so much better.’’

The recruiter who visited Hoare learned that he missed a lot of junior football after twice badly breaking his left arm.

He had won a league best and fairest medal as an onballer in Under 12s, but played only one game in 2014 and none in 2015 and ’16. When he returned, it was in the Under 17s, with a guard on his arm and 25cm taller.

He was a long way from the Calder Cannons talent pathway, but Hoare was runner-up in the league medal In his last season in the Under 19s, a good foundation for his step into senior football. Then Covid intervened, keeping him out for another full year.

It’s why Hoare says his development is way behind other VFL players his age.

“It’s two or three years later than everyone else, so I feel my footy is just about to step up to the next level,’’ he says.

After playing eight senior games for Pascoe Vale in the sawn-off season of 2021, Essendon invited him for pre-season training.

Will Hoare battling it out in the ruck against Keilor’s Andrew Browne in 2021. Picture: Hamish Blair

Opportunities were scarce in his first VFL season and ankle injury hindered his second.

But he persisted and the change of position this year brought confidence and continuity. Some outstanding performances too, particularly against Collingwood (19 possessions, 10 marks) and Port Melbourne, when he had 10 marks and 18 disposals. He rounded out his season with 12 grabs against Coburg. Unsurprisingly, Port Melbourne is one of the clubs chasing his signature, with James Hird setting out the welcome mat at North Port Oval. New Essendon VFL coach Dale Tapping, of course, is keen to keep him with the Dons. But it may be that an AFL club has the last say about where he plays next year.

“That would be awesome, just to get an opportunity and see if I’m up to it,’’ Hore, an electrician, says.

“With my development, I’ve been doing it part-time. To do it full-time, I feel like that could be really good for my game.’’

That would be something new for him too.

Originally published as ‘He’s a gun’: VFL Bomber Will Hoare pushes up as an AFL draft prospect