Frost is a consistent Corr, just doing a job whereas Corr just has too many brainfades but aren’t too far apart talent wise.Player aged 27+
James Sicily 29 - arguably hawks best player this year
Karl Amon 28 - very good player, easily best 23 at north or crows
Jarmen Impey 29 - like Amon has played every game, and performed strongly. Easily best 22 at north or crows
Sam Frost 30 - defensively i’d argue he’s played as well as Ben McKay has this year. Would replace all norths KPD that have played this year other than Comben. Certainly a better player than Corr.
Mabior Chol 27 - great recruit, top 3 goal kicker.
Hardwick 27 - very good player, one of the first picked defenders across all 3 lists. And can play forward.
Gunston/breust - Gunston 4th leading goal kicker. Breust has won you a game or two.
Compared to North
McDonald - most north supporters want him dropped and to play out his career in the vfl. If Goater hadn’t done his Achilles and with archer coming on, this should be the case next year
Corr - not factoring in Logue who hasn’t played. I think he’s our 3rd best KPD, with comben and Dawson infront. Again, most north supporters have our key backs as Logue, comben, Dawson in 2025.
Shiels - not best 22 but playing for educational purposes
Summary
Hawthorn don’t rely on older players. Infact they don’t really rely on any 1 player to be competitive/win.
But in 2024 older players have had a very big, positive impact on results/performance. This is not the case at north.
Sicily star, Amon and Hardwick genuine guns. Impey does a role and does it brilliantly, Chol the same. Gunston has been kicking goals and good with the ball, isn’t doing much without it but is good depth to have (rotating with Dear for third tall) and will play more seeing as finals are a chance. These guys guide the youth in the right direction. + Breust is solid but doesn’t do much and is sub, good or decent quarter a week isn’t worth noting.
Tucker missed from your list, who has done a solid job. McDonald is your captain, inconsistent but his good performances link with your team playing well, Corrs last month besides the weekend been good, he’s inconsistent but again solid. Shiels shouldn’t be on a list.
The comparison is clearly Hawthorns experience guides the youth whereas Norths doesn’t do it enough or consistently. All of Norths experience is 30+ whereas Hawthorns are more 27-28, meaning they’ll be there when contending.
The drive still comes from the youth for Hawthorn as mentioned with Day, Newcombe, Weddle, MacDonald, Ginnivan, Mackenzie, Watson, Moore, Dear, D’Ambrosio etc.
North rely on Sheezel, Wardlaw, McKercher, Comben as their key youth pieces but not enough spread or depth of youth which also coincides with not enough 27-30 and too much 30+
The summary is as you say, all 3 teams driven by youth but Hawthorn have the better experience, but they also have had better performance from their youth, especially a spread of 10 or so rather than a handful like North.
Norths best games have come from when their experience stands up, which is why it was mentioned, this isn’t saying their youth isn’t doing anything, as their main 4-5 players are youth. It’s again spread, depth and consistency + effort at times.