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www.afl.com.au
Nah, he’s perfect…I’ve been hoping he’d head north ever since Hodgey made the trek…this guy is all class
JACK Gunston expects Saturday to be a "weird feeling" when he runs out against Hawthorn for the first time in his 14-year career.
Gunston, who joined Brisbane during the off-season, spent 11 seasons at the Hawks and was part of the hat-trick of premierships from 2013-2015.
In his two seasons with Adelaide prior to that, the 31-year-old never ran out against the brown and gold.
"It's somewhere I had great memories for 11 years and still have a lot of great friends there," Gunston said on Tuesday morning.
"It's a weird feeling, but for two hours out there, they're the opposition.
"When we go out there, we're opposing players and we're competitive people and we want to beat each other."
It will be Brisbane's first trip to the MCG since losing last season's preliminary final against Geelong.
It will play there just once more – against Melbourne in round 18 – before hoping to revisit the Grand Final venue in September.
Gunston said there had been no banter with his former club, yet, although he still kept in close contact with Luke Breust, who kicked his 500th career goal at the weekend.
"We probably chat every second day, if not every day," he said.
"To see him still performing at such a high level, it's awesome to watch. Hopefully we can quieten him this weekend."
Jack Gunston has rediscovered the running power that defined his early career and believes his mid-season training block can be the catalyst to add a new dimension to Brisbane's already potent forward mix.
After a month away from the AFL to rejuvenate his body, Gunston returned on Saturday with a bang, kicking six goals in the Lions' 81-point romp over West Coast.
It wasn't just the goal tally – the equal most in his 237-game career – it was Gunston's movement and work around the ground that impressed.
He gathered 20 disposals, with 15 of them resulting in scores as he roamed well outside the forward 50.
"That's what I did early on in my career, got up to the wings, got up to half-back and got involved," Gunston said following his big day out.
"As the years have gone on, I've probably got a bit deeper.
"It was great to have the confidence in my body to cover the ground and get up and get back.
"It was a good way to get involved because sometimes up forward you can be starved of opportunities, especially when you've got so many stars running around the forward line."
Gunston and fellow veteran Daniel Rich were left out of Brisbane's team following its shock round 13 loss to Hawthorn, sent back to undergo a training block and sort their bodies out.
They were "joined at the hip", completing running sessions of up to 14 kilometres, and adding extra aerobic work on the bike, in the pool and doing extra gym circuits.
Gunston said he simply didn't have the power in his legs prior to the break.
"It was great to take a step back, have a couple of kilometres in the legs and do a few really solid sessions," he said.
"I just felt today I could cover the ground better and keep running and rip out and then rip back and keep working.
"It was what the coaches wanted me to do … get up, use my engine and try and link up between the arcs.
"It gets you in the game and it might bring another dynamic to this forward line. We've obviously got some strong targets deep and some crumbing forwards that are really lively.
"If I can be a link-up guy and use my engine and get back to goal, it might be another dimension."
Coach Chris Fagan was delighted with Gunston's comeback, while acknowledging sterner tests await – starting with Friday night's blockbuster against Melbourne at the MCG.
"He moved a whole lot better than what he was before he had the month off, so hopefully it's done him some good," Fagan said.
"Kicking a few goals will certainly help his confidence.
"I just want to see him get up the field and get involved in in the offense, which I think he did.
"He was in this vicious cycle of play, recover, not really train much during the week, and we just felt it was a good idea to give him that one month (off) because he is a good athlete, and I think today he feels like the old Jack, the athletic Jack is back.
"We won't shout it from the rooftops or get too excited by it, but certainly a step in the right direction."
Gunston's haul came just three days after the one-year anniversary of the passing of his father, Ray.
He said it was an emotional week, but a good one with his family nearby.
Aside from the physical benefit of not playing week-to-week, Gunston said the time away gave him a chance to take a bird's eye view of his new team.
After 11 seasons with Hawthorn, it was apparent early in the year his new teammates weren't quite on the same page, often missing his smart hit-up leads.
"It probably just started wearing on me mentally, not getting the ball, and the patterns I was running," he said.
"It was great to be able to sit up in the stats box for at least two of those games and just watch the patterns and how the players play.
