‘Flying’ Hawk’s hot glimpses before ‘competitive beasts’ clash; hint after rule change — Track Watch

Deer in the headlights? More like a Dear in the spotlight.

As concern over Will Day’s possible injury setback swept through Hawthorn HQ on Thursday, emerging forward Calsher Dear provided several moments of promise and excitement in an enthralling duel with Josh Battle.

The Hawks, towards the back-end of their near two-and-a-half hour session, split up into ‘gold’ and ‘white’ teams for 14 minutes of full ground match simulation, with the two teams relatively evenly matched.

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And the bulked-up Dear was a standout for the white team, playing with great presence both close to goal and when pushing further up the ground.

Dear’s athletic lead was on full display early in the match sim, taking a telling mark to set up a scoring opportunity for Dylan Moore. Minutes later, he also put the ball on a platter – via a mark and handball – for Jack Ginnivan.

Both Moore and Ginnivan missed their easy shots at goal on the run, but Dear had clearly asserted his authority early.

“He was flying today, wasn’t he?” Hawks ruck Lloyd Meek said of Dear post-training. “He was taking clunks and covering the ground really well, especially with Josh Battle on his tail – it’s a pretty good match-up to watch.

“He’s going really well. He’s come back fit. He was over all his back stuff pre-Christmas, he was able to come back into some footy.

“He’s looking good and he’s got a big year ahead of him.

“It’s pretty cool when you’re standing beside him and he’s like a whole body length up higher than you. He can sit on anyone’s head, including mine.

“His athleticism speaks for itself. His hands, he’s really clean, good at ground level.”

Dear spearheaded the white team’s forward line, while veteran Jack Gunston and recent draftee Aidan Schubert were the two main targets for the yellow team. Schubert, who was taken with Pick 23 in last year’s draft, showed off his strong aerobic capacity by pushing up into defence at stages, while he also took a couple of strong – one of them leading to a goal after he received a 50m penalty.

HAWKS HINT AT NEW BENCH INFLUENCE

One of the most significant changes for the 2026 AFL season is the scrapping of the sub rule, which will allow teams to have five players on the bench for matches.

Early industry speculation suggested the tweak could favour rucks as clubs now would be more prepared to play two talls in the same 23-man team.

On Thursday, the Hawks had a close look at Meek and Ned Reeves in a ruck-forward balance in the same team.

At the start of full-ground match sim, Reeves took the opening ball-up for the gold team. Instead of going up against Meek, Reeves took on Max Ramsden (white), with Meek instead lining up inside forward 50 for gold.

The duo briefly swapped midway through the hit-out, with Meek given a chance to ruck and Reeves pushing closer to goal.

After Meek and Reeves played 14 games together in 2023, the duo weren’t picked in the same side for any matches in the past two seasons. Meek (46 games) was the preferred ruck over Reeves (5 games), with Mabior Chol pinch-hitting to relieve Meek in-game.

Asked if their ruck-forward set-up on Thursday was a sign of things to come for the season, Meek said: “I think they’ll look at everything. We’ve got the fifth person on the bench obviously and Ned’s been dominating whenever he’s played VFL and then the games he’s come in and played, he’s done really well too.

“Sam’s great at trying everyone in different positions and it’s good for everyone to have a second role to be able to play. It’s certainly something they’ll look at.

“We’ve both got to be working on our forward craft to see what the best match is. At the end of the day, we’ll all just do what we need to do to give us the best look on game day. It might even be a week-to-week thing, we’ll see what happens.”

WARD OF WARNING

One of most eye-catching players during Thursday’s session was on-baller Josh Ward, who looks set to assume even more responsibility in 2026.

Ward was a mainstay of Hawthorn’s side in 2025, playing 25 of a possible 26 games to average 20.6 disposals and 3.2 tackles per outing.

Now in his fifth year at the Hawks, Ward was a standout performer on Thursday, moving with great purpose and authority, both during drills and in match simulation. His ability to spread from congestion and position himself to get hands on the ball was a true highlight.

