Hawthorn has reached the halfway point of the 2025 season, heading into its mid-season bye with a 9-5 record.
Executive General Manager of Football, Rob McCartney discussed the most pleasing aspects of the first half of the year, who’s been impressive and what to look forward to for the remainder of the season.
We summarised the key points of McCartney’s interview below.
On the first half of the year
“Well firstly, that game last night against Adelaide was pretty exciting. We get the chance now to take a rest and we also get a chance to reflect. The first half of the year, if you zoom out the last 23 home and away games we’ve played, we’ve won 17, which is pretty impressive in terms of the group that we’ve got and the journey that they’ve been on, because the 23 before that they’d only won nine. So, zooming out, I think that the progress and the strategy that we put in place to build a list that was able to compete and win finals when our time came is well and truly on track. But if you zoom in, that last five weeks against the better sides, we’ve got a bit of a checkered scorecard. We’ve won a couple of those games, I think the Gold Coast game we were amazingly competitive, but the two in between those are obviously the Brisbane game and the Collingwood game, and we didn’t measure up to the levels we aspire to. But I’m not surprised by that, that’s the journey that we’re on, our best is well and truly in front of us.”
On the development of our young talent
“I look at the journey that we’ve strategically put in place and I think it’s still the growth of our younger group. (Josh) Ward’s start to the season has been impressive, particularly even in the last couple of weeks against the better opponents, he’s starting to really perform consistently. (Josh) Weddle has been a stand out in games and in moments and I think our fans would just love going to the footy and watching him play. What we love is he’s got a lot of strings to his bow now, we first of all settled him as a back, he played really well in that position but now we’re starting to experiment, you’ll see him in the ruck you’ll see him forward and he’s actually moving to those positions and still playing where he can influence the game and that’s growth for him. I think Watson, even though maybe the last month hasn’t been as consistent as the last eight weeks, I think you’d have to say that we’re still seeing the player that we thought we were going to get when we drafted him. Really exciting, brave and courageous, that’s the thing about him I can’t believe. I think Jack Ginnivan’s a great story, he gets a lot of attention for reasons that are outside of footy but if you drill down to his footy and his footy smarts and his abilities since going back and playing a VFL game, it’s been pretty impressive. And even a player who didn’t even play last night, we’re still really bullish about Cam Mackenzie and the trajectory that he’s on. So that younger group that are emerging, they’re making us better, we’ve got to continue to build on that if we want to get to an opportunity to compete for our 14th flag, then those players are going to be really important, but they still need to grow.”
On the recruits and senior players
“We knew when we recruited both those men (Tom Barrass and Josh Battle) that they were fine young gentlemen, they were good humans, they were going to make a contribution to our culture and they’ve done exactly that. I think what we’re also starting to see is how important they’re going to be for the longer journey that we’re on. Both those players are going to be welcome additions to the brown and gold over a long period of time but even in the short term I’d have to say we’re pretty excited by them. The other two I wouldn’t mind mentioning in that are (Jack) Gunston and (Mabior) Chol up forward, more senior players who sit in the group of maybe Tommy Barrass. The way that they’ve gone about their seasons when we don’t have Mitch Lewis or Calsher Dear at the start of the year, it’s been pretty significant for what we’ve been able to do.”
On the depth of our group and players set to return
“The interesting part about this season is we have had to make changes due to injury and we’ve only had eight players in our squad who have played every game, I think that’s the second lowest in the competition. So bringing players in, we’ve played 34 players across our squad this year, we actually played 34 players for the whole entire of 2024, so we’ve done that before the halfway mark. The resilience of the playing group, the depth of our playing group, has probably been on show and we always felt really confident about the depth of our group, so that’s been a tick in that sense. But there is a level of excitement for the second half of the year when you think the last fortnight, James (Sicily) hasn’t played, obviously Will Day who had a super start to the season, he’s really hopeful about playing footy in the back half of the year and Mitch Lewis actually plays the game after the bye at VFL level, so his return after 12 months. And I think, you know, if they’re fit and healthy, they only make us better.”
On Calsher Dear’s 2025 campaign
“He’d be a player that’s really excited about what the opportunities could be in the second half of the year. He did have a fantastic year in 2024 and he was a really important part of the ride that we all went on in that season. Obviously a limited pre-season this year, so the good part of this year for Calsher is that he’s got a little bit of footy under his belt before the bye. He’ll get a good rest now, we actually rested him in the game previous to the bye, so he gets a couple of weeks and will be really fresh once the second half of the year starts. He’s a player that he’s only in his second year, he’s a really long term prospect for our football club, I’m sure we’ll see him playing AFL football in the second half of the season, but I think what we should be excited about is this kids going to be a long-term player for our club and the journey and the output that we see from him will only grow from here on in.”
On approaching the second half of the year
“First and foremost, rest and relax, recharge, it’s a brutal season, an AFL season. The best teams start to be the best in the second half of the year, so first and foremost, get a rest, get ready for what will be an exciting second half of the season and there are some opportunities. We still haven’t ticked the check box of being able to consistently beat the best sides, so we’ll chase that again in the second half of the year and that’s something that we know if we want to get to the best sides and pass them, that we have to be able to do. We’re excited about what growth and opportunities await in the second half of the year for us, we want to get better, if that better gets us to a position where we play finals or finish in the top four, get a chance to possibly go really deep into September then fantastic, but if it isn’t, the progress and the improvement is still really important for the longer term of what we’re trying to do.”
Watch McCartney’s full interview below.
