Hawthorn Midfield Coach David Hale has stated that the Hawks are under no illusion about the hard work required to replicate and improve on a memorable 2024 campaign. 

After their seventh-placed finish this year, Hale told SEN that the players are hungry to get better and are excited to prove themselves in more primetime game slots. 

We summarised the key points from his interview with Adam Collins and Damien Fleming below.

On how pre-season training is going so far

“Off the backend of a successful campaign at the backend of last year, we played some pretty good footy and ultimately fell short of where we wanted to get to. But the boys have come back in really good nick. Our older guys have been back for a week and a half now and leading into the Christmas break, they’re training with good intensity. As you said, with the guys we’ve brought in, the level of expectation is there externally but we’re driving the club standard inside as well. The finals and where we want to get to is a hard mountain to climb so we know we need to put in all the hard work to get back to the level we were at last year and go again.”

On learnings from the 2024 season 

"We had a couple of weeks of reflection as a coaching group and we went through a lot of stats and numbers and things we did well and things we were looking to improve on for next year. A lot of things we peeled back and made a little bit more simplistic in terms of what we expected from the group. They really brought in, to their credit. They enjoyed what they were doing, the fun and celebrations that everyone saw came off the back of a lot of hard work. I think towards the backend of the year, what you saw was a team that understood what each other's roles were and what each other was supposed to do. When you do that, I think the footy comes a bit more naturally to a lot of players. When you take away a lot of the guesswork, they're able to play with their own instinct and flare and I think that's what a lot of people saw with the Hawks at the backend of last year."

On more primetime games in Hawthorn’s fixture next year

“We haven’t shied away as a club from wanting to get to the primetime games and getting back on the big stage. I think last year you saw with the big game we played against Collingwood and the final game at the ‘G, supporters were coming out in force and they’re really looking forward to us putting on a good show. I think that was the main thing that people saw last year, the type of footy we played was exciting but the competition’s so even these days, there are 12, 13 or 14 teams on their day and with a bit of luck with injuries can be highly competitive. Anywhere from that 5-14 bracket can be filled by a number of teams. We’re under no illusions that it’s going to be hard work to get back to where we were last year and go further. Yes, we finished where we finished but we’re not satisfied. Neither will seven other teams that finished in that spot again. We’re excited with the draw we’ve got, we’re excited to be able to play a bit more primetime games and we’re excited for our fans but we know there’s a lot of hard work to be done as well.”

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On the Kennedy Community Centre’s exciting progress 

“I think the reports are that it’s roughly 70 per cent completed, both grounds have been laid with turf and from all reports, it’s going to be one of the better training facilities in all of Australia. Everyone here is very excited to get out there and hopefully by mid to late next year, that’s a move we can definitely make. Both the men’s and women’s programs are excited to have a bit more space and a bit more hi-tech facilities than we’ve had for the last 10 years, not saying Waverley hasn’t been great for us but it’s the same as any facility in the comp, they get a little bit dated over time. We’re excited to go into a facility that’s a top one in Australia.”

On how Mitch Lewis is tracking in his ACL recovery

“He’s been back running the past couple of weeks on the ground with the rehab group. He was doing straight-line stuff but he’s started to do some change of direction stuff in the last week or so which is really encouraging for him. He’s feeling really good. Initially, he was a little slow once the surgery was done to get the swelling and stuff out of his knee but he seems really content with where he’s at now. He’s building up to more dynamic movement and the hope is I would say mid-year (for a return to play). He did it roughly mid-year last year, June/ July, so I don’t think they’ll rush him. We’ll make sure he’s definitely got a big bulk of work underneath him before bringing him back but at some point this year, the goal will be for him to come back in. He’s a really important player when he’s fit and healthy.”

On Sam Mitchell’s evolution from a player to a coach

“He was a very hard player. He garnered a lot of respect with the way he played but he also had a great critical coaching eye as a player. He ran a lot of the midfield meetings. You could tell he had the attributes to be a really good coach. The thing that’s impressed me since I’ve come back with Sam is probably the empathy side and the relationship side he’s really worked on, especially with this young playing group and the next generation of players we’ve got coming through and the way he can articulate what he wants the game to look like from his point of view. The way he’s built a lot of relationships with guys that are 18, 19 and 20 (years old), are really important for him. I think you can see that the players really respect him and want to play for him and that’s the main thing as a coach, you’ve got to build that bond with your playing group. This group are really driven to get better and Sam’s been a big part of setting the standards and hopefully, now that the guys understand what he wants, they can start to drive that themselves.”