Player Watch Welcome to Hawthorn : Jai “Duke” Newcombe - 2024 Peter Crimmins medalist

[Strapping Young Lad]

 

[Flukey!]

I love that he is a life-long Hawks fan.
We should be confident that he will be a career player for our club.

 

[Dave Id]

Please fix the title, he is the round 5 nominee, he hasn't actually won anything.

Yet.

 

[Blackhawk42]

Another tick to our social media team. This time for using some metalcore to showcase the Bull himself.

 

[Hawker55]

44 suits him.

If you squint he even looks like the Rat

 

[Hawker55]

It's nearly the opposite now. They all bloody love the hawks!

Mitchell has been so accessible and friendly to all broadcasters and I've no doubt that has helped.

But it's a young team, playing exciting, attacking footy with a bright future. That's the biggest thing that has driven the change in how the hawks are perceived imo.

They are a sexy club to write about again

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The number of people who’ve said to me they love watching us play this year because of the game plan is fantastic.

 

[WWSD]

I think Newcombe gets one of the lower numbers next year.

 

[Randy Campbell]

I think Newcombe gets one of the lower numbers next year.

He should stay in the 44.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

What an acquisition love watching him play , for those of you not familiar with Gippsland he did not play for Gippsland Power they never picked him for the squad ,I see they are attempting to claim responsibility for his development but they had nothing to do with it , the first few players in the squad pick themselves but the rest is based on politics and what club you are from unfortunately he was on the wrong side of that and no me or none of my lads have been involved or tried out but I’ve coached junior footy over the years in the area and I’m a regular at their games and it’s just an observation that too many good kids are overlooked like Jai was because they didn’t have the right connections.
Back to Jai , his recruitment last year was Mitchell’s first stroke of genius absolute unexpected bonus that fell into our lap .

I love a good conspiracy theory.

 

[CHUBBSS]

Just a little fact in case anyone has forgotten - he use to play two games of footy in a weekend from Amos to seniors when they needed another player. He has no stop

The way he is breaking those tackles as a 20 year old is a thing of beauty, is really starting to use his power

 

[Bugs1977]

The number of people who’ve said to me they love watching us play this year because of the game plan is fantastic.

Yep. It was very noticeable in the most recent autopsy report how many neutral fans dropped in to say how they’re enjoying how we’re playing this year. I know a lot of it is because they hate the Cats but it’s not just that as I’ve read things like how much they love CJ or they love Duke. Just wait till they start catching on to Bramble… it’s gonna be #freebandwagonhawthorn

 

[Bugs1977]

Please fix the title, he is the round 5 nominee, he hasn't actually won anything.

Gotta get nominated to win it

 

[Bugs1977]

This kid from the opening bounce set the tone for our victory against the old enemy. Willed himself to every contest.

 

[MrPremiership]

What do they feed them down in Poowong??


He's a solid boy for a 20yo

 

[Brishawk]

What an acquisition love watching him play , for those of you not familiar with Gippsland he did not play for Gippsland Power they never picked him for the squad ,I see they are attempting to claim responsibility for his development but they had nothing to do with it , the first few players in the squad pick themselves but the rest is based on politics and what club you are from unfortunately he was on the wrong side of that and no me or none of my lads have been involved or tried out but I’ve coached junior footy over the years in the area and I’m a regular at their games and it’s just an observation that too many good kids are overlooked like Jai was because they didn’t have the right connections.
Back to Jai , his recruitment last year was Mitchell’s first stroke of genius absolute unexpected bonus that fell into our lap .

He certainly trained with them and was selected as an over aged player in the squad in 2020. Didn’t play any games that year but it isn’t like he had no involvement with them. Not sure how responsible they were for his development though!

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

He certainly trained with them and was selected as an over aged player in the squad in 2020. Didn’t play any games that year but it isn’t like he had no involvement with them. Not sure how responsible they were for his development though!

One of the greatest myths in rural footy is that “your” players don’t get picked for representative teams based on what side of the river/town/railway they live on, rather than it just being that the player wasn’t deemed good enough at the time by whoever made the call.

But as you say, he was a member of the Gippsland Power squad fwiw, then Covid hit.

 

[Big Hotdog]

One of the greatest myths in rural footy is that “your” players don’t get picked for representative teams based on what side of the river/town/railway they live on, rather than it just being that the player wasn’t deemed good enough at the time by whoever made the call.

But as you say, he was a member of the Gippsland Power squad fwiw, then Covid hit.

Not sure on location but who you know definitely alters your chances of being selected in rep sides.

 

[Simon Crawshay]

It's so good to (finally) have our own 186cm 90kg unit in the middle to combat the Petraccas, Martin's, Dangerfields, etc.

You can see how much a difference it makes to our midfield when the opposition has to worry about our own raging bull throwing himself into then fray like a lunatic.

Quite remarkable that unlike all the opposition players noted above we didn't have to use a top ten pick on him either!

 

[wizzard400]

One of the greatest myths in rural footy is that “your” players don’t get picked for representative teams based on what side of the river/town/railway they live on, rather than it just being that the player wasn’t deemed good enough at the time by whoever made the call.

But as you say, he was a member of the Gippsland Power squad fwiw, then Covid hit.

There might have been a time when that was the case. But nowadays if you have the right mindset and are good enough to make it, you probably will. The talent identification reaches far deeper than the average fan realises.

If anything covid was probably a blessing in disguise for him/us as our ties with Gippsland naturally allowed him to try out for Box Hill.

 

[Pessimistic]

Tuck matthews and platen combined

 

[KermitJagger]

It's so good to (finally) have our own 186cm 90kg unit in the middle to combat the Petraccas, Martin's, Dangerfields, etc.

You can see how much a difference it makes to our midfield when the opposition has to worry about our own raging bull throwing himself into then fray like a lunatic.

Quite remarkable that unlike all the opposition players noted above we didn't have to use a top ten pick on him either!

Whether he has the same ceiling as those guys, remains to be seen, but he's certainly playing better football than Petracca was at the same age. Martin was very good from day one though, and Dangerfield is honestly a fairly different player to them all so it's hard to compare.

If he can find a way to not rush his disposal when he has some time and space, that's all he needs to really become an elite footballer.

 

[MrPremiership]

Seems to be covering the ground much better, enabling him to get to more contests and rack up the disposals. I think he was at 86% TOG vs Cats which is very good.

Amazes me for someone of his size, that he's such a good runner. Incredible mix of size and endurance

 

[SSSSSS]

If you squint he even looks like the Rat

He looks like he ate the Rat.

 

[Simon Crawshay]

Whether he has the same ceiling as those guys, remains to be seen, but he's certainly playing better football than Petracca was at the same age. Martin was very good from day one though, and Dangerfield is honestly a fairly different player to them all so it's hard to compare.

If he can find a way to not rush his disposal when he has some time and space, that's all he needs to really become an elite footballer.

Yes he has a long way to go before he gets to those players levels of course. As you say disposal is something he needs to work on (although his kicking action is actually pretty good).

It was more a point I wanted to make that we have been punching out of our weight division in the midfield for a while now and it's good to finally have a heavyweight of our own to throw a few (figaturive) punches back.

And to get a player like that in the mid season draft is such a good result

 

[HODGEYROAD]

Did he nominate for the 2020 national draft out of curiosity ?

 

[MrPremiership]

Did he nominate for the 2020 national draft out of curiosity ?

IIRC his draft year was 2019, and once you nominate for one draft you're automatically available for the next 3 drafts, i.e. 2019, 2020 and 2021