Hawthorn forward Sam Butler enjoyed a strong performance against Geelong in the Hawks’ first match simulation against opposition ahead of the 2026 season.

The match simulation also marked the maiden contest at the Kennedy Community Centre, which Butler said was an exciting experience.

Butler was interviewed post-game, and we’ve summarised the key points below.

On the contest against Geelong

“It was a pretty hot one early. We obviously wanted to go into the game and bring our weapons. It was our first hit-out against a proper opposition, it’s great to play someone that isn’t yourselves, you can kind of test a few new things with your game plan, see people in new positions, that type of thing. It was a good hit-out and good to get the win. At some points, we didn’t play the way we wanted to, but we’ll take some good learnings from that game and go into the Doggies with a fresh attitude.”

On his individual performance

“Yeah, it was good. Played predominantly forward for the whole game, so I thought my first half was a bit quiet, but a couple of tackles probably kept me in the game a bit, which was good. And then the second half was a bit better, got a bit more of the footy, kicked 2.2, so you’ve got to take your chances and took a couple but left a couple out there, so yeah, it was okay.”

On playing at the Kennedy Community Centre

“It was unreal. Even to have all the fans out along the fence cheering on. James Worpel got holding the ball, I think Karl (Amon) got him, so the fans ripped into him a bit, which was goo,d but the new facilities, as you can see in the background, are unbelievable. We’re trying to make the most of them, and if we can get one per cent better every day, then that’s going to help us get to where we need to go. The new deck over there, we’ve got two ovals, one MCG-sized and I think the other one’s Marvel-sized, so we like playing and training on both. It’s just unreal to be in a new environment with new people. It was a good day.”

On the new faces for the Hawks 

“There were a couple, weren’t there. Aidan Schubert looked good up forward. He kicked a couple of good snags, he’s always getting goal side of his opponent, so he’s looking good. Ollie Greeves as well, his strong body around the ball, and I thought Connor Macdonald was good again, he’s always getting a lot of the footy and using it well, so some good performances from lads today, which is good to see.”

On the coaches' messaging post-game and taking on the Bulldogs

“We just want to have a good refresher before that game, get the learnings out of that. The first quarter didn’t really go our way, we need to tidy that up, we can’t let games get away from us in the first quarter, otherwise, you’re just playing catch-up for the rest of the game. It was good to get it back on our terms, but we can’t afford to let them get 30 points up. And I think just some connection stuff. But the Dogs is a new challenge, and we’ll look forward to playing them in a couple of weeks, but for now, we reset and review the game and go from there.”

Watch Butler's full interview below