During Hawthorn's bye round, we caught up with Assistant Coach Adrian Hickmott who provided an individual mid-season review for all the Hawthorn forwards so far this season. 

Mitch Lewis

Games: 3
Goals: 3

“Mitch’s season has been very interrupted. He had a crook knee at training and was sore again so he had to spend another three weeks on the sidelines in rehab. But he works his butt off and leads well while still going through all that, and watching the team play each week is hard work. He’s back in now and played half a game last weekend for the Box Hill Hawks which is absolutely brilliant. We’ll work from there, whether he comes straight back in or whether has another game to make sure the knee pulls up well again, we’ll have to wait and see. Mitch also works closely with the taller players like Mabior Chol, Jack Gunston and Calsher Dear, so he involves himself with that, which is really important to keep his head in the game but also to help others.”

Dylan Moore

Games: 14
Goals: 22

“Dylan Moore is a little beauty. In the way of little beauty what I mean is he’s playing extremely good football and strong football. But it all starts, which I’m not sure a lot of people know, from his pressure and his attack on the football and his toughness inside. I was watching him train today and as a great example he was doing a tackling drill and he’s a little hard nut who makes other people better by challenging them in tackles. The leadership is another side of his game that he’s doing well setting up structures and strategies, another one that speaks up in line meetings. And he’s really enjoying his football at the moment which is really important."

Blake Hardwick

Games: 14
Goals: 12

“Blake Hardwick, he’s a bit of a quasi man, plays in the forward line and goes down back. His contested stuff, aerial contests and winning or halving contests are so important. He then puts on the pressure that he does and has the ability to go back as well. He’s a sound player at both ends of the ground, and enjoying his football doing that, which is exciting. He goes to forward line meetings and then he’ll do a bit of touch with the backline to keep in touch with that group as well.”

Mabior Chol

Games: 12
Goals: 20

“Mabior Chol came to the club new, and as we know it takes a while for anyone new to come to the club, but Mabior has fitted in really well. He’s been working hard on consistency in his game and he’s showing really good effort in effort-based consistency. It definitely comes from his training, the way he trains is the way he plays, so we’ve been working hard in that area of his game and it’s starting to show. His athleticism and launching for marks, like the one against the Giants, was quite nice to watch. His defensive pressure and how he chases, I wouldn’t like to be getting chased by Mabior Chol so his speed over the ground to put that on is really important for our forward line and he likes doing it.”

Jack Gunston

Games: 10
Goals: 14 

“Jack Gunston, back at Hawthorn. He's really impressive with the way he’s leading the talls as well, he works closely with Calsher Dear and that’s been shown a little bit. You can see when Calsher marks the ball inside 50 you see Jack Gunston go up to him, settle him down and get him to take a deep breath. So even on-field, let alone off-field, he watches vision with him, goes through off-ball running patterns and any improvement or learnings he can do. In line meetings, he’s again another experienced player that we use and lean on.”

Chad Wingard

Games: 0

“Chad’s in a similar boat to Mitch Lewis and James Blanck, a couple in rehab that have connected well in there. He's got the same role, he works hard to get himself right and get his body right. Off-field, he leads well with the younger guys and the smaller forwards like Connor Macdonald and Dylan Moore with crumbing and the little things that quasi-forwards need to learn, he’s very good at it and understanding running patterns to get underneath the talls, so he’s been doing that off field while he’s been in rehab. The last few games he’s gone to Box Hill and played really good footy, kicked four goals and then I think two goals, so he’s working his way back to get his body right."

Luke Breust

Games: 9
Goals: 7

“Luke Breust has a fantastic football mind. He’s been the sub I think around six times in a row, on the bench. So there are two parts, the first part is the work he does on the bench - he’s like another coach on the bench, talking to players when they’re coming off the ground. I communicate with him from the coaches' box to the bench to get a good feel for what he feels there and how our forward line is going. The other part is when he goes on the ground he’s been really proactive in score assists and kicking goals himself which is really pleasing and putting on good defensive pressure."

