By Jake Niall
Mabior Chol has a loping stride that, in his view, created an impression that he wasn’t giving his best effort on the field.
“From the outside world, people look [at me] like I’m a person who doesn’t try when I’m playing footy,” said the Hawthorn tall forward, attributing this misconception to his “slow-motion” running style and the appearance of nonchalance.
Mabior Chol, who has evolved into an important forward for Hawthorn.Credit: Penny Stephens
Chol felt he was seen – wrongly – as a talent who didn’t bring the requisite effort. “Yeah, I mean I think that I’ve always had that in my life a bit, [people] always thought I was that guy who doesn’t try. Very talented but doesn’t try as hard as he [could].
“But I could definitely say it’s not my intention to go out there and not try. I’m out there in a position where I have to perform.”
At 27, and in his ninth season, he says he’s reached a stage in which he recognised “what it takes to be a pretty good footballer”. Further, Chol hopes that even when he can’t find that best form, “that people can still see that I’m bringing effort and intent”.
In 2024, Chol has emerged as a player of considerable value to Hawthorn, which he joined via a trade following two years – one excellent (44 goals in 2022), one less so – at Gold Coast. He spent the first six years of his AFL career with Richmond, where he found himself perennially behind Jack Riewoldt and Tom Lynch in the pecking order for key forwards.
Chol has booted 25 goals in his 15 games this year and has often been the primary target in attack in the absence of an injured Mitch Lewis. For this maturing version of Mabior, the chasm between his best and worst has closed.
“I feel like that gap is closing in. I feel my mindset has really changed, especially here [at Hawthorn]. It’s not all about kicking goals. I feel like I can buy in, in different areas of the game – and that’s probably been the highlight of my defensive side ... I think it’s probably been the best year I’ve had.”
What’s different at Hawthorn, where Sam Mitchell and forwards coach Adrian Hickmott have coaxed the better angels of Mabior’s nature? Chol cites a number of factors.
He’s fitter and covering more territory, as verified in GPS data. “There’s been a massive spike in my GPS and work rate – that’s probably something that doesn’t show on the stat sheet. And I just feel like my work rate, just from the feedback I’m getting and the database that I’m seeing, that jumped up massively and that’s something that I focus on every week.”
Throughout his AFL career, aerobic fitness “has been a question mark, and it’s something I’ve worked on pretty hard over the break and the like of [conditioning boss] Peter Burge, who I’ve had at Richmond understands me pretty well”.
Chol, a rangy yet powerful 200 centimetres, has spent fewer minutes in the ruck this season, focusing instead on his forward craft in an attack that features the eclectic talents of Dylan Moore, Nick “the Wizard” Watson and Jack Ginnivan, plus veterans Jack Gunston and Luke Breust.
“Obviously the coaches and the fitness staff, they do understand what’s my best position and that’s definitely playing as a forward, and centre half-forward.”
He’s fitter, running further, applying defensive pressure and focusing on providing a contest. But these are outcomes, not root causes of change.
‘He might look like one of those grumpy coaches, but he’s such a caring person.’
Mabior Chol on Sam Mitchell
Chol ventured that he felt he was understood at Hawthorn. “People just understand who I am.”
He said of Hickmott, Hawthorn’s forwards coach: “I feel like he understands who I am as a footballer but also as a human being. So I feel like he brings the best out of me ... not only in game days, but in training, every day, just day-to-day life.”
Mitchell, too, had taken a holistic approach. “He might look like one of those grumpy coaches, but he’s such a caring person, and he really values you, all his players.”
Mitchell has handed Chol opportunities that he wasn’t afforded at Richmond or at the Suns in his less fruitful second season. Had he stayed with the Suns, Damien Hardwick would have coached him at a second club. The decision to leave Gold Coast was, he said, partly in recognition that the club had high-value academy recruits (Jed Walter and Ethan Read) they wanted to play.
Mabior Chol at Hawthorn’s Waverley Park base.Credit: PENNY STEPHENS
Hawthorn shaped as the last move. “Hawthorn, they’ve been great since I moved here and I’m super grateful that I’ve picked this club and they’ve picked me to come here and [given him] so much belief as well.”
Chol didn’t speak ill of Hardwick or his Suns’ senior coach Stuart Dew. Rather, he had found his best self at the Hawks under Mitchell. “Every coach has a different way they like to coach. And don’t get me wrong, they’re all caring persons.
Finding his voice: Mabior Chol.Credit: Getty Images
“But I feel like, for me, it came down to what I wanted to look like as a footballer and how much I wanted to buy in ... being here, I’ve got the boys really value me as a player and the boys are really encouraging me to be myself and I feel that’s bringing the best out of me.”
Born in South Sudan before his family fled to Egypt to escape the civil war, Chol’s path to the AFL was even more improbable given that it began at high school in Brisbane. Mindful of the school’s lack of height, a teacher involved in the footy team asked him to play in the ruck. Hitherto, he’d played soccer and basketball.
“They asked me to play AFL, which I had no idea what it was.” But once he’d taken the field at the iconic Gabba for the first time, he was hooked, joining the local club, the Yeronga Devils. “I fell in love with the game.”
Kids from Sudanese backgrounds were much less active in the game when Chol was drafted. “Now, if you go to any local footy club, you would find one or two.” Increasingly, that applies to AFL clubs, too.
Hawthorn’s philosophy under Mitchell has been to focus first on what the individual can do, while working to diminish his weaknesses.
“The important message for any player is they come to Hawthorn ... to make sure they be themselves,” said Hickmott.
“With Mabior, he’s very athletic. He can jump, he’s got very speed over 20 to 30 metres and that’s what we encourage. We make sure he delivers what he’s good at. He can improve in areas, but that’s ... one of the main messages.”
Far from being a player whose effort was questioned, the forwards coach saw a footballer whose competitive fires were blazing and who had given the Hawks the necessary contest in attack.
“He’s got a big heart. He’s really caring, and he doesn’t want to let the team down. So his competitive instincts are outstanding ... and just closing that gap from the good games to the average games is important for him.”
Chol’s transformation, or maturation, has been emblematic of Hawthorn’s surprising season, in which they started 0-4 and have since stormed into finals contention, winning nine of 13 games. Today, they face the faltering 2023 premiers and a victory would keep finals feasible.
“Sam Mitchell has been really (good) at delivering the right message and how we want to play and we knew it was going to click at some point, and it was just a matter of time,” Chol said.
The same might be said of Mabior Chol.
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