Honeyball takes a look at the best 23 for Hawthorn ahead of the 2026 AFL season, noting ins and outs, key injuries, plus a look at relevant AFL Fantasy and SuperCoach players.
We’ve used quotes from Hawks coach Sam Mitchell’s chat on afl.com.au’s Your Coach podcast to offer additional insight on relevant players.
Ins: Jack Dalton (No.34 draft pick), Ollie Greeves (Rookie Draft), Matthew LeRay (No.56 draft pick), Cameron Nairn (No.20 draft pick), Aidan Schubert (No.23 draft pick)
Outs: Luke Breust (retired), Sam Frost (delisted), Changkuoth Jiath (trade, Melbourne), Seamus Mitchell (delisted), Jasper Scaife (delisted), Jai Serong (trade, Sydney), James Worpel (free agent, Geelong)
Key Injuries: Will Day (shoulder)
Likely Round One 23
B: B.Hardwick, T.Barrass, J.Scrimshaw
HB: J.Battle, J.Sicily, J.Weddle
C: D.Moore, C.Nash, J.Impey
HF: C.Macdonald, J.Ginnivan, N.Watson
F: M.Lewis, M.Chol, J.Gunston
Foll: L.Meek, J.Newcombe, J.Ward
I/C: H.Morrison, M.D’Ambrosio, S.Butler, K.Amon, F.Perez
Relevant Players
Connor Macdonald
Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell: “There’ll be a couple of guys that will get more opportunity. Whether that’s Henry Hustwaite or Cam Mackenzie or whether it’s Connor Macdonald or Josh Weddle. The other one is probably Sam Butler, who played quite a bit in there towards the second half of last year. We’re going to mix and match a little bit in the early phase and see what mix starts to work for us.”
Oliver Greeves
Mitchell: “He’s a great kid. He wants to learn. He’s played lots of different positions for us. He’s played lots of different roles. I’m actually loving how he’s gone about it from when he first walked in to now; the level of professionalism and maturity that has grown in him over just a few months has been exactly what you would hope for.
“He’ll continue to grow in the game, but he’s still got a lot to learn. I think he’s more unlikely than likely to be in our Opening Round side. But he’s giving himself every chance to get some AFL exposure this year.”
James Sicily
