After a breakout 2023 season, Will Day appears to be on the verge of superstardom. Photo: AFL MEDIA

HAWTHORN
2023 record: 7 wins, 16 losses (16th)

THE INS
Jack Gunston (Brisbane), Mabior Chol (Gold Coast), Jack Ginnivan (Collingwood), Massimo D’Ambrosio (Essendon), Nick Watson (Eastern Ranges), Will McCabe (Central District), Bodie Ryan (Glenelg), Calsher Dear (Sandringham Dragons)

THE OUTS
Jacob Koschitzke (Richmond), Tyler Brockman (West Coast), Lachie Bramble (delisted – Western Bulldogs), Emerson Jeka (delisted – Geelong), Josh Morris (delisted), Brandon Ryan (Brisbane), Fergus Greene (delisted), Ned Long (delisted), Max Lynch (retired), Fionn O’Hara (delisted)

THE STRENGTHS
What better place to start than with their best player? The Hawks’ captain James Sicily is one of the top few defenders in the competition, and was duly rewarded with his maiden All-Australian jumper last year in his first year as skipper. Hawthorn also has a promising group of youngsters, headlined by reigning best-and-fairest Will Day, which also features the likes of Jai Newcombe, Josh Weddle, Josh Ward and Connor Macdonald. Newcombe has quickly become a beast of a midfielder, and last year the former mid-season draft pick ranked second at the Hawks for disposals, contested possessions, tackles, clearances and inside 50s. The evergreen Luke Breust keeps doing his thing and last year, at 32, kicked his biggest tally of goals (47) since 2018 – in a bottom-three team, no less. Karl Amon didn’t waste any time repaying the faith Hawthorn showed in him as the former Power midfielder ended up one of Hawthorn’s best and most consistent players over the course of the season. Amon’s ex-Port Adelaide teammate Jarman Impey is fresh from producing his best season off half-back, Blake Hardwick remains criminally underrated in defence, Conor Nash had a breakout year as an on-baller and Finn Maginness emerged late as one of the AFL’s most effective taggers. Wins over grand finallists Collingwood and Brisbane, as well as the top-eight Saints, showed that on their day, the Hawks can take it up to anyone.

THE WEAKNESSES
But the problem for Sam Mitchell’s wildly inconsistent team was that wins were once again too few and far between last season. They took a step backwards, registering just seven wins after managing eight the year before, to finish in 16th position. The Hawks have won just 27 of their last 84 games and haven’t made the finals since 2018, while it’s been nine years since they won a final. And it’s hard to see how they’re going to break those droughts this year given they had both the third-worst attack and defence last year. For all the bright spots they showed in 2023, they were outweighed heavily by the myriad issues they need to fix. The fact that they ranked No.1 in the competition last year for disposals, yet were 16th for marks, highlights how much work they have ahead of themselves to improve their ball use. Thanks largely to James Worpel, Newcombe, Nash and Day, Hawthorn ranked sixth and seventh for contested possessions and clearances respectively, so they’re doing a good enough job of winning the hard ball and extracting the pill from the stoppage. But they are failing dismally in their quest to capitalise on that crucial first possession and underscoring that major issue is their No.13 ranking for forward entries. The knock-on effect of that was that they were third-last for marks inside 50. Outside of Sicily, the Hawks have very little aerial power, and after ranking 17th for contested marks as well, they’ll be hoping Chol and Jack Gunston, as well as a more injury-free Mitch Lewis, will assist them in that department. The Hawks came in dead last for tackles in 2023, so you can bet your bottom dollar that an increase in pressure on the opposition ball carrier will be a major focus over the summer. Injuries haven’t been kind of late either, with Day to miss round one, Dylan Moore the next month with glandular fever, while a costly intra-club hit-out on February 15 cost the Hawks two more players, defender James Blanck for the season with an ACL, and Changkuoth Jiath for at least six weeks with a hamstring tear.

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ONE TO WATCH
After a breakout season which saw him switch from defence to the midfield with spectacular results, Day has the potential to join Sicily as one of the Hawks’ few superstars in 2024. The 22-year-old was outstanding last year, ranking third at the club for average disposals per game, marks and inside 50s, fourth for contested possessions and clearances, as well as fifth for tackles. The kid has all the tricks and oozes class. With only 54 games to his credit, the sky is the limit. He will, though, have a delayed start to the new season after returning from the Christmas break with a stress fracture in his foot.

UNDER THE PUMP
The clock is starting to tick louder than ever before for Denver Grainger-Barras. After a promising 2022 season, the former No.6 draft pick is really struggling to find a home in the senior team. After originally being played down back, that didn’t work. Then late last year, after an extended stretch in the VFL, he was thrown forward with minimal results. Where Sam Mitchell plays the 21-year-old, if at all, this season will be one of the major talking points at Waverley Park. And the fact the 28-gamer is entering the final year of his contract adds even more intrigue to the storyline.

BEST 22
B: Blake Hardwick, Sam Frost, Jack Scrimshaw
HB: Jarman Impey, James Sicily, Josh Weddle
C: Karl Amon, Jai Newcombe, Conor Nash
HF: Dylan Moore, Mabior Chol, Jack Ginnivan
F: Jack Gunston, Mitch Lewis, Luke Breust
R: Ned Reeves, James Worpel, Will Day
Inter: Connor Macdonald, Lloyd Meek, Josh Ward, Finn Maginness
Emerg: Harry Morrison, Cam Mackenzie, Changkuoth Jiath, Seamus Mitchell

Optimism regarding Chad Wingard’s odds of playing a decent part of this season, after rupturing his Achilles in Round 22 last year, continues to grow. But with a return date still up in the air, and the fact he might not be seen in the first half of the season, he has been left out of the team for now. There’s been chatter about Hardwick being used as a small forward this year, but this writer believes he should stay put in defence. If Chol can recapture his 2022 form, when he kicked a career-high 44 goals for the Suns, he will prove to be a very handy pick-up, while returning prodigal son Gunston showed he’s still got it late last year when he kicked six goals for Brisbane against West Coast. Changkuoth Jiath will provide Mitchell with extra options down back once he recovers from his hamstring injury.

*all team stat rankings mentioned are based on differentials, not totals (apart from overall offence and defence).