Dear’s self-proclaimed ‘shock’ that left Dogs scrambled… and it’s all in the preparation

The day of Calsher Dear’s biggest AFL game to date begun at Port of Call – a café in Sandringham that’s only a stone’s throw away from the Bayside shore.

It’s not quite The London Tavern on a Thursday night, but in Dear’s own words, “they have the best chilli scrambled eggs ever.”

And while his fellow forward Jack Ginnivan was (wrongly) inundated with criticism for “a few waters with mates” at the pub the night before, 19-year-old Dear was instead working out what to do in his spare time before their monstrous elimination final clash in front of a sold-out MCG crowd.

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Little did Dear know the morning of his maiden AFL final, that his sriracha-flavoured eggs on a toasted focaccia (with diced bacon, spring onion and freshly grated parmesan, of course) would start a day that ended with him officially coming-of-age on the big stage – and in the process, brutally knocking the Western Bulldogs out of premiership contention in 2024.

“Honestly, it doesn’t feel real – I’m still thinking and trying to process everything that happened in my head,” Dear told foxfooty.com.au immediately after his side’s 37-point win over the Bulldogs.

“The excitement I have for what we can continue to do – especially with this group of boys – is truly amazing.”

The first-year Hawk’s performance – while certainly not unfathomable – is uncharacteristic of a key forward who was playing just his 16th AFL game, let alone in front of 97,828 people; a crowd that was comfortably the largest of any elimination final in VFL/AFL history.

Even rival Bulldogs tall forwards at the other end of the ground like Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and Aaron Naughton are still finding their feet in the role, despite being rated highly in the system for four and seven years respectively.

And it’s even scarier to think that his 3.4 in front of the big sticks could have been so much more, with a bag of seven majors on the cards if things went to plan perfectly.

Throw in his 10 disposals, five marks inside 50 (three of which were contested) and four tackles – and you’ve got yourself an incredible first AFL finals game.

“It’s all a bit of a shock; I’m obviously happy with how I went tonight, but it doesn’t happen without everyone else around me,” Dear humbly noted.

“The number of goals that were set up for me from hard work up the field by teammates just makes it so much easier for me to do my job.

“You might not be able to see it on TV as much, but the work rate that all our half and small forwards provide is probably one of the biggest things that helps our team so much; they connect us.”

“Choly (Mabior Chol) and I, all we do is try and bring the ball to ground – we’ll go for a mark if we can, but it’s so much easier when you know you’ve got the support of everyone around you.

“They have full trust in you and the decisions you make.”

Putting aside the fact it was Hawthorn’s first final in six years, Sam Mitchell’s side was also thrown the unfamiliar curveball of playing under lights – just their second night game since the end of the 2022 season, and first since Round 5 this year against Gold Coast at Carrara.

It made for different – and obscure – preparation for some, especially given the likes of Dear and Nick Watson didn’t even play against the Suns in Round 5.

But much like it didn’t affect Dear, it certainly didn’t affect Watson – who kicked a career-high four goals in what was also very much a coming-of-age performance.

“The biggest thing about tonight was just trying to treat it like another game, but obviously when you get out there – the atmosphere was just unreal,” Dear explained.

“I’m just happy that I wasn’t the only one playing their first final; half our team were probably playing their first final, so we’re all in it together… everyone who had played finals before just couldn’t be more helpful with everyone in preparing us.”

The irony in Hawthorn’s lack of experience come September is strong, given the sheer amount of finals coach Sam Mitchell has played in himself.

His 26 finals as a player – 24 of which were played at Hawthorn, two at West Coast – surpasses that of any other coach in September this year, which allowed for the Hawks to use him as a sounding board when preparing for the big stage.

“He lent us heaps of advice, but I think he knows that it’s all up to us to ask for that prep and ask all the questions yourself,” Dear elucidated.

“He was more than happy to answer any questions we had. Throughout the week, everything he did to prep us – especially for a night game that we haven’t had much experience with at all – was just massive.

“If it wasn’t for all of that, who knows what else would have happened tonight.”

The Hawks will next week face a down-in-the-dumps Port Adelaide at the Adelaide Oval, with the brown and gold seeking revenge for their heart-breaking one-point loss in Round 10 where the Power snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

And while at the time of writing the AFL are yet to officially confirm whether the two sides will clash on a Friday or Saturday, one thing is for certain – the Hawks will be playing again under lights.

With the opening of a Port of Call café in Adelaide extremely unlikely between now and next weekend, Dear may need to improvise when finding a substitute for his chilli scrambled eggs on game day – or at the very least, keeping busy with his newfound spare time.

“I lent on him and Gunners (Jack Gunston) a little bit before (Friday night) and asked them: ‘What do you do on days like this?’” said Dear with a smile.

“It’s a bit different to when you wake up, get ready and play early like every other week. But today, we had the whole day to sit around and do nothing – so it’s very easy to come and not be switched on … how much they helped me, definitely helped me tonight.

“I think you just want to conserve as much energy as you can, stay in bed as long as you can, and then once you get out about it, it doesn’t feel as late – it was unreal; I felt amazing going into the game.

“I went out for breakfast, got some lunch and went for a walk and that’s about it – there was a lot of waiting around.”

Beyond help with routine before AFL games, Gunston and his other fellow forwards have all provided a shoulder for each other to lean on this year – something which Dear credits part of their success to.

“Obviously there’s a lot of mental side of things in football and us as forwards, we have a lot of meetings about it,” he explained.

“If someone’s not going too well, we get around them and bring them into the game. Stuff like that just makes you feel like everyone has a genuine love for you – it makes it so much easier to play your best when you’re having all the fun in the world.

And when asked tongue in cheek as to whether he and the Hawks were thinking big picture just yet, Dear chuckled – ensuring Hawthorn fans they’re still taking their (now very real) premiership tilt one step at a time.

“Mate, you’re not to get that out of me – we’ll focus on next week and that’s about it,” Dear ended by saying, beaming ear-to-ear.