See what Holy Cow has to say about his beloved Hawthorn Hawks when it comes to SuperCoach options heading into the preseason of 2022. Just like his name alludes to, there could be a holy cow rookie or two on offer from the Hawks at stages during the season of 2022.
Hawthorn have a fresh coaching panel led by a stern, determined yet supportive senior head coach in Sam Mitchell, who is backed up by some of the nice guys of footy in David Hale, Robert Harvey, Chris Newman and Andy Ottens.
With these coaching changes, expect a more attacking and fast-paced style of footy from a relatively youthful Hawthorn line-up during the season of 2022.
Let’s get stuck into SuperCoach relevance.
DEFENDERS
Lock and Load: No candidates here, but a cheap James Sicily ($448,100) may be the closest there is down back at Hawthorn to a lock and load. With a rock-solid young defence in 2022, unfortunately there are plenty of rebounding defenders to steal points of each other in the Hawks back six. Sicily leads the back, having averaged 105 (2018), 94 (2019) and 103 (2020) before an ACL wiped out the second half of 2020 and all of 2021. In a livestream interview on Hawthorn’s Instagram, Sicily said he was keen to start down back and maybe head to the forward line for periods of time once he has found some continuity in his game. With a rigorous, lengthy, and cautious rehab from his ACL injury, don’t be surprised if Sicily averages 95-105 in season 2022. There’s no guarantees he will bounce back instantly, though.
Feeling Lucky: A strong preseason could see the mid-priced Will Day ($345,700) injected into your side. There is a chance he starts on a wing for Hawthorn in season 2022, with Hawthorn’s backline depthy with Hardwick, Frost, Hartigan, Impey, Jiath, Scrimshaw, Sicily and Grainger-Barras. The big call of this thread lies here: I believe that Will Day could go on to average 90+. Given he is priced to average 63, this could be a solid investment. He is awkwardly priced, yet with massive upside. Do note that durability is a bit of a concern, too.
Money Makers: Denver Grainger-Barras ($206,700) is the closest to a money maker, but there will likely be better defence rookie options and he may or may not start round one. Nonetheless, DGB could likely generate scores between 40-65 each week playing an intercepting and lockdown role. He has the ability to play tall or short. DGB has also stacked on some muscle to what was a light frame, as his body continues to develop. Will be a great player in years to come, but whether that translates into premium SuperCoach points is unlikely.
MIDFIELDERS:
Lock and Load: Tom Mitchell ($638,100) averaged a whopping 129 post-bye last season. Take this as an indicator that he is back to his best after suffering that nasty leg break in 2019. The biggest lock and load for the Hawks in season 2022. Enough said.
Feeling Lucky: Conor Nash ($310,300) could be a punt you may like to take as a FWD/MID DPP, although there are probably more enticing mid-priced options from other clubs if that’s the route you’re going down. In saying this, allow me to inform you that Nash scored 82, 87, 44 and 99 when given a new midfield role inspired by none other than new head coach Sam Mitchell. While priced cheaply at an average of 57, maybe he will find his way into your side after a strong preseason showing.
Money Makers: Josh Ward ($180,300) is shaping to be a suburb SuperCoach option for season 2022. From all reports he is flying at training and a real standout of the Hawks training squad. Firming to debut round 1. He has also gone head-to-head with Nick Daicos recently, having nearly matched the highly touted father-son Pie in all aspects of their head-to-head showdown.
RUCKS:
With McEvoy ($483,700) and Reeves ($358,800) priced awkwardly and without serious SuperCoach scoring potential compared to the uber-premium trio of Grundy, Gawn and Darcy, you shouldn’t be interested in the Hawks staple ruck options this year. The cheaply priced Max Lynch ($207,700) probably sits third in the pecking order of rucks at Hawthorn, but presented some value as an R3 if there are no other options in the league, and he gets selected.
FORWARDS:
Lock and Load: Nothing to see here for Hawks in 2022. Let’s move on…
Feeling Lucky: Chad Wingard ($501,500) has always had durability issues, but if he were to string together a full season like he did in the back end of 2021, he would be a nice little point of difference to your side. He averaged 117 in the final five games of 2021, due to a hot run of form and midfield minutes. The question must be asked, though – will Sam Mitchell want Wingard in the midfield when that would take up valuable minutes for young players coming through? That is not to mention how dangerous Wingard is up forward, an area of the ground that Hawthorn lacked in last season.
