THE BUTTERFLIES are setting in for Jonathan Simpkin who’ll play his first game for the Club against Adelaide at AAMI Stadium on Saturday.
Speaking exclusively to hawthornfc.com.au on the eve of his first game in the brown and gold of Hawthorn, it’s a mixture of excitement and nerves as he prepares to play in just his fifth AFL game.
At 25 years of age, Simpkin has played at two other AFL clubs – Sydney and Geelong but has taken the long road to making his debut in Hawthorn colours.
He was delisted by Geelong at the end of last season before Hawthorn swooped, taking the midfielder as a delisted Free Agent on the opening day of the Delisted Free Agency period in October last year.
Now, Simpkin has been at the Club for six months and the moment he has been waiting for has finally arrived.
He says he just can’t wait to get out there on Saturday.
“I just really can’t wait to get out there, I’ve been looking forward to this moment since I came to the Club in November so I’m really excited and can’t wait to get out there,” he told hawthornfc.com.au
“It’s such a great footy club and it’s an honour to be able to pull on the jumper.
“A lot of my family are mad Hawthorn supporters so I grew up following this footy club a fair bit and now I just can’t wait to wear the jumper.”
Ahead of his first game for the Club, and fifth AFL game overall, Simpkin has enlisted the help of two players who have 435 games of experience to provide words of wisdom.
Captain Luke Hodge and four-time Peter Crimmins medallist Sam Mitchell have told the Hawks debutant to soak up the atmosphere of his first game.
“They just said enjoy it and soak it up, your first game at a new club is always pretty exciting,” he said.
“Hopefully I can go out there and help the team in any way that I can to hopefully get a win to start with.”
It has been Mitchell though that has acted as a mentor to Simpkin since his arrival at the Club at the end of 2012.
“Mitch has been really good since I’ve come to the club,” Simpkin said.
“It’s good to have an experienced player to chat to and spend a bit of time with out on the training track.
“He’s a great player at this football club and in the AFL as well so to get some tips from him have been really helpful for me since I made the move.”
Simpkin will line up alongside Michael Osborne for the Hawks on Saturday, the Hawks veteran who agreed to be delisted by the Club to make room for Simpkin to be recruited.
Osborne was recovering from a knee reconstruction when he was approached by club officials and pitched the idea with the promise of being re-drafted by the Club in the National Draft.
Credit to his ability to put the Club first and take as selfless an attitude off-field as he does on it, Osborne agreed.
Simpkin says he is grateful for Osborne making the decision he did.
Now, the pair are close – living in close proximity and interestingly, Simpkin will debut just like Osborne did 12 years ago against Adelaide at AAMI Stadium (then Football Park).
“He’s a good fella, Ozzie,” Simpkin said.
“We travelled together to the airport because he lives just around the corner. He actually played his first game for Hawthorn against Adelaide at AAMI Stadium as well so that’s a little fact he let me know about.
“I’m really thankful and grateful for him to have done what he did at the end of last year to allow me the chance to come to this club.”
The former Cat says he just hopes to play his role in his first game and help the Hawks to secure its fifth-straight win.
But he’s hungry to put in an impressive performance.
“I got a bit of a taste of it in the NAB Cup which was good and my form for Box Hill the last couple of weeks has been good,” he said.
“I just want to come in and play my role through the midfield and push forward when I can.
“I’ve been able to push forward and kick a few goals as well as spend some time in the midfield so hopefully I can combine a bit of both and put in a good performance tomorrow night.”
