News Hawthorn in the media 2026

[Ka Norkers]

Sam is obviously a fantastic coach and usually a brilliant media performer but, am I the only who thinks that was a tad clunky?? Basically admitting we pivoted for Zach when TRAC was available and also , the comment about it's too early to rate tracs form!! A bit different than what I thought he'd say going from his media outings from times before.

as I said a month or so ago, I'll bet Petracca starts like an absolute shooting star and fades from there.
reckon Sam feels like that will happen too.
IMO, Trac is cooked, might not look like it now, but it will soon.

 

[Atch]

as I said a month or so ago, I'll bet Petracca starts like an absolute shooting star and fades from there.
reckon Sam feels like that will happen too.
IMO, Trac is cooked, might not look like it now, but it will soon.

That's a big call to say he's cooked.

 

[TylerDurden]

Cooked? He's leading the Brownlow!

 

[eldorado]

Cooked? He's leading the Brownlow!

He's cooked...to perfection!

 

[Ka Norkers]

we shall see

 

[eldorado]

To be honest, I do wonder if Petracca's body type and physicality may mean his effectiveness will diminish somewhere down the track, but look at Dangerfield...


Either way, I hope I don't have to endure a barrage of "why, oh why?" teeth-gnashing posts for the next three years everytime Petracca has a good game ...

 

[Hawkas1988]

Some Richmond Muppet rang Wheatley on SEN this morning to have a whinge about how come a Richmond player got suspended for two weeks for high end drink driving but MacDonald and Moore didn't cop a suspension for hopping on a scissor lift.

Wheatley (to his credit) kept trying to make the caller understand that you can't equate a minor infraction like hopping on a scissor lift with drink driving but this idiot wouldn't listen (he seemed to think it was a conspiracy against the tigers and that the Hawks players had bought the game into "disrepute")

Honestly Richmond players and supporters are a close second behind the Dons on the flog meter . I hope we absolutely destroy them this year

Have always said Richmond supporters are the absolute worst I've dealt with numerous times.

The above is no surprise.

 

[kazzooka]

I am no expert on heavy machinery but wouldn't they need a key to operate it?

They had to half jump down from it when the cops came so I don't think at any stage were they operating it. Looks like they saw a boom lift outside the bar, climbed up into it (probably for a photo opportunity) and thats the extent of it.

Would be another thing altogether i agree if they had been driving a boom lift drunk down a main street of downtown Arizona! Whately was saying its a $200 fine (trespassing) so about the same financial cost of a parking ticket (admittedly you don't tend to spend a night in jail for a parking ticket).

Still a silly thing to do though (specially in the states).

If it's a $200 fine why do they have upcoming court dates? And held overnight in jail... Surely you can plead guilty and pay on the spot.

 

[kazzooka]

as I said a month or so ago, I'll bet Petracca starts like an absolute shooting star and fades from there.
reckon Sam feels like that will happen too.
IMO, Trac is cooked, might not look like it now, but it will soon.

How can a guy who's been best on ground in the 2 games he's played be cooked? He is the top performing player in the AFL so far this season. He's also about 6 months younger than Merrett.

Now, I can understand if the club felt that the money and length and cost didn't align with the club. And we can say we don't think that in those last years of the contract. That would make sense.

Merrett seemed to be all about wanting to get out of Essendon and get success. Trac was upset with Melbourne the previous year, and they committed to a rebuild and new coach which he wouldn't go through. But Trac was contracted till 2029 on a 6-6.5 million dollar deal, we don't know how much is in those last 4 seasons vs the first 3 he served at Melbourne. I would guess that it would have been lower at the beginning as they were a contending team that was about to win the flag and had just brought in May, Lever, Langdon, Brown to go with Gawn, Oliver, Viney, Brayshaw. He signed it in 2021 early season but already contracted for 2022. Melbourne would have back ended to keep the list together.

Merrett had 2 years remaining on a contract and seemed open to a new contract with Hawthorn. Trac probably wanted his new team to take on the contract. He's got his flag already.

But I disagree that he's cooked, overpaid or any of that. Gold Coast got a bargain, and it'll likely end in multiple cups for them. I see no reason Petracca can't play till 2029 when he will be younger than Dangerfield and Gunston were in the Prelim last year. 2 years younger in the case of Dangerfield.

 

[kazzooka]

Either way, I hope I don't have to endure a barrage of "why, oh why?" teeth-gnashing posts for the next three years everytime Petracca has a good game ...

This is why i would have preferred if he just said, "we weren't able to convince Trac to join us and we were with Merrett".

Even if it's a lie, and we just preferred Merrett, or couldn't afford him, or we knew Humphrey and Butters were on the cards. He's not going to come out now as a Gold Coast player and say "no I did actually want to go to Hawthorn but they didn't want me"

 

[Hackysack]

If it was australia that owner of the lift could be charged with public endangerment, ad it has not been co.pletely lowered, and it is being stored in a location with easy access to the public (not fenced off)

You always park them up with the bucket off the ground

 

[MasterSamurai]

TRAC was either number 1 or two best players in the comp for about five years , although zm is a gun, I don't remember him in the top 10 or even top 20 conversation ever.

 

[essaynode]

Media still on this. It's a nothing story. Good luck.

