Five Hawks were recognised by the coaches’ for their performance in Thursday night’s Qualifying Final against Fremantle, polling votes in the Gary Ayres Award.

The Gary Ayres Award is presented in recognition of the player who has been adjudged the best through the finals series, as voted by the coaches.

Grand Final votes will receive a 1.5 times loading.

The AFLCA determined that voting for the Gary Ayres Award in the 2026 Toyota AFL Finals Series would not include votes from the two wildcard fixtures to ensure voting remained consistent with the format of previous seasons.

Defensive duo, James Sicily and Josh Battle were the most notable, polling nine votes each.

The skipper led allcomers with a team-high 26 disposals, 10 marks and 579 metres gained.

He also racked up a game-high 12 intercept possessions and nine contested possessions.

Battle was impenetrable down back, finishing with 16 disposals, 11 of those contested possessions, 10 intercept possessions and five marks.

Next to poll were Nick Watson and Will Day, who both earned three votes.

Watson delivered up forward, slotting two goals from 19 disposals, a game-high nine score involvements and five inside 50s.

While Day was impressive in his first AFL final, amassing 24 disposals, a game-high eight clearances and seven intercept possessions.

And finally for the Hawks with two votes was Dylan Moore, who managed two majors from 15 disposals, as well as a game-high eight tackles and six score involvements.

See the full Qualifying Final coaches’ votes below.

Fremantle v Hawthorn

9 James Sicily (HAW)
9 Josh Battle (HAW)
3 Nick Watson (HAW)
3 Will Day (HAW)
2 Dylan Moore (HAW)
2 Alex Pearce (FRE)
1 Jordan Clark (FRE)
1 Luke Jackson (FRE)