By SEN
Caution: This is not a premiership tip as such.
But… Kane Cornes has built a strong case as to why he believes Hawthorn should be taken very seriously in 2025.
When pondering the 2025 premiership, Cornes’ mind went straight to Sam Mitchell’s Hawks due to the fact that he believes their best starting 22 is so hard to pick.
Read his thoughts on the Hawks and the depth of their list below:
“So when you put your premiership tips forward, part of the reason I've done this is because to try and select their best 22 is as hard as any team in the competition,” Cornes said on SEN Breakfast.
“Trying to piece together the way Hawthorn's best 22 is taking shape… good luck.
“(Tom) Barrass and (Josh) Battle come in, who knows what happens with the forward line. Mitch Lewis is a watch and it's the nasty injury that he is returning from but it would be handy to get him back halfway through the year. Who knows where Mabior Chol fits in and Calsher Dear. I think the midfield options are significant and if you're looking at the best 22 someone like a Josh Ward misses the squad, not just the 22 but the whole squad completely.
“I just think it's hard to go past Hawthorn.
“It would be a big rise for them to win the premiership, but when you're looking at the swing players that they've got and the flexibility. (Blake) Hardwick's training as a forward now, he's kicked five goals in games before and is a star.
“You've got (Josh) Weddle who can play in the ruck, can play back, can play forward. The option to put (James) Sicily forward with Barrass and Battle coming in is now there and we've seen the impact the captain can have.
“What are they lacking? I don't know.
“The only thing that they’re lacking is it would be such a steep rise from where they've been, but they’ve won a final on the MCG against a side that was hot at the time (the Western Bulldogs). They should have beaten Port Adelaide in Adelaide and who knows how far they could have gone?
“It’s hard to go past them with the squad that they've got.”
Cornes also touched on Hawthorn’s ability to step up in big games during the 2024 season as a major benefit for them going forward.
“They’ll have a target on themselves and they've been off broadway in terms of scheduling and fixturing,” he added.
“They hardly played a night game, but every time that they were put in a big-occasion game like Dustin Martin's 300 for the big final or when they had to win most of their games in the back half of the season to actually qualify, this group was able to handle that.
“Absolutely teams will work them out somewhat and come for them. From an IQ point of view from their coaches box I think they're probably smart enough to work their way around that.
“To say this on January 17 and say that Hawthorn are going to win the premiership I understand is a little bit ridiculous, and I'm not going to go that far, but just in terms of the squad that they've got and trying to put together their best 22, it's the hardest of any of the 18 teams to actually piece these players in.
“I just think I've done great job in a short space of time clearly to put themselves in a position to have arguably the strongest squad depth-wise in the game.”
Crafted by Project Diamond