When Hawthorn players have been asked who is having a strong pre-season, Cam Mackenzie’s name has come up several times. 

The third-year Hawks midfielder has been one of Hawthorn’s standouts on the track, building on his impressive 2024 campaign which was unfortunately cut short by injury. 

Speaking to Hawks Insiders, Mackenzie spoke about how he’s dealing with the extra fanfare around his form and what he hopes to get out of the 2025 season. 

We summarised the key points from his chat below. 

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO CAM MACKENZIE’S INTERVIEW WITH HAWKS INSIDERS

On the extra fanfare around himself and the team 

“I think (I deal with it by) just sort of surrounding myself with all the other boys and all coaches. I think I'm just really looking forward to playing footy again. Obviously missing the finals last year was a bit of a damper. I think you're super motivated to just play good footy and play good footy for the team. That's what’s been driving me this pre-season. It’s been nice to be able to have an uninterrupted pre-season.” 

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On his family background 

“It is a bit different. I think I’ve sort of got family from, I guess everywhere except Australia. It’s sort of only ever been us around here. I've got myself, my parents and then three other siblings are all younger. I think I always make sure I enjoy my time with my family. We certainly have a lot of fun with various sports around the house. We lived in Sydney for a few years before we moved to Melbourne. I think it wasn't until we moved to Melbourne where I sort of learned what footy was. I think starting at primary school was when I decided to become a Hawks fan. Since then, I guess we sort of learned, as a family (what footy was). We obviously had no idea what it was prior to coming here. It’s been, I guess, a different journey to a lot of other players. But yeah, Mum and Dad definitely love it now, and even our relatives overseas tune into some of the games and are always asking a million questions about how the game actually works and how you actually play. It’s good to see they’re getting involved now.” 

On his pre-season

“It's awesome to have your teammates and people look up to who are praising you. It is a great feeling. It definitely encourages me and makes me play well and continue to improve. (Pre-season has been) hard work, but yeah, I’ve really enjoyed it and being healthy and being able to do the whole thing. I feel really confident my body. Obviously, it’s my third year in the system so I think I want to just continue to get stronger and improve my fitness base and hopefully get to run out games a bit better, and I guess play at a high level for longer in the game.” 

On comparisons to Sam Mitchell 

“We all know who Sam was as a player. We don't really address it (the comparisons), us two. No one really brings it up around the group, but yeah, certainly I've seen the comparisons. I can understand where people get it from. I guess it's pretty cool to be compared to a great of the game.”

On missing the finals last year 

“Yeah, it was definitely hard to watch. For me not to be able to have been out there for, I guess, a very minor issue was, yeah, hard to watch. But I think it's motivated me. It's motivated the whole group. We sort of talk about how we're going to get from that early final sort of position to a top four contending side to make a good push of the final series.  Next time we're out there, we're all hoping this year, I definitely want to be out there and play my first final.”