By Peter Ryan
Nearly six years have passed since James Worpel played in a final in just his 10th match with the Hawks.
He was 19 and admits he was slightly overwhelmed, a Bannockburn lad with eight siblings more used to big crowds at the dinner table than playing sport in front of 91,446 mostly Richmond fans in just his third game at the MCG.
James Worpel in the Hawthorn inner sanctum earlier this week.Credit: Simon Schluter
He took the moment for granted. That was a mistake.
“I just want to taste that [finals] feeling again and appreciate it when it comes … and do my best to play well,” Worpel said.
That Hawthorn is in the hunt for September action after winning eight of the past 10 matches since their coach Sam Mitchell laid down the law to the midfield after their Gold Coast loss in round five is partly due to Worpel, who was best on ground against the Eagles last Sunday.
The key element alongside Jai Newcombe, Will Day and Conor Nash in an emerging midfield was not surprised when Mitchell left no one in any doubt about what he thought of their performance against the Suns that had them winless and languishing in second-last spot on the ladder.
“The heat was on us, especially the midfield,” Worpel said. “We got beaten up around the contest, which is not what you assume with our midfield.
Worpel has been an instrumental component of the Hawks’ rebound.Credit: AFL Photos
“Sam gave us a bit of a rocket after the Gold Coast game … but he’s been doing that his whole time as coach here. He demands good standards and he demands winning games, which you’d expect from him coming from such a successful team, and he knows how to win. We trust him in whatever he says.”
Worpel’s relationship with Mitchell has been close from the moment the champion Hawk returned to Waverley Park to coach the midfield in 2019, “the Worpedo” unfussed if a rocket came his way. Such was Mitchell’s faith in the youngster, he was happy to see him in Hawthorn’s famous No.5 jumper, worn by Hawk legends such as Mitchell and Peter Crimmins.
Worpel flourished, becoming just the fourth Hawk to win the Peter Crimmins Medal aged 20 or younger, joining Stan Spinks, Graham Arthur and Leigh Matthews as a club champion at such an age.
“He was a great coach for me … he just really fast-tracked me,” Worpel said of Mitchell. “[Our] relationship is really strong and that’s something he’s got with a lot of players.”
From a technical point of view, Mitchell’s lessons to his charges on how best to position themselves to win the Sherrin were priceless, given his mastery of that aspect of the game.
Hawthorn’s stoppage game is giving them an edge over several rivals. Credit: Getty Images
Worpel, like his coach, carries a necessary hard edge within a warm demeanour, a feature of all the best players.
That quality comes to the fore when he is asked a question that falls into the trap of assuming Worpel went through a significant flat patch after winning the best and fairest in 2020 – sleeping like a hibernating snail before re-emerging years later.
Worpel is happy to set the record straight on that line of thinking, which has become conventional wisdom.
“It comes up in every interview, which is a bit frustrating, but that’s OK,” Worpel said.
He points out without rancour that he had played less than 50 games when he won the best and fairest and was still developing but he “wasn’t terrible” in the intervening years between then and now.
A post-interview scan of the records shows he finished fifth, ninth and fourth in three of the four intervening seasons, burying that perception. His only year outside the top 10 was one ruined by shoulder surgery just as he was emerging from a patch of below par form.
“I think they forget what’s in the middle [years],” Worpel said. “But at the end of the day, you have to perform at a high level.”
Worpel is doing that – performing without the need for headlines. His endurance is exceptional and his kicking improved, as shown in round 12 against the Brisbane Lions. He has worked hard on the skill saying “it wasn’t at the standard where it needed to be”.
At 25, Worpel is slightly older than Day and Newcombe, having arrived with pick No.45, the Hawks’ first pick in the exceptional 2017 draft where Dylan Moore arrived with pick 67 and Changkouth Jiath as a category B rookie via the next generation academy program. Lloyd Meek, now at the Hawks, was selected by Fremantle at pick 69 that season.
Sam Mitchell is direct with his players as they learn what it takes to succeed. Credit: AFL Photos
Like them, he has had to fight his own battles in the midfield, now coached by premiership Hawk David Hale, as Hawthorn went on a serious rebuilding strategy under Mitchell.
“We just had to mature really quickly. As a young player, you’re looking for answers [and] you’re looking for help all the time, and not that we didn’t have that, but we might have had to step out of our comfort zone a little bit more to seek it,” Worpel said.
It is a path Mitchell followed as a player when he was overlooked in several drafts, maturing ahead of his peers and finding ways to get an edge over them.
Worpel personifies that attitude, undaunted by the need to forge his own path in football.
Such independence is necessary when you are the second-youngest of three brothers and five sisters and attend Western Heights Secondary College in Hamlyn Heights, a school, unlike others, that commentators don’t tend to mention whenever he picks up the football.
Worpel will have a huge local clan to support him at Kardinia Park on Saturday when the Hawks take on the Cats in front of a Geelong crowd for the first time since 2006.
A win over the Cats on their home deck would give Worpel bragging rights around town for a while, but his only motivation is helping the Hawks return to finals action.
“We just want to keep winning and create a winning culture. [It] is probably the main thing at the moment, getting used to winning and expecting to win,” Worpel said.
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