With the 2014 season now complete, hawthornfc.com.au will review the season of those who played a senior game for the Hawks in 2014 with the help of GM - Football Operations Chris Fagan.
Jack Gunston has blossomed since joining Hawthorn at the end of 2011 and 2014 was another outstanding season for the emerging Hawk.
Arguably, Gunston has already emerged as one of the league’s top forward talents, but given he’s still just 23 years of age, the improvement and development in his still in unmeasured.
With the departure of Lance Franklin, Gunston took on a more senior role in Hawthorn’s forward line and answered the challenge.
He finished the season as the second most prolific goal scorer at the Hawks with 58 for the year, a career-best.
In fact, Gunston had already achieved a career-best for goals kicked in a season by Round 23, eclipsing his previous season-high of 46 achieved in 2013 (that number includes the finals series in which he booted 11 goals).
He was again one of Hawthorn’s most reliable set shot goal kickers, converting at 68.2 per cent.
Playing 23 of a possible 25 games, Gunston further emerged as one of Hawthorn’s most important players not just because of his goal kicking capability (he averaged 2.5 goals per game) but also for his ability to bring others into the game.
In addition to booting 58 goals himself, he contributed 21 direct goal assists (almost on per game on average) to be ranked third at the Club this season (Luke Breust led the way with 30).
Athletic for his size, the 193cm forward is another versatile Hawk Alastair Clarkson loves, who can push into the midfield and onto the wing as well as behind the ball to help his teammates.
Remarkably, he averaged 16.1 disposals per game as a key forward, which is well above the average of others in his role.
Swan Franklin was the only other forward to average more disposals per game than Gunston from the top 10 goal kickers in the league (16.7 disposals average) and Saint Nick Riewoldt the only other from the top 15 (16.7 average).
Unbelievably, Gunston actually averaged just 0.1 disposals less than Port Adelaide ace Chad Wingard (16.2 disposals) despite the Power star also at times playing exclusively as a midfielder.
Couple that with the fact Gunston was ranked second at the Hawks for marks taken inside 50 (2.2 per game) and took the most marks of any Hawk this year (6.0 average) and that makes for a very dangerous player.
Gunston was held goalless in just two of his 23 matches in 2014 and managed multiple goals 16 times.
His best games came in Round 4 against the Suns (five goals, 25 disposals), Round 5 against the Cats (three goals, 15 disposals), Round 7 against the Saints (four goals, 24 disposals), Round 16 against the Kangaroos (six goals, 21 disposals) and Round 23 against the Pies (five goals, 23 disposals).
After winning the Best Player in Finals award in 2013, Gunston was again a strong performer on the big stage, with seven goals across the three finals.
His best game of the finals series was probably the Grand Final, where he picked up 18 disposals, took five marks and kicked two critical goals to set up Hawthorn’s dominance in the second quarter.
Such was his impressive season he achieved career-bests for kicks (19 v Suns Round 4), handballs (13 v Saints Round 7), disposals (25 v Suns Round 4), tackles (six v GWS Round 11) and goals (six v Kangaroos Round 16).
With another strong season under his belt and with another pre-season on the track and in the gym, expect to see more improvement from Gunston in 2015 – an exciting prospect for the Hawks given what he has already achieved.
What GM – Football Operations Chris Fagan said: “He’s probably one of the smartest players playing the game.
“Not only is Jack an excellent goal scorer, he is also a high score assist player, which makes him highly valuable to our team. He brings others into the game with his intelligent ball use.
“His ability to get up onto the wing or move behind the ball has also been important for us at different stages. So he’s a valuable player for us who continues to grow and was very unlucky not to be All Australian this year.
“The beauty of him is though, that he’ll continue to raise his standard and will be a good player for the Hawks for many years to come.
Jack Gunston in the news in 2014
- Gunston’s season a career-best
- No rivalry: Gunston motivated by Breust’s accuracy
- Past means nothing as Hawk confidence grows
- Crazy to leave: Gunston re-signs
Videos featuring Jack Gunston in 2014
- Two medals is Gunston’s goal
- The Challenge: Breust v Suckling
- #everymoment: Gunston
Jack Gunston shows off the premiership cup to fans after winning his second premiership with the Hawks.