"When you have a few weeks off you start to miss it, that's what the whole theory was behind the three, four weeks of training, just to get the kilometres in the legs and get that thirst to want to play footy again.
"I didn't have any doubt in my ability to perform. I just think when you step back you get a better gauge."
In an industry that is so much about the ‘now’ Chris Fagan understands that sometimes it’s not. And on Saturday he showed exactly why when he joined Jack Gunston in a special tribute to a friend and father before both walked off the Gabba with just the outcome they wanted.
And a giant leap for Gunston up the all-time AFL goal-kicking list, past 11 players including a host of all-time greats.
It was the week of the first anniversary of the passing of Ray Gunston, a hugely respected and admired AFL administrator and father of the three-time Hawthorn premiership player in his first season in Brisbane.
The pair were as close as father/son pairs get and Fagan understood the importance of the occasion to Gunston, who had been out of the Lions side for a month after an indifferent start to his career.
Encouraged by some excellent recent training form from a man who this year followed ex-Hawthorn teammates Luke Hodge and Grant Birchall to Brisbane to play, Fagan took a punt at selection and recalled the 31-year-old utility forward for Saturday’s Gabba clash with West Coast.
Without any fuss or fanfare, Fagan and Gunston wore black arm bands as a mark of respect for Ray Gunston, who died on 4 July last year after a heart attack.
The shared tribute was only revealed by Fagan in his media confidence after Gunston, in his 237th AFL game and his 12th in Brisbane colours, kicked an equal career-best six goals in the Lions’ 81-point win.
Gunston, interviewed by the TV cameras on the ground after the final siren, chose not to mention his father and spoke first of “a good term performance”.
He took ownership of his early season form – “I wasn’t playing at a level I expect of myself” – but offered an encouraging message that he was starting to feel a good connection within a side in which he plays as the third tall forward beside the unpredictable pair of Joe Daniher and Eric Hipwood.
Fagan spoke of the special friendship between Gunston and his father, a long-time member of the AFL executive, and emotions of the game . He was delighted to see Gunston “get some enjoyment and some confidence out of kicking a few goals”.
“I think you saw a bit more of what Jack is capable of. He moved a whole lot better. He got up the ground and got involved in the offence, which showed the training block had been good for his legs.
“He’d been trapped in the vicious cycle of play, recover and not really train too much. That’s why I thought it was a good idea to give him four weeks on the track. He’s a good athlete and today I think he felt like the old athletic Jack is back.
“We’re not going to shout it from the rooftops or get too excited but it’s certainly a step in the right direction. A good outcome.”
It was the fourth time Gunston had kicked six goals after he did so for Hawthorn in 2014-15-19, and saw him go from equal 89th to 80th on the all-time AFL goal-kicking list.
Having gone into the game level with Geelong’s Billy Brownless and West Coast’s Mark LeCras (441), Gunston left them behind and went past Fitzroy’s Alan Ruthven and Jimmy Freake (442), Essendon’s Dick Reynolds (442), Richmond’s Jack Dyer (443), North Melbourne’s Malcolm Blight (444) and Drew Petrie (444), Carlton’s Alex Jesaulenko (444) and Robert Walls (444) and Geelong/Gold Coast’s Gary Ablett Jnr (445).
It's an extraordinary collection of talent, littered with AFL Hall of Fame legends, members and future members, AFL Team of the Century members, Brownlow Medallists, AFL club Hall of Fame legends and members, club Team of the Century members. And more.
But it wasn’t all about the goals. Gunston also had 20 possessions for the first time since 2019, a career-best 15 score involvements, eight scoring shots and three contested marks.
That after his first 11 games for the Lions reaped a total of 107 possessions, 11 goals, 20 scoring shots, 47 score involvements and eight contested marks. Or averages of 9.7 possessions, 1.6 goals, 1.8 scoring shots, 4.3 score involvements and 0.7 contested marks.
The 81-point win, the second in a row by the same margin, was Brisbane’s third-biggest in 53 games against West Coast and the biggest since 2000. And the West Coast score of 5-5 (35) was their second-lowest against Brisbane behind only their 4-6 (30) at the Gabba last year.
For nuttin!
