Worth the (Hust) Waite in gold
We talk Henry Hustwaite's parents Karen and Mark about what life is like at the Family Club.
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This pre-season we have learnt a bit more about a relatively unknown newbie on our list, the number 37 draft pick at the 2022 AFL national draft, Henry Hustwaite.
When I say relatively unknown newbie, of course that’s not taking into account that two goal performance on debut in round 23 against the Demons that made sure everyone knew who he was.
Nope – the relatively unknown newbie we refer to is the player who slid down to pick 37 on draft night despite many guessing he’d go top 30.
The praise he received pre-draft lines up with what we are saying about his best attributes now. Pendles. Time. Good in traffic. Great hands. Excellent decision making.
“Some of the stuff he can do in traffic, I haven’t really seen many players do at any level. It’s pretty special, the way he can navigate his way through a contest with his hands and with his decision-making and his agility and his ability to find people … he puts other players in better positions.” - Stingrays assistant coach Josh Moore.
“A left-footed tall defender or midfielder who is extremely composed with the ball and an efficient user by hand and foot. Has good vision and footy nous and had a remarkably consistent season at club and representative level,” - AFL talent ambassador Kevin Sheehan.
And before his fantastic showing in last week’s scratch match against the Western Bulldogs, Hustwaite already had his coach Sam Mitchell singling him out for his pre-season at the Family Day:
“Henry is going really well. This time last year he had some great skills that we're seeing, but we only saw them in bits and pieces because his fitness levels just weren't at AFL standard yet — not through any fault of his own,” Mitchell said.
“He's a hard worker — he just hadn't had the work and so now 12 months later he had a fantastic off season I think you can't underestimate that.
“That September to December period where they have to train on their own, he did a fantastic job. Henry has put himself in every match play and he has been in the best players - it's not like it was a one off, and he's been someone who has taken the next step.”
But we are not here to service the brown and gold faithful and to trumpet what so many of you already know.
What we want to concentrate on in how as a young second year player, Hustwaite fits in so perfectly to the core values of our club rebuild – being a good kid, a good footballer, a better human being, a kid that has been brought up in a great environment surrounded by supportive and loving family, great friends and a solid work ethos.
How do we know that he fits the bill? Well, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. We took some time to speak with Karen and Mark Hustwaite and get to know how the family has settled into the club.
And it was such a wonderful chat that instead of quoting bits and pieces, we’re giving you the whole shebang in one go.
Enjoy the read — and the journey ahead which promises to fill us with joy for many years to come.
AW: I guess to start with, how are you finding life as parents at the club?
K&M: Oh, well we love Hawthorn and I guess the whole experience so far has been exactly what we were told it would be — the family club. There's a social group for the parents that David Scrimshaw [father of Jack] organises and we catch up semi frequently, and then we even catch up separately with the draftees from the same year. So we see the Mackenzies, the Bennetts the Macdonalds — those sorts of families — semi-frequently as well.
Other than that we always make sure we come to events like the Family Day. We didn't really know much about Hawthorn beforehand and we had no real connection to them, but we've been really impressed with how family oriented they are and they could not have been any more inclusive.
AW: I don't remember a group as tight knit as what we have got at the moment, and obviously Sam is a key part of why that's the case. But having a young kid coming into this environment it must give peace of mind knowing he is in safe hands.
K&M: Absolutely. And then you've got staff members. Our main point of contact is someone like Josh McCahon (Head of Player Development), who would do anything for you — answer any question and make anything happen that needs to happen just to make the whole transition smoother and more friendly.
Sam feels like he's one of them too — he is very approachable all the time and you're sort of expecting that an AFL coach wouldn’t need to speak to the parents, but he will always stop and talk to anybody and everybody. So they couldn’t be more inclusive if they tried.
And the boys themselves — because they're all such young guys with a couple of those old experience heads here, they all seem to really support each other really well.
