Hawthorn defender and proud Noonuccal man Karl Amon spoke on the importance and excitement of Sir Doug Nicholls Round as the Hawks prepare to face Gold Coast in Darwin on Thursday night to open the round.
Amon, along with Gold Coast's Joel Jeffrey and 2025 Sir Doug Nicholls Round honouree Stephen Michael, were on hand to officially launch Sir Doug Nicholls Round in Darwin on Tuesday via a joint press conference and photo opportunity.
We summarised the key points of his press conference below.
On Hawthorn’s Indigenous Guernsey
“This was designed by Jamie Bennell who’s our IPM (Indigenous Player Development Manager) at the club and it’s all about celebrating our 100 years, so obviously the centenary year for us as a football club. It’s got our 13 premierships on the side, the five home grounds and the Hawk in the centre overlooking the whole football club. As Joel said before, it’s a magical round and the guernseys are so special."
On playing in Darwin to kick off Sir Doug Nicholls Round
“It’s amazing and it’s a real privilege to kick it off on Thursday night and Darwin is a ground that I haven’t played at so I’m really excited to tick that off myself. And the whole celebration of Sir Doug Nicholls Round these days, the fact that it goes over two weeks, so you get to play home and away is really special and I’m sure for Joel it’s a real celebration that we get to kick it off on Thursday night."
On taking on Gold Coast in Darwin
“They’ve got an incredible record up here and come up for two weeks and play two games, they’ve made it their second home, so it is certainly going to be a challenge for us. Last time we as a club came up here, they beat us pretty well, so it’s going to be a fiery contest on Thursday night and as a club, we’re really looking forward to getting out there."
On growing the game among Indigenous youth
“It’s no secret that an issue at the moment is the numbers in the game and that’s probably been on the decline for a couple of years so I think anytime that we get to celebration Indigenous culture and Indigenous football, we’ll jump at every bit of that and obviously Sir Doug Nicholls Round plays a massive part of that so if we can put on a show during the weeks then I’m sure that’ll go a long way to help improve the numbers."
On Sir Doug Nicholls Round honouree, Stephen Michael (West Australian great, Australian Football Hall of Famer and Indigenous Team of the Century member)
“I think just listening to his accolades and what he’s achieved over his career, it’s something to be really proud of and it’s a long list of accolades. Obviously in the WAFL, he’s a really proud man and an awesome player as well, so I think in terms of an honouree this year, there couldn’t be anyone better.”
On his favourite Indigenous footballer growing up
“I didn’t go for Hawthorn but watching Buddy (Lance Franklin) roll around and kicking bags of goals was pretty fun to watch. And I say it all the time time but every time he comes back to the club, it’s pretty special to have him in the room with us.”
Watch the full Darwin launch press conference below.
