HAWTHORN has locked away promising premiership forward Jack Gunston until the end of 2016.
Gunston, who was named the Club’s best finals player last year had a breakout year in 2013, where he emerged as another dangerous goal-kicking option.
The 22 year old booted 46 goals in 23 games, including four in the Grand Final to be one of the best afield in the victory.
With a premiership already under his belt heading into just his third year at the Club, Gunston says any player would be crazy to leave, predicting more success for Hawthorn in the near future.
“It’s good to get it done early in the year – I’m very excited to be here for a couple more years,” he told hawthornfc.com.au
“There was definitely no chance of me wanting to leave, I’m very happy here.
“The people we have here, the culture and the success we’ve had over the last couple of years, you’d be crazy to want to leave right now - we’ve still got a young and exciting list and it’s great to be part of it.”
While the success of 2013 and outlook for the years ahead positive, the former Crow says the culture and relationships formed with his teammates made the decision to sign on and easy one.
“From the moment you walk through these doors, all the guys are great and the people within the club are great too,” he said.
“I’m still only 22 so it has been good to grow up with some of the guys here who are around my age and build good chemistry with them.
“That’s what makes a good footy club, having people that work off one another and who play for one another and that’s what you see here.
“There aren’t too many people that want to leave; it’s a pretty happy place to be.”
He admits last year’s premiership win brought back the emotions at joining Hawthorn back in 2011.
“I couldn’t thank Graham Wright (the Club’s Recruiting Manager) enough after the Grand Final and Clarko and all the people involved in helping me get here because it’s a great club to be part of – I can’t thank them enough,” he said.
“Hawthorn gave me the opportunity to come back to Melbourne and letting me come this club, it means a fair bit because they put faith in me.”
With the departure of dual premiership forward Lance Franklin to Sydney, Gunston is likely to take on more responsibility up forward in 2014.
But the youngster doesn’t feel any pressure, comfortable that the spread of goal kicking options will be enough to cover the loss of Franklin.
Hawthorn has a plethora of options to fill the void, with last year’s Coleman Medallist Jarryd Roughead, Gunston and small forwards such as Luke Breust, Cyril Rioli and Paul Puopolo all capable of kicking bags of goals.
But Gunston says there are also two youngsters ready to step up and add to the forward mix this season.
“A good thing we have here at Hawthorn is good versatility, we don’t rely on one or two people up forward – anyone can bob up and kick goals at any stage,” he said.
“We’ve seen young guys like Tim O’Brien, Sam Grimley and guys like that fighting for that spot throughout the NAB Challenge already.
“All of us need to step up and fill the void left by Lance – I think he kicked 60-odd goals last year so we need to find those goal through other avenues whether it be Luke Breust, myself, Roughead or someone else, we all just need to chip in.
“We’ve got the small forwards who kick their 30-40 goals but we’ve also got the midfielders who come and rest forward like the Lewis types who can kick their 20 or 30 goals a year.”
