Toast Welcome to Hawthorn, Finn Maginness “absolute Hawthorn nuffie” and a Hawk to 2027

[hawksfan71]

does anyone know how he got the injury? for some reason I though butters kneed him intentionally but don't know for sure

 

[Atch]

does anyone know how he got the injury? for some reason I though butters kneed him intentionally but don't know for sure

Not sure but it was a very cold day, so any hit would've been exacerbated ie any hit to the midriff he'd usually eat for breakfast on a warm day. Very unlucky.

 

[MasterSamurai]

does anyone know how he got the injury? for some reason I though butters kneed him intentionally but don't know for sure

Calsher accidentally collected him on the way through in a marking contest
.

 

[m0zza]

Just reading posts from the time of the injury
Launceston has a better Urology service than Hobart
But no Vascular Surgery and no Interventional Radiology

Actually the solo interventional radiologist was in Melbourne that weekend

 

[cyrilicious]

these injuries take 12 months to fully? so he wont be back til mid year?

 

[HedgeFund]

these injuries take 12 months to fully? so he wont be back til mid year?

A severely lacerated kidney could take up to 12 months to fully recover.

However with Finn’s they couldn’t even pinpoint how he got it.

Whilst he had to have surgery, it wasn’t a severe injury.

The last one of similar nature happened to Dustin Martin 15 years ago. He wasn’t able to train for 3 months.

Finn’s is more in that range, and by the time we return it will be more than 4 months post surgery.

He will be fine.

 

[Brant]

does anyone know how he got the injury? for some reason I though butters kneed him intentionally but don't know for sure

Calsher accidentally collected him on the way through in a marking contest
.

I heard Butters put Calsher up to it though

 

[threesixpio]

does anyone know how he got the injury? for some reason I though butters kneed him intentionally but don't know for sure

So the kid kneed the kidney…

Hmmm. Not my best

 

[arupist]

So the kid kneed the kidney…

Hmmm. Not my best

No, it wasn't. But I sense hope for you.

 

[Ka Norkers]

accidental knee in a marking contest, and it was one of our players. No need to mention who it was.
nothing to do with Butters or any other Port player.

 

[Alite]

Finn Manginess
The things we all know that Finn can do at an elite level is to tag his opponent out of the Game and run all day. But in the past Finn rarely hurt his opponent on the rebound in the way that the great taggers do.

I love the development that the Hawks have done with Finn. 2025 saw him become a significant force in the middle for the Box Hill Hawks. Not having him available for the finals severely hurt the Stangers. His kicking, while still a little fragile, is greatly improved, and his centre craft was very good at VFL level. His improvements should see him challenging for a place at the top level.

And then along comes an AFL rule-change that Finn nodoubt loved. The full game for the 23rd man has him set for plenty of Hawthorn games in 2026.

An elite tagger who can hurt his opponent by out-running him ... and with the skill set to make his possessions count... is highly attractive.

I want to see team sheets with Finn against Naicos, Sheezel, Gulden, Rankine, Merrett, Serong, Walsh, Anderson, Ashcroft, ... and many others.
Shut out their marquee players and see if their other players can beat our best. More importantly, if Finn can win his tussle by outperforming the marquee player, he is best-on-ground.

When comparing the top AFL teams, I think the Hawks are the most even across their list for talent. No single player is needed to win the Game. Put a stop on one Hawk and the next fills the void. Not so for some other teams.

The 23rd man: full game rule change
The Hawks may choose 2 rucks with Reeves taking the centre and then dropping back - a kick behind the ball, with Meek taking the middle and front half. But with the more-than-capable Chol as the 2nd ruck, I'd go with Finn.

Finn is primed to be our cooler. He is the quintessential 2026 AFL 23rd man... and the Hawks have him. I am very much wanting to see just how good he has become in the primarily defensive role that he then turns into a counterpunch.

 

[DearJai]

I am very much wanting to see just how good he has become in the primarily defensive role that he then turns to counterpunch.

He's capable of getting forward with no company if we want to use him that way. He has shown good goal sense here and there too.

Geelong do that with Holmes, and it makes him look a million bucks. Would be very tough for him to do that if he's worried about a player running back the other way.

I don't know how a tagger gets to choose when to push off his man quite that much.

But Finn absolutely has the running power to do it.

 

[The Gulden Child]

He's capable of getting forward with no company if we want to use him that way. He has shown good goal sense here and there too.

Geelong do that with Holmes, and it makes him look a million bucks. Would be very tough for him to do that if he's worried about a player running back the other way.

I don't know how a tagger gets to choose when to push off his man quite that much.

But Finn absolutely has the running power to do it.

I like the idea but Finn is not a natural forward imo. On occasion he unintentionally cramps the space and creativity of players better suited to the role. Just an observation.

 

[The Golden Glenferrie]

I like the idea but Finn is not a natural forward imo. On occasion he unintentionally cramps the space and creativity of players better suited to the role. Just an observation.

Stood up more times than he cramped space for others, that's for sure

 

[Dewnior]

I like the idea but Finn is not a natural forward imo. On occasion he unintentionally cramps the space and creativity of players better suited to the role. Just an observation.

