New Hawks Assistant Coach Robert Harvey says he is looking forward to driving an exciting change at the club alongside a revamped coaching panel.
Hawthorn announced on Wednesday that Robert Harvey would be serving as part of its new-look coaching department for 2022.
He joins triple premiership Hawks David Hale and Andrew Collins as new additions, along with former West Coast Assistant Adrian Hickmott.
Harvey joins the Hawks to complete coaching crew
Speaking to SEN’s Dwayne’s World, Harvey said he was excited to share his ideas while also learning from those around him.
“It feels like there's a change – a new wave coming in – and it’s going to be nice being part of that,” Harvey said.
“There’s not just me, there’s other coaches from all over the country coming into Hawthorn, so there's a lot of learning opportunities for me straight up - I’m really keen to see the different systems and how they operate.
“Hawthorn has had a great system for a long time, so I’m really eager to continue my growth and learn from them.
"But in the end I do really want to try and help and aid other coaches as much as I can - that drives me as much as anything now."
Harvey became the caretaker coach at Collingwood in June leading the side in nine games during 2021, after previously spending a decade as an assistant coach with the club.
He said the interim head role helped him significantly to grow as a coach.
"To get that opportunity, albeit on the back of some unfortunate circumstances, I thought made me a lot stronger," Harvey said.
"I developed as I went, and I found it really nice to play the younger guys and see them come through, I tried to coach for the future of the club, and in doing that I thought there was really good growth opportunities for myself.
"Obviously (the Hawthorn role) is a new challenge for me - having been at Collingwood for 10 years, getting to a new place now and environment that's hopefully on the way up is something I'm looking forward to being apart of."
Harvey, a two-time Brownlow Medallist who played 383 games for St Kilda, said he could see great potential in senior coach Sam Mitchell.
"He’s looking for new ideas to come in and strong support, but also strong rigour around himself and feedback and challenging him at the right time,” Harvey said.
"He’s a first-year senior coach, so there’s going to be pressures around that. Ideally, I hope to firstly play my role as whatever I do end up there to my best, but also help out where I can to develop not only Sam but any younger coaches that are there too.
"Hawthorn have been in that development phase, so there is a lot of excitement with their list and the way it's coming up, but there's going to be times where you're feeling the pressure.
"Hopefully there's enough experience there and we've got enough diversity to be able to handle that pressure and make sure we put in the right actions to get through to the other side quicker."
