Versatile Hawk Finn Maginness is continuing to build up his knowledge base of each position on the field.

The 24-year-old told Talking Hawks that he prides himself on his understanding of each position, after booting two goals in Hawthorn’s match simulation against Geelong last Monday.

Maginness also touched on the privilege to wear his Dad, Scott’s iconic number 20 in season 2025. 

We summarised the key points from the chat below. 

LISTEN TO FINN MAGINNESS ON TALKING HAWKS HERE 

On what position he could play this year 

“I sort of pride myself on just having an understanding of how to play every position. So whether it's forward, wing or down back, just having that versatility, I think often it helps players like Sis (James Sicily) or Dimma (Blake Hardwick), you know, if they want to go forward, then maybe I can go down back and sort of fill that gap. So that's something that I'm sort of working on, just being across every line group and just sort of knowing the basics of every role.”

On his relationship with his mentor coach, David Mackay

“My mentor coach is David Mackay. He is super and such an underrated coach. All coaches are great, but because DMAC is just straight out of the game, he's always there and he wants to do extra touch and extra kicking out the track. He can still play, he’s fit as a fiddle. So he's always out there with me… out there on the oval, putting in the time. I'm really grateful to have him as my mentor coach. He's also someone who was in the AFL system for a long period of time and he sort of played a lot of different roles. He also had a good engine and a good tank, so he's something I can relate to. So he's been massive for me, and he's also just really calm and cool, collected and he's process-driven. 

On bouncing back from missing out on selection at times in 2024 

“It's just staying process-driven. I think that was something that I again, worked with DMac (David Mackay) a lot on, is just controlling what you can control. It's obviously a cliche, but I feel like whenever I went back to the twos, my form was pretty strong and I was able to work on different sorts of things. Going back to Box Hill… you have a lot of freedom and you can work on things without necessarily as big consequences as AFL. So you can go back and just have the confidence that all those things you want to work on, you can do it there with complete freedom and they're a great group of boys, so it's always good fun playing down there.”

On wearing the number 20 this year

“Yeah, it’s unreal. I always knew that if 20 became available, I wanted it. I think Dad was hoping that I would get it, so it’s such a special moment. It’s a bit of a reminder every time I run out with the number 20 of the hard work that my dad put into me. He's always been a massive role model for me in my life.”