Sam Butler

Games: 2 
Goals: 0

“Sam Butler, he’s a beauty. Since he’s been back after his broken leg, I don’t think he hasn’t smiled. It’s a great credit to a young bloke who comes back, he’s working every day diligently on his rehab. Like I just walked past him before and he’s lying on his back doing these weird exercises on his leg and he’s smiling and Pricey (Jack Price) the Rehab Coach is laughing his head off. So I just think it’s a great trait to have, he’s been well, he comes to meetings and he’s enthusiastic to be here. He’s not doing much, he’s walking around on one leg, so it’s impressive from a young man.”

Connor Macdonald

Games: 14
Goals: 13

“Connor Macdonald has been exciting. He can run all the way up and down the ground, his excitement with the ball and his love of the game is high. We all love the game but I feel he takes it to another level in the way he fuels the game and enjoys playing the game. You can see that with his celebrations, not just when he kicks a goal it’s when others kick a goal. We have behind-the-goals vision, and I show him edits of him running 30 metres to come over and say well done to someone just for a good tackle, so the love of the game is good and he’s playing good footy.”

Jack Ginnivan

Games: 14
Goals: 15
Average disposals: 15.6

“Straight away when I think of Jack Ginnivan, I think of his football mind, like the way he sees the game in the game, which is hard work to do sometimes, let alone get a kick. I like the way he sees the game, so we use his mind a bit. He’s a young fella, another one who just loves playing football, loves our members, loves being in front stage and it seems doesn’t matter how much he’s talked about on the outside, he just enjoys that and the feeling of making people happy, even if it’s to kick a goal and the celebrations that he does. However, he trains really, extremely hard, one of the hardest training forwards and the stuff he does in our line meetings is really important for our structures.”

Nick Watson

Games: 7
Goals: 5
Average disposals: 10.1

“Nick Watson missed a few with an ankle, then just got back and missed another couple of games. He played two weeks in the VFL and kicked four goals a game which was really impressive and he got himself back in the side. Just before he hurt his ankle he was just getting the hang of AFL footy, like the speed of the game and shots on goal and things like that. So we’re very excited that he’s performing at VFL level and showing us what he’s made of. He’s a little character around the group and he loves stirring people up, which we love.”

Calsher Dear

Games: 7
Goals: 9
Average disposals: 6.7

“Calsher Dear, like I said he’s taken Jack Gunston on as a mentor, a pretty good mentor. He’s one that’s astute and loves learning. A lot of young kids like learning but Calsher takes it to the next level, he’ll sit down, watch vision with Jack Gunston and ask a lot of questions. His athleticism is pretty impressive, we’ve asked him to jump for the ball whenever he can and he seems to land on his feet most of the time, don’t know how he does it but he does. He’s enjoying training, enjoying the line meetings and speaking up more now which is impressive for a young kid to do that, with guidance from Jack Gunston. He’s starting to fit in well.”

Max Ramsden

Games: 3
Goals: 1
Average disposals: 5.7

“Max Ramsden is playing well at VFL level, showing us some good football and getting ready to come back into the AFL side. He's been impressive the last few weeks at Box Hill, it's good to see him start to come into his own in that ruck/ forward position. He's really working on finessing his rucking capabilities and they're only improving as he builds his body for that role as a big man."

Jasper Scaife

Games: 0

“Jasper just got here, he looks good the big fella. Launches for his marks, kicks the ball a fair way, loves shots on goal and is fitting in the group well. He shook my hand and nearly busted my fingers, so he’s a big tough man with a strong built body. He reads the ball well. Going from WA to straight into VFL not knowing anyone, kicking a couple of goals, sharing the ball, like it’s pretty impressive, that sort of tells you about his character.”

Josh Bennetts

Games: 0

“Josh Bennetts is working hard. He had a ripper first half against the Giants in the VFL, kicked two goals and was all over the field. His defensive pressure was great. Hopefully, he continues that form and I’d like to see him pushing and knocking on the door of the AFL side.”

Jack O’Sullivan

Games: 0

“He’s been interrupted. When his body is right and he’s out training and playing, we love the way he plays. He has sharp turns, has got a goal sense about him and he’s really passionate about his footy and wants to do well so I hope he gets games under his belt and puts pressure on our guys playing AFL.”

Adrian Hickmott speaks more about Luke Breust's impact in his mid-season review below.