But perhaps the most notable aspect about Ward during training was how vocal he was, screaming for the ball when appropriate and consistently encouraging teammates.

Ward looks set to share midfield time with emerging star Josh Weddle, who warmed up with the on-ball brigade and split his time between the midfield and defence during match simulation. Connor Macdonald and Ginnivan were also spotted several times at stoppages.

‘IT’S ALWAYS BUTSY’: HAWK SCRAP

The inevitable internal match sim scrap always gets tongues wagging at this time of year.

On Thursday, it was Sam Butler and Conor Nash who briefly went toe-to-toe in a heated exchange.

Butler had picked up the ball near his defensive 50m arc when he copped a tackle from Nash, which the umpire deemed too high.

Nash, however, appeared to take umbrage with how Butler took the tackle, seemingly accusing him of ducking into the contact as the two players wrestled for a good 10 seconds.

Meek said he wasn’t surprised Butler was central to a scratch match tussle.

“I feel like every year it’s ‘Butsy’, isn’t it? I reckon he and ‘Sis’ (James Sicily) had a go at it last year,” Meek said with a laugh.

“It’s healthy competition. We’re all competitive beasts, it’s why we do what we do.

“It just goes to show everyone’s pretty keen to get into some proper games. As soon as you cross the white line, it’s almost as if you forget who’s got the other jumper. It’s just the opposition. I kind of love that, I love the competitive nature and I think it brings out the best of us.

“Those boys will be in there having a chat and sitting in the sauna in about five minutes, so there’s nothing untoward.”

SSP BATTLE

The two players vying for Hawthorn list spots – Flynn Perez and Ethan Stanley – were both out on the track, too.

The Hawks have two spots open on the rookie list ahead of the SSP deadline, which is February 20.

Formerly a North Melbourne defender, Perez endured a tough run with injury but managed 24 AFL matches being delisted at the end of 2023. Two strong seasons at Sturt saw him asked out to Hawthorn’s pre-season training this summer, where he’s made an impressive first impression.

Perez on Thursday took a few kick-outs and nearly pulled off a spectacular intercept mark at half-forward.

Stanley – a Box Hill product initially before spending 18 months at Fremantle – also caught the eye during match sim, often involved in switch plays as teammates looked to utilise his penetrative kick. He made an excellent defensive play late in match sim, spoiling the ball away from a leading Matt Hill to stop a certain mark and set-shot.

TAKING IT EASY

Three players who didn’t take part in any drills were Henry Hustwaite, Will McCabe and recent draftee Cameron Nairn.

Hustwaite, who’s managed 10 games in his first three seasons at Hawthorn, jogged laps on Thursday, but it seemed to be a loading call as he was part of main training earlier this week.

He was joined around the boundary line by third-year player McCabe and recent draftee Nairn, who’s been nursing a back issue since being selected with Pick 20 in last year’s draft.

Skipper James Sicily warmed up with the playing list but didn’t take part in any contact drills or match simulation as he continues to recover from minor shoulder surgery. The Hawks have been working towards a February full contact training return for Sicily.

‘CLOSER YOU GET, MORE IT HURTS’

The Hawks will enter this year as a premiership fancy after making a preliminary final in 2025.

Meek said the entire Hawks playing group was “pretty excited about what we can hopefully achieve” in 2026 after a strong pre-season to date.

“A lot of the boys were training together over the break and holding each other accountable. I think we had a stack of PBs in the time trial and we were able to ramp up training each session, and get more and more out of ourselves,” he said.

“It’s almost like the closer you get, the more it hurts when you can’t win it (the premiership). But we were happy with the gains we made (in 2025) and the progress we made and we’ve had a nice trajectory since my arrival at the club, anyway. But, yeah, gutted not to go all the way and we think we’ve got the team and the club and the personnel to do it.

“I think it’ll be all hands-on deck and try and really steer the ship towards the cup this year.”