Hawthorn is set to field its youngest team since 2005 when the likes of superstars Lance Franklin, Jarryd Roughead and Jordan Lewis played their first seasons at the club.
Coach Sam Mitchell is set to field a team with an average age of 23.9 years and 72.4 games of experience against North Melbourne at the MCG on Sunday.
Fourteen Hawks named for the 2022 season opener are aged 23 years or under.
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Only two are aged in their 30s, with four players having played 150 games or more, including Tom Mitchell (150), Chad Wingard (194), Jack Gunston (209) and Liam Shiels (242).
The youngest player set to play in Sunday’s Round 1 clash is draftee Josh Ward (18), while Shiels (30) is the oldest.
It’s big change in comparison to where the Hawks have sat on the competition’s age spectrum for the past decade.
The club’s 2005 side, where Franklin, Roughead and Lewis made their debuts, was previously the youngest Hawthorn line-up, also boasting an average age of 23.9 years.
Three years later, the Hawks won the 2008 premiership – the first for the club in 17 years.
A positive of this lowering in age means there's a new wave of young Hawks coming in, tasked with driving the standards for the club.
First-gamers Ward and Connor Macdonald, alongside Denver Grainger-Barras, Dylan Moore and Changkouth Jiath are just a few of the exciting young names within this new era.
Other highlights on Sunday will see hard nut midfielder Jai Newcombe start in the centre bounce in what will be just his eighth game at the elite-level.
A credit to his impressive pre-season, Mitch Lewis has been selected to start in the Round 1 side – a first for him in the six years he has been at the club.
Recruit Max Lynch has also earned a call-up in his first year at Hawthorn, after playing just three games during his four years at Collingwood.
ROUND 1 TEAM
Name – Age – Games
Blake Hardwick – 25 / 102
Sam Frost – 28 / 129
Denver Grainger-Barras – 19 / 5
Finn Manginess – 21 / 3
James Sicily – 27 / 93
Jack Scrimshaw – 23 / 47
Josh Ward – 18 / 0
Jai Newcombe – 20 / 7
Harry Morrison – 23 / 57
Chad Wingard – 28 / 194
Dylan Moore – 22 / 30
James Worpel – 23 / 68
Jack Gunston – 30 / 209
Mitch Lewis – 23 / 36
Max Lynch – 23 / 3
Ned Reeves – 23 / 5
Jaeger O’Meara – 28 / 122
Tom Mitchell – 28 / 150
Changkuoth Jiath – 22 / 23
Liam Shiels – 30 / 242
Conor Nash – 23 / 29
Connor Macdonald – 19 / 0
Tom Phillips – 25 / 111