Money Makers: Finn Maginness ($143,700) is stronger, faster and calmer with the ball in hand this preseason than he has ever been, but whether he makes Hawthorn’s best 22 for round 1 remains to be seen. Things could go either way for Finn – he could break out and average anywhere around 70-80 for the year with consistent game time, or he could struggle to consistently crack the best 22 and spend most of his year at Box Hill. All reports suggest he has put in the effort to make this his year, and with only three AFL games to his name, it is now or never for the highly touted father-son pick.
Holy Cow’s Top 6 Picks:
- 1. Tom Mitchell
- 2. Josh Ward
- 3. Finn Maginness
- 4. Will Day
- 5. James Sicily
- 6. Chad Wingard
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Thank you Holy Cow, for your insight and prognostications on Hawthorn’s SuperCoach prospects.
Well done and much appreciated by the SCT community.
Cheers.
Thanks all. Stoked to be able to help after having benefited from SCT resources so much over the years.
Great stuff Holy Cow.
Very insightful read.
Titch and Ward in my side atm.
I also have doubts on Wingard getting Midfield minutes. I know he was great towards the end of last year but…
I think they were trying to show him off, in the hope that another club would offer a decent draft pick for him.
Rumours are that they were even willing to pay a chunk of his wages.
At that price, and with his long injury history I will be avoiding him this year.
Surely they give his midfield time to Worpel. He was great when given a chance in 2020 , but dropped off last year. Maybe not one for classic but I see him as a sneaky draft option this year.
Thanks again HC
Cheers .
Tremendous write up, HC. Straight up one of the best first time community contributions we’ve had.
Your reservations on Sicily are bang on. Lotta cooks in the Hawks’ kitchen. He’s a pass from me for now.
Titch will likely be Top 8, definitely an upgrade target. I’ve got Macrae, Steele, Satan, Miller and Neale for now though.
Great review HC…….you have given me an itch re Titch…not in my team at the moment. Can’t start them all, but def one of my upgrade targets.
Nice write up HC
As a Hawker myself (mind the Sean Darcy photo) I’m all over Titch this year.
Also agree with our backline being stacked the way it is, that Sicily isn’t someone we should be rushing to start!
I’ve been following hawthorn a lot lately and this is spot on! Excellent article. I was initially keen on will day, but there are too many doubts (competitors) regarding position. E.g., scrimshaw, sicily, impey, jaith. I feel he and sicily are a must watch during warm up games.
Great read as a fella hawker. A few things that concern me about the above players
Sicily: We consistently struggled to put big scores up last year, I’m hoping that improves with a fit and firing gunston as well as another year of development into our young forwards. With the amount of options we have as rebound defenders down back I can easily see mitchell moving sicily to a lockdown role playing on bigger forwards or moving up forward as a target. Either role is awful for his scoring and for this reason is a big no no this year.
Wingard: I like Wingard rotating into the midfield for spells in the midfield but doesnt have the tank to run a full game in the midfield. In addition to that we lack a spark up forward when he plays in the midfield so can’t see him playing too much in the middle when we struggle to score.
Going into my side:
Mitchell- An absolute lock, just pigs out on points when we get pumped or when we win even snagging a few goals last year playing in the pocket.
Will Day: Really undervalued and Im feeling confident he will get the rebounding role as a priority with CJ. Impey I can see moving onto a wing or moving back forward, sicily as mentioned above could be a lockdown or go forward, DGB needs time but still plays on bigs as a lockdown. Only thing im worried about is whether Scrimshaw will have an affect on him, we love the ball in Scrimshaw and CJ’s hands so im hoping he still gets enough of the footy.
Ward: As mentioned in the original article everything im hearing and reading from the boys is Ward is a gun and is training the house down obviously will wait for r1 teams but feeling good.
Overall I am excited for a great year and will maybe let my hawks bias swing a couple of my choices but heres to hoping for a better 2022.