Hawthorn Structure & Opposition Coach David Hale was pleased with the Hawks’ efforts on Monday afternoon, fighting back from a slow start to record a 17-point win in the Club’s first match simulation against opposition for 2026. 

Hosting the Cats at Hawthorn’s new home, the Kennedy Community Centre, it was a good opportunity for Hale and the coaches to see a host of new Hawks hit the park, as well as some familiar faces in new positions, in the countdown to Opening Round against the GIANTS. 

Speaking to the media post-game, Hale provided his thoughts on the hit-out whilst also looking ahead to Hawthorn’s AAMI Community Series match against the Western Bulldogs next Friday night. 

We summarised the key points from his press conference below. 

On the match simulation

“It was a good hit-out against a quality team. Obviously, both teams were missing a few players, but we saw things we wanted to see, different match-ups, players playing different roles, and we fought it out for four quarters. There were times in the game where each team had a bit of momentum, but we were able to wrestle that back and see a few of the things we wanted to see coming out.” 

On Nick Watson’s game

“He’s had a great summer, he’s done everything right, and he’s got himself in really good condition, so it wasn’t surprising to see that in the pre-season game. We want to expose him a little bit more around the ball, obviously, with Dylan Moore and Connor Macdonald as well, those types of players we think can bring a bit of X-factor to the group we’ve got. We think he’s going to have a really big year, and he’s set himself up well.”

On the ruck duo 

“I think who you play in that fifth role will evolve as the year goes on, whether teams use an extra runner or an extra ruckman, as we saw, but both of those guys (Ned Reeves and Lloyd Meek) have had a good summer. I think the centre bounce rule obviously helps Noodle in terms of his height, I think he got his hands around the ball well today, but Meeky’s had a good couple of years as well. Both of those guys bring different things to the table, and we think that those guys can be advantageous going forward.”

On the Club’s AAMI Community Series game 

“I think Peter Burge (High Performance Manager) has mapped out what it’ll look like, and we’ll try to get minutes into the guys that will be in a position to play Opening Round as much as we can. I think the squad will be 26 for next week, and as we said, we’ll just try and get as many minutes into the guys we think will be around that mark.”

Watch David Hale’s full press conference below