Mitchell speaks on Merrett saga; Gunston torments the side that drafted him

It’s hard to believe Gunston, who turns 34 next month, is playing the best footy of his career.

“I’d love to say I had this plan that we knew he’d be this super ... but I would be completely lying,” Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell said.

“We hoped he would have some on-field impact but when he came back [from the Lions], chatting with him we said, ‘The biggest influence we want you to have is to support this young group’.

“What he’s done on the field has always been considered as a bonus.

“It’s certainly beyond what I thought he’d be capable of and probably [beyond] what he thought he’d be capable of.

“Full credit to him and the medical team for getting him as fit and as good as he’s been.”

Just 12 months ago, Mitchell cut a shattered figure after the Hawks suffered a heart-wrenching three-point semi-final loss to Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval.

But he and his club turned that despair into fire as they now gear up for a preliminary final against old rivals Geelong at the MCG.

“I sat at this exact table, this time last year, heartbroken by the loss and the missed opportunity of what could have been,” Mitchell reflected.

“We’ve learnt lessons that needed to be learnt – and some really tough ones.

“I sat here this time last year with that pain.

“That has spurred us on and driven us.

“It’s made us grow and galvanised us as a group.”

Crows coach Matthew Nicks said the void left by Izak Rankine’s suspension was always going to be a tough cover, but nobody will ever truly know whether he would have made a difference to the final result.

Rankine was banned for four games for making a homophobic slur against Collingwood in Round 23.

That meant the only way he could play again in 2025 was if Adelaide lost their first final to the Magpies – which they did – and then beat Hawthorn and Geelong to advance to the grand final.

“We won’t ever know,” Nicks said.

“What it did do was change the dynamic of our group.

“Izak, in my opinion, is one of the best players in the game.

“I think if any team loses their best player, then it becomes quite a challenge to replace that.

“That’s purely on-field ... I don’t think it affected us away from footy.

“If we could have Izak Rankine in for the last couple of games, I think we’d take that.”

Meanwhile, the club will sit with veteran Taylor Walker in the coming weeks to discuss his playing future following the Crows’ finals flop.

Nicks hinted that he would like the 35-year-old to extend his AFL career into an 18th season.

“I love ‘the Texan’,” he said.

“There are different things that Tex brings to our group on a footy field that aren’t necessarily kicks, marks and handballs.

“There’s a leadership component to it.

“We’ll lick our wounds, then sit down and talk through what that looks like.”

Gunston was asked if he thought pre-match whether his Hawks teammates had this sort of ruthless performance in them.

“It’s different to our time. [We] were up top on the ladder – we had our high expectations. These guys just enjoy the ride, and it’s fun being the other guy behind [them].”

James Sicily poured on the superlatives for Gunston after a stellar game for the ageless Hawthorn forward. One for the ages, really.

“Oh man, he keeps on giving, doesn’t he? He keeps on giving,” the Hawthorn skipper told Channel Seven post-match.

“[Kicking] 5.3 [in a final] – it’s funny how the game works, [and] footy gods. He came here to help everyone else, and he did that. And now he’s playing awesome footy.

“I think that says something about where you should have your mindset – helping your teammates because they’ll pay you back.”

Gunston offered a valuable insight into how he prepares for the opposition.

“Yeah, I do a lot of homework for my opponents. I see what position they want to play in – whether they would play back shoulder, front shoulder, cut the angles,” he said.

“I just play a lot of games out there [on the field], and I try to get the right spot, the right match up.

“And if he [my opponent] wants to go deep, well maybe I’ll start deeper, and if he wants to go higher, I’ll go on his back shoulder.

“So [I’m] always playing games and moving and trying to [stay] agile because there’s not much to me [if I want to wrestle].”

That particular achievement just adds another chapter to the Hawks’ tale of September lore, which has spanned several generations, setting up a mouthwatering MCG preliminary final stoush against Geelong.

The final margin flattered the Crows, who could – and should – have copped a real pasting, such was Hawthorn’s vast superiority all over the ground.

The Hawks were hungrier and cleaner at the contest from the outset, their centre-square ascendancy affording them field position dominance all night to stun the 52,005 fans at Adelaide Oval into silence.

Jai Newcombe ambushed the Crows with the first three centre clearances of the match – which resulted in three Hawthorn goals in four minutes.

Adelaide steadied, but their resurrection was fleeting, and their mids never really recovered. Their forward line was well beaten, and their backline under constant heat which they did not handle well at all.

Ex-Crow Jack Gunston got hold of poor Mark Keane to boot three of his five goals in a third-quarter masterclass.

Adelaide’s fundamentals were way off and their movements sluggish. Way too many players were well, well down – again.

Near-invincible at home all year, there will be some serious introspection at West Lakes following the Crows’ bang-bang exit – their qualifying final loss to Collingwood quickly and emphatically overtaken as their worst defeat of 2025.

As for the happy Hawks, who knows where and how it will all end?