Jack Gunston was still a teenager when he played the last of his 14 games as a Crow. Even allowing for a newcomer’s natural reticence, he remembers being quiet and reserved when he arrived at Hawthorn, more than happy for others to take the torch and lead the way.

His first steps as a Hawk were taken on the Kokoda Track, surrounded by 15 young footballers he’d never met. Upon reflection, the sink or swim scenario was a good way to get to know his new teammates, although he wonders if those 15-hour days traversing the Owen Stanley Range might have been easier if they already had friendship stories to share.

After they were shaken awake by coach Alastair Clarkson in the middle of one particularly uncomfortable night, Gunston had an experience of leadership that’s stayed with him.

“I’d never worked a hard day in my life and found myself digging a trench at 3am with Xavier Ellis and Kyle Cheney,” he recalls. “All three of us had no idea how to dig a hole, and we had to keep digging until we could get in it up to our eyes.”

His was the last group to finish, and as they slogged away in the dark, teammates who could have collapsed back into their swags instead mucked in and helped. “Little things like that, when you’re competing one minute and the next they’re helping you, that sticks in my mind.”

Six years on, at Hawthorn’s pre-season camp in the rugged guts of New Zealand’s south island, Gunston’s growth was baldly apparent. Already a core member of a much-changed leadership group, he didn’t have to be asked twice to step up still further when minor knee surgery rendered captain Jarryd Roughead late withdrawal from the travelling party.

“If no-one jumps up it can be a pretty passive trip and you can get nothing out of it, or we can put our foot down and really try to lead the boys,” Gunston says. “Which is what we did – Isaac Smith, Liam Shiels, Ben Stratton, these kinds of guys, we just tried to lead from the front.”

He welcomed the input – in words and deed – of younger leaders like Tom Mitchell and Jaeger O’Meara, and noted how much better as a whole the junior members of the squad have become at finding their voice. “You want to start it over there, in pre-season, because you need everyone’s voice throughout the season – no matter if you’re 30 or 18. Whether it’s on or off the ground, you need blokes speaking up.”

The competitive format that underpinned the entire 2018 pre-season campaign featured a range of challenges that were tackled by the entire squad split into four teams, peaking in New Zealand on hikes, bike rides and white-water rafting excursions that tested the mettle of young and old. Gunston was encouraged by the sight of leaders emerging all around him, sharing the load of being the voice to fill Roughead’s absence.

His group was the ‘Grey’ team, self-dubbed ‘The Sandlot Kids’ for a shared liking of the coming-of-age children’s movie. One challenge – where teams were separated at Lake Peel, given maps but no hint as to which of the many tracks was the best route to the top – was salutary.

Water and food were shared out of packs as they mixed running and striding throughout a near-two-hour climb, pushing each other all the way. At one point they were faced with a choice of paths, and the sound of rival teams approaching behind them. “We took a track we couldn’t see the end to, didn’t know if it would be the shortest or longest. In the end we thought we might as well die trying.” It was the right call.

In a mountain bike challenge along (and at times across) a river, each team’s ranking hinged on its slowest member, demanding a collegiate approach. Bikes were thrown over fences as riders clambered after them, rocky paths suddenly turned into creeks, bodies crashed into each other amid the mayhem. Again, Gunston saw people come out of themselves, bonds growing as they worked not just for one but for all.

An all-day hike – which the leaders opted not to tackle individually or in teams, but as one like-minded group – was a highlight. For more than 13 hours they traipsed up and down mountain peaks, driving each other on, and finished a 90-minute descent down a rocky hill together. It underscored that “We take care of our own” is a mantra all at Hawthorn are determined to live by.

“We’re building a really strong bond with a tighter group, a younger group,” Gunston says. “There’s not that big age bracket anymore and there’s respect right across the board, whether you’re a coach, a player, support staff, no matter who you are at the footy club. It’s something people want to be part of.”

Having happily deferred to the star names of his earliest Hawthorn days – Hodge, Franklin, Roughead, Mitchell – he’s now grateful for the moment he looked around and realised, “I’m the next one coming through.” Gunston sees himself in his newest teammates, their reservation as they make their tentative first steps as AFL players. “It makes leadership a lot easier having been through that, you find yourself out on the track having those conversations.”

He feels drawn rather than nudged towards being a leader, comfortable to stand up and speak his mind. “You have your opinions, sometimes you’re right and sometimes you’re wrong, (but) that’s when you know you’re feeling comfortable – you’re no longer hesitant to use your voice. That’s where I’m at now, and I think it’s improved my footy and made me a better person as well.”

He’s grateful for his two years in Adelaide, his own coming-of-age period after a happy and secure upbringing in Melbourne. He describes his younger self as moody, prone to ups and downs; moving interstate hastened growth and maturity. “I think footy’s calmed me a bit. I still live with the stresses of football, but when I was younger it was, ‘I’ve got 10 years to go.’ Now, I’m only 26, but you’re halfway through. It’s developed me as a person, grown me up, meeting people along the way.”

Playing in defence in 2017 grew his football, too, knowing that as a senior member of the back six he was expected to lead straight away, regardless of his defender’s L-plates. Seeing the whole game unfold before him, he was struck by how the backs communicated more during games than the forwards. He’s trained to play at both ends this season, and is determined to make a noise no matter where he is.

He also notched up game 150, a milestone Gunston approached confident that he knew the Hawthorn way and is proud to be entrusted with passing it on. “I want to teach others because I know it’s going to make the football team a lot better.”

If, one day, he’s called to take the ultimate leadership role, he won’t baulk. “I’d love to captain the club. I’m in no rush to do it though – I’m more than happy to keep biding my time, and if the opportunity arises I’ll put my hand up. I love learning off these guys, Isaac Smith, Liam Shiels are in there (the leadership group) with me, we’re all learning together. We’ve still got guys to lean on. Down the track, if it happens, I won’t say no.”

Footnote: The last challenge before the Christmas break culminated in a tug of war that would decide the champion team. Having hovered around second or third throughout the pre-season, the ‘Grey’ team came from behind to win the lot. Like Jack Gunston, ‘The Sandlot Kids’ found their voice.