DESPITE having to wait more than 600 days between senior matches, young Hawk Tim O’Brien looked right at home in Saturday’s win at St Kilda.

The 22-year-old played his first game since Round 21, 2014, having an important impact as the Hawks edged the Saints by just three points in a thriller at Aurora Stadium.

“It’s been a good 18 months or so since I’ve played senior footy, so it’s very exciting to get back out there and back amongst it,” O’Brien told hawthornfc.com.au after the win.

“There’s been prettier games, but we’ll take those four points.”

O’Brien featured at both ends of the ground on Saturday, a skill he developed last year when he was a consistent contributor at VFL level, but couldn’t quite crack into the senior side.

The up-and-coming Hawk had showed both his offensive and defensive traits, collecting 11 disposals – which included two goals and three inside 50s – plus five tackles.

O'Brien used his speed to run into an open goal in the second quarter, before unloading from outside 50 to finish off an end-to-end transition in the third quarter.

After playing up forward for the first three quarters, he was swung into defence in the final term, showing composure beyond his five matches at AFL level.

“For sure, it’s always nice to get on the end of a couple, and then I went back in the last quarter and did a couple of okay things as well, which was good,” O’Brien said.

“We go through it all through pre-season, so we know what roles we have to play – forward or back. With the help around me it made it easy.

“I don’t mind going back, I’m able to adapt reasonably well.

We did do a bit of work on it over the pre-season – I didn’t think it was going to happen this game, but it did, and I was able to adapt to which was good.”

O’Brien came into the side as a like-for-like replacement for fellow tall Ryan Schoenmakers, and has done his chances of selection for Friday night’s clash against Adelaide no harm.