I read the article. This line - "They were found on a scissor lift in a car park after a security guard called police when they refused to get off" - makes me less sympathetic towards the players.

They were asked to get off the machine by security -> They refused or ignored the security guard -> Security guard called the police -> Players arrested.

If they'd just moved on when the security guard told them to, this wouldn't have happened.

 

[essaynode]

Yeah, we put all our eggs in the Zac Merrett basket. Our eggs got rejected. If we'd bet less or walked away from the Essendon hand, perhaps we could have placed a bet on Petracca, but I think Gold Coast ultimately had a stronger hand in that play too - their eggs were higher quality. As it is, we kept our eggs and traded well for them (eggs in for next year in our basket) and got some potentially handy players for the future.

Analysing the outcomes of the egg metaphor.
Essendon - kept their aging but excellent rooster
Hawthorn - upgraded some future eggs, and hatched some eggs for the future
Gold Coast - got one of the best roosters of the first two rounds in 2026.
Melbourne - hatched some eggs for the future

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Yeah, we put all our eggs in the Zac Merrett basket. Our eggs got rejected. If we'd bet less or walked away from the Essendon hand, perhaps we could have placed a bet on Petracca, but I think Gold Coast ultimately had a stronger hand in that play too - their eggs were higher quality. As it is, we kept our eggs and traded well for them (eggs in for next year in our basket) and got some potentially handy players for the future.

Analysing the outcomes of the egg metaphor.
Essendon - kept their aging but excellent rooster
Hawthorn - upgraded some future eggs, and hatched some eggs for the future
Gold Coast - got one of the best roosters of the first two rounds in 2026.
Melbourne - hatched some eggs for the future

Gold Coast had the AFL doing their bidding also. Marketing $$$$ for Trac

 

[play2win]

The Gold Coast draft and trade haul from last year was insane. Wasn’t it something like 4 of the top 15 in the draft plus trading 2 1st rnd for trac and former No 1 draft pick in JUH, and they still retained their future picks?

 

[The Golden Glenferrie]

TRAC was either number 1 or two best players in the comp for about five years , although zm is a gun, I don't remember him in the top 10 or even top 20 conversation ever.

He's a tidy accumulator.

 

[hr_23]

The Gold Coast draft and trade haul from last year was insane. Wasn’t it something like 4 of the top 15 in the draft plus trading 2 1st rnd for trac and former No 1 draft pick in JUH, and they still retained their future picks?

JUH is a totally different kettle of fish
no one wanted him he got to them with a throwaway pick who anyone could've got
they took the punt if it works out best of luck to them

 

[AlwaysHawks15]

To be honest, I do wonder if Petracca's body type and physicality may mean his effectiveness will diminish somewhere down the track, but look at Dangerfield...


Either way, I hope I don't have to endure a barrage of "why, oh why?" teeth-gnashing posts for the next three years everytime Petracca has a good game ...

Dangerfield's effectiveness has diminished. They use him on and off the bench now. Didn't have much of a pre season this year either won't have any sort of impact for a few games at least. If he has a so so year I reckon he will retire.

 

[eldorado]

Dangerfield's effectiveness has diminished. They use him on and off the bench now. Didn't have much of a pre season this year either won't have any sort of impact for a few games at least. If he has a so so year I reckon he will retire.

Yes, it has now...as Dangerfield is nearly 6 years older than Petracca, 36 in a few weeks.

I don't think GC will be ruing their decision if Petracca is slowing down in 2030

 

[AlwaysHawks15]

Yes, it has now...as Dangerfield is nearly 6 years older than Petracca, 36 in a few weeks.

I don't think GC will be ruing their decision if Petracca is slowing down in 2030

They could have at least 2 flags by that point. Won't matter one iota. The trade is a roaring success.

 

[dixyland]

If it's a $200 fine why do they have upcoming court dates? And held overnight in jail... Surely you can plead guilty and pay on the spot.

Because the US is a joke of a country and their legal system is a mess.

 

[grumbleguts]

Yeah, we put all our eggs in the Zac Merrett basket. Our eggs got rejected. If we'd bet less or walked away from the Essendon hand, perhaps we could have placed a bet on Petracca, but I think Gold Coast ultimately had a stronger hand in that play too - their eggs were higher quality. As it is, we kept our eggs and traded well for them (eggs in for next year in our basket) and got some potentially handy players for the future.

Analysing the outcomes of the egg metaphor.
Essendon - kept their aging but excellent rooster
Hawthorn - upgraded some future eggs, and hatched some eggs for the future
Gold Coast - got one of the best roosters of the first two rounds in 2026.
Melbourne - hatched some eggs for the future

And St Kilda spent big money on some eggs and then scrambled them.

 

[TylerDurden]

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/hawthorn-midfielder-cam-mackenzie-on-zach-merrett-trade-saga-and-levelling-up-his-game/news-story/d48f60b36dce74dfcb8bd7b43e58a126

 

[Sixpence]

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/hawthorn-midfielder-cam-mackenzie-on-zach-merrett-trade-saga-and-levelling-up-his-game/news-story/d48f60b36dce74dfcb8bd7b43e58a126

Without reading it, does he say "I'm just thankful I wasn't sent to that shithole of a club in a trade for Merrett!"?