Improved? Or just a year older?
How many Hawks have actually improved this season?
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It began with a simple question: How many Hawthorn players have improved this season?
It snowballed from there.
Hawthorn’s performance this season has divided opinion, not least among Hawthorn fans ourselves.
On one hand, we are 7-2 and sitting third on the ladder. On the other, we were largely outplayed by Melbourne on Sunday and were lucky to be in front at three-quarter time. We weren’t overly convincing against West Coast, had to come from a mile back against GWS, got Sydney at a good time, and were trounced by Port. We haven’t played another member of the top six yet.
So as much as we’re sitting in a nice ladder position, it feels like we’ll have to improve a lot to go beyond the second week of the finals this season.
The question above – posed to me by fan of Hawks Insiders, David Trotter – lit up the HI group chat.
Has anyone improved? Is it only those who have moved into the team from the fringes? Does it even matter?
They are interesting questions, and I’ve gathered my own thoughts on them below. I am very interested to hear the thoughts of the Hawks Insiders community in the comments section.
Has Anyone Improved?
To be frank, I have found it hard to think of too many individual Hawks that are noticeably better this year than last. The obvious exception here are players who have been given increased responsibility in the team, like Cam Mackenzie and Josh Ward.
In a general sense, it’s a fraught question because improvement is subjective. For example, a midfielder can rise from 22 disposals per game to 25. Does that in and of itself mean they’ve “improved”? Probably not, but I’ll be using this as a starting point to springboard the discussion.
To be infinitely clear: I’m not using disposal numbers as conclusive in themselves. However, the following data does serve to support the suspicion that, on the whole, we haven’t quite hit the heights of last year.
The chart below shows the change in average disposals from 2024 to 2025 for various Hawks. Those with marginal changes (less than 1 in either direction) are not shown, nor are Josh Battle and Tom Barrass. I’ve also excluded games where a player played less than 50% of the game (generally due to injury or being the sub).
There is a clear trend of Best 22 players getting less of the ball, the most stark of those being Jarman Impey, Connor Macdonald, and Massimo D’Ambrosio. Dylan Moore and Jack Ginnivan both feature at the wrong end, and they have also clearly had less impact than last year.
Of course, a regression in disposal numbers doesn’t automatically mean anything: Blake Hardwick, for example, is down 1.6 but he has been as reliable as ever. But I don’t think it’s controversial to say that none of the five players mentioned above have improved this year.
By the same token, not regressing in disposal numbers is not an indication of improvement or otherwise. James Sicily’s disposal numbers have been largely steady (down 0.5 per game) but he’s been more inconsistent that we’re used to this season.
A key element here is that none of the players I’ve outlined are pure (or even part-time) midfielders. Moore, Ginnivan, and Macdonald are half forwards. Impey and Mass are half backs. These are critical link areas of the ground, and when players in these positions are flying, the team looks a lot better.
It is easier for the outside players to shine when the inside players are on top; currently Hawthorn ranks 13th for clearances and ninth for contested possession. Missing Will Day, James Worpel, and Conor Nash for large chunks of the season will have something to do with that. As it almost always is: win at the coalface and the whole team looks good.
It’ s also worth noting that, despite the data showing a lot of players are down, Hawthorn still ranks fourth for total disposals. It may just be a low-disposal season across the board.
The players with the highest disposal rises – and David made this point when he posed the initial question – are young and were largely fringe players last year (how Jack Gunston found himself among this crop is anyone’s guess.) It is often the case that giving a player increased role and responsibility gets reflected in the disposal numbers. This year it’s chiefly Mackenzie and Ward, but CJ has also taken his recent opportunity with both hands.
Does It Matter?
I mean, we are still winning, right? We don’t need to be in peak form yet, we just need to be winning games.
This becomes a matter of perspective. The Brad Klibansky’s of the world might have you believe that we are pretenders and our ladder position falsely inflated; the Andrew Weiss’ will tell you winning when we still have gears to move up into is cause for optimism.
It also may be the case that we are actually playing well, it just gets missed because we would prefer to see the sort of footy that wins a Grand Final by 15 goals.
Moreover, it’s worth considering how much improvement is actually left? Although young, these Hawks are already very good. Improvements in their game from here are probably going to be marginal, possibly even imperceptible to anyone outside the coaching staff.
I lean toward the optimistic (very on-brand). To have won 7/9 through injuries and suspensions to key players is encouraging. We have not reached any great heights, but we don’t need to. It’s a long season; I believe you want to hit top form around the start of August. That’s still three months away.
Your Say
This article is just the start of the conversation. We’d love to hear from you: Which players, if any, do you think have definitely improved this year?
Leave your comments below.
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Thanks for the article Simon. For some players such as Dylan Moore and James Sicily, we aren't necessarily looking for improvement as they were All Australian in 2024. There are four notable declines (in possession numbers) - Impey, McDonald, D'Ambrosio and Moore, each of whom is 3-4 disposals down on 2024. Of these four, Impey's drop is explained by a change in role due to Hardwick playing forward for the first seven rounds and had he not been subbed out in round 8, it's likely that Moore's disposal numbers wouldn't look so bad. McDonald doesn't appear to have come back as the player he was prior to the ankle injury. So, there are explanations (at least in part) for some of the drop off in disposal numbers for these four players. The other declines are less significant (1-2 disposals) and are more than offset by the players who have higher disposal numbers.
It would be interesting to see the comparison by Champion Data points and/or AFL Player ratings.
While disposal numbers may not reflect much improvement, I'd argue that Meek, Weddle, Amon, Chol and Watson are improved on last season, if only for greater consistency of performance in some of those players. And while less relevant, in the twos Reeves, Ramsden, Scaife, Hustwaite, B. McDonald and Ryan are significant improvers, which is important in driving improvement across the whole group.
The bigger question is whether we've improved as a team and as you say, there are divergent views on that. The coming five weeks will give us the answer. I hope I'm wrong but watching us play over these past 3 weeks doesn't inspire a great deal of confidence going into games against the top sides over the next 5 weeks.
Thanks again for getting us thinking even more about the nighty Hawks!
Weddle continues to grow. Maginness is more rounded albeit with some skill deficiencies.