I said the same thing about Will Langford

 

[marklar]

I said the same thing about Will Langford

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

But deep down we know Finn's got a 2014 finals-like feel about him when the stars align just right.

 

[Simon Crawshay]

Finn Manginess
The things we all know that Finn can do at an elite level is to tag his opponent out of the Game and run all day. But in the past Finn rarely hurt his opponent on the rebound in the way that the great taggers do.

I love the development that the Hawks have done with Finn. 2025 saw him become a significant force in the middle for the Box Hill Hawks. Not having him available for the finals severely hurt the Stangers. His kicking, while still a little fragile, is greatly improved, and his centre craft was very good at VFL level. His improvements should see him challenging for a place at the top level.

And then along comes an AFL rule-change that Finn nodoubt loved. The full game for the 23rd man has him set for plenty of Hawthorn games in 2026.

An elite tagger who can hurt his opponent by out-running him ... and with the skill set to make his possessions count... is highly attractive.

I want to see team sheets with Finn against Naicos, Sheezel, Gulden, Rankine, Merrett, Serong, Walsh, Anderson, Ashcroft, ... and many others.
Shut out their marquee players and see if their other players can beat our best. More importantly, if Finn can win his tussle by outperforming the marquee player, he is best-on-ground.

When comparing the top AFL teams, I think the Hawks are the most even across their list for talent. No single player is needed to win the Game. Put a stop on one Hawk and the next fills the void. Not so for some other teams.

The 23rd man: full game rule change
The Hawks may choose 2 rucks with Reeves taking the centre and then dropping back - a kick behind the ball, with Meek taking the middle and front half. But with the more-than-capable Chol as the 2nd ruck, I'd go with Finn.

Finn is primed to be our cooler. He is the quintessential 2026 AFL 23rd man... and the Hawks have him. I am very much wanting to see just how good he has become in the primarily defensive role that he then turns to counterpunch.

Very good analysis

We really shouldn't overcomplicate our use of Finn, he's a tagger first and foremost and like you I don't mind the idea of him as our 23rd man who we can use as our "cooler" as required.

For me the one thing he really needs to work on is his disposal by hand. He just takes that second too long to execute his handball.

Kicking is difficult to improve as a skill but handball should be something he can work on pretty easily.

 

[Dewnior]

Very good analysis

We really shouldn't overcomplicate our use of Finn, he's a tagger first and foremost and like you I don't mind the idea of him as our 23rd man who we can use as our "cooler" as required.

I haven't given up hope that he can master a second role which would allow the flexibility to deploy him as a tagger if and when required.

 

[Dewyyyyy]

I like the idea but Finn is not a natural forward imo. On occasion he unintentionally cramps the space and creativity of players better suited to the role. Just an observation.

Not really, he’s shown multiple times he’s a good forward option. He’s strong at finding space working his opponent over, strong aerially and on the lead for his size at 190 odd.

He’s obviously a mid first, who can tag but he’s capable as a distributor in the guts, a two way runner and a tagger who can rest forward. He’ll be gunning to be in the 23 as he’ll be awesome with the extra player available.

 

[saaam]

So the kid kneed the kidney…

Hmmm. Not my best

Nah Derm had nothing to do with it.

 

[Howe Amazing]

IMO this is the guy who can be the inside mid who has the body and strength at centre clearances. Can also tag too of course. I hope he is given a go in practice games to see what he can do

 

[Sonny Hayes]

IMO this is the guy who can be the inside mid who has the body and strength at centre clearances. Can also tag too of course. I hope he is given a go in practice games to see what he can do

I am not sure he has the poise at all to be an inside mid at AFL level, his ball use by both hand and foot are very poor and it is made worse in congestion.

He is an elite athlete and tagger, barring a massive improvement in his ball use i struggle to see any role in the team outside of being a tagger which we have shown to be hesitant to use.

 

[Dewnior]

He is an elite athlete and tagger, barring a massive improvement in his ball use i struggle to see any role in the team outside of being a tagger which we have shown to be hesitant to use.

He has shown he can be a good defensive forward also

 

[kazzooka]

He has shown he can be a good defensive forward also

Has he? he kicked a few goals against North once. But I don't think he's really shut down a rebounder. If he could do a role on guys like Rozee, Ash, Bailey Dale, John Noble then we'd be good. But we've really struggled to contain these guys.

We have a good group of the new modern high half forward (moore, ginni, cmac) but need another Wiz to do the chase down tackles like Cyril and Poppy used to do. Our forward pressure has been pretty bad since they left, it's improving from the days of Breust and Wingard being 80+ meters off their man but if we don't really have anyone other than maybe Hill or Anderson fast enough, and both are a long way off playing.

 

[Manila_Hawk]

In my opinion, we are going to struggle against the better sides.

Our midfield (in total) is just not there yet.

If I were Sam, I would be using Finn to tag out the oppo's best midfielder.
Other teams tag Duke Nukem... and basically stop our drive.

I can't understand (especially with 5 on the bench), why we wouldn't use Finn to tag.
That's his 1 iron.