AW: From a supporter’s point of view, the transition from Clarko to Sammy as we were transitioning to the youngest listing competition, it was important to have someone that the kids can relate to — but also know the difference between being a mate, a father figure and a senior AFL coach.
K&M: We feel he's got that balance just right — with his interactions with Henry that we just hear snippets of, the relationship with all the coaching staff is really good. It's a very young list, it’s inexperienced and it's going to build together as the way we are viewing it and the way it has been promoted, so it is very exciting.
AW: On to Henry now, and he's already got a lot of admirers with his qualities as a footballer. How difficult is it knowing that with the depth of young talent we have – even with the super pre-season he has had, he may just have to bide his time to get game time and cement a spot in the senior team?
K&M: Sam regularly says to us just in passing, just be patient. He has sort of said: “Wait until we get some pre-seasons into this kid — can you imagine sort of what sort of physical shape he’ll be in.” And we've noticed a big change there, but we understand the landscape and you don't just walk into an AFL club and be in the midfield immediately — we know you've got to do your time.
I guess the best thing about additional motivation for this year was getting those final two games last season. That just gave him the real taste of, “Hey, this is what it's about.” And it has given him the confidence to think he can actually do this. Yeah, “It's absolutely within my capability and it's not pie-in-the-sky stuff.”
AW: From a goal point of view for Henry this year is it to play say 12 senior games or to cement a senior spot or even just to crack another opportunity?
K&M: We're just hoping continues to chart and improve in the right direction. If that means six games or eight games or 10 — whatever he can achieve. We've always come from a footy club background, so we understand it's not about me, it's about team first. That's probably the thing we look at. We've always been team and organisation — it's great to have success individually, but really it's about the success of the collective.
AW: How have you found the transition from junior footy and local footy club land to an elite high performance environment?
K&M: We actually just stopped at the Stingrays this morning to do a talk to the new parents about all the experiences and the rollercoaster that it can be. We've had three boys go through that — our eldest boy didn't even make the list of the Stingrays but he's now a captain at Rosebud. Campbell was the captain of the Stingrays when they won their only premiership, best and fairest, third in the league medal, didn't even get drafted and has persisted in the VFL for five years.
And then Henry got — wouldn't say it's an easy ride, because it's not easy to get here, but it's certainly been the smoothest ride. So we talked about all those things and we're pretty experienced footy people in that respect. But the demands here are even higher than I thought they would be in terms of how much training, how physical it is, the diet — like it's all even greater than we expected. And Henry has become an incredible professional without even realising it.
There isn’t a pressure necessarily but that you want to hold yourself to the same standards that all the other boys out there that are giving everything they've got. You don't want to let anyone down and he's very big on that.
AW: It is something I guess the club would need to manage pretty precisely across the playing list too.
K&M: It's an interesting one for the club to manage – you have your own expectations yet everybody needs to be on the same page. You know, that internal competition like you mentioned before in the forward in the midfield, how they manage that is obviously on the coaches.
But Henry is a classic third child — we always say he has been dragged up and he has just done his own thing anyway, and he's very candid about it. You don't do a lot for him, that's for sure — he does it himself. He's self driven and has sort of followed in the footsteps of his older brothers a lot of the time and now it's his chance to do his own thing.
AW: Thanks so much for your time - we can’t wait to follow Henry’s journey and appreciate you giving us some time to chat.
K&M: Thank you. We are Hawks Insiders subscribers and read everything you put out so thank you and we can’t wait to read the article!
I like what you did with the title Andrew. The Hustwaite’s appear to be a level headed and supportive family which is great for Henry and the hawks. I have made it clear in other past comments, I want to see Henry in the team. Once he gets more accustomed to the pace of the game & he trains and plans accordingly, he will be a staple. We need the composure, Sic can’t do it all. In what appears to be another tough year for supporters, kids coming on, taking their moments and enjoying themselves is the silver lining.
I really enjoyed this article
Thank you 💛🤎