Much has been made of Hawthorn's start to the season, where despite sitting inside the top four with a 5-2 record, they have failed to live up to the heights of their impressive end of 2024, where they stormed into the finals series.
The Hawthorn forward line has struggled with their connection and conversion in front of goal, with missing personnel making it a challenge for Hawks forwards coach Adrian Hickmott to get the right balance and mix to capitalise on their 15.8 marks inside 50 per game.
While much conjecture has been spoken about in terms of players not being able to find their form in 2025, a veteran Hawk has wound back and is becoming an important piece in the forward line to help lead the charge.
Jack Gunston, who is out of contract at the end of the year, has been a revelation this year in a Hawks forward line that has struggled to take their chances in front of goals in the absence of key forward duo Mitch Lewis and Calsher Dear, who have both been unavailable for the team in 2025 due to significant injuries.
33-year-old Gunston has had a fantastic start to his season, where in five games so far this season for the Hawks, he has rocketed up the Coleman Medal leaderboard, sitting equal seventh with 17 goals.
Gunston, in his 265th AFL game, starred on the weekend in the Hawks' 50-point win against the Eagles at Marvel Stadium, where he commanded the forward line and was a pivotal focus for his team in attack.
He kicked four goals for the game from his 14 disposals while matched up against premiership Eagle Jeremy McGovern, where he not only played as a negating forward but also an important part of the attack, having 12 score involvements.
The evergreen forward, who was delisted at the end of last season before being selected again by the Hawks in the Pre-Season Draft, missed the first two matches of the season for the Hawks, before being recalled for the clash against Carlton, where he was named as the sub.
Since that game in Round 2, Gunston has been a starting selection in the team, where he has been able to use not only his high football IQ, but also helping to be an on-field coach to the Hawks' young star,s including Nick Watson and Jack Ginnivan.
For Hawthorn supporters, there was much debate in the pre-season about whether or not he was part of the Hawks' best 23 after two less than stellar performances in the club's pair of pre-season matches against Geelong and the Western Bulldogs.
Many fans felt that the best of Gunston was behind him, with many believing that the three-time premiership player was going to be more valuable off field for the Hawks than what he would display on field in 2025.
However, Gunston has shown that you can't write off champion players in the twilight of their career, where he has produced some incredible numbers in attack for the Hawks from a limited number of games.
His performance on field since his recall has seen him averaging six shots on goal per game, with an average of 3.4 goals per game, looking back to his goalkicking best after struggling at times with his conversion in 2024.
He is averaging six marks per game, with 3.8 of those marks taking place in the forward 50, where he has used his ability to put himself into dangerous spaces to be able to become a focal point of the Hawks' attack.
The remarkable part of Gunston's role in the Hawthorn forward line since Round 2 is that he has been tasked with playing not only an important role in scoring chains, where he is averaging close to eight score involvements per match, but also tasked with playing a negating role to stop opposition teams rebounding from defence.
He has been given the important role to play by head coach Sam Mitchell, where he has been given significant match-ups on some of the best AFL defenders, including Carlton's Jacob Weitering, GWS' Sam Taylor, Port Adelaide's Aliir Aliir and West Coast's McGovern.
Gunston's reward for effort in 2025, where he has recorded 10 coaches votes, is testament to the work that he put in over the off-season, spending copious amounts of time working with the high performance team to strengthen his back and glutes and allowing him to show form that is similar to when he won Hawthorn's best and fairest in 2020.
Currently sitting on 498 goals in his AFL career, Gunston will be looking at this weekend's clash against the Tigers at the MCG in Hawthorn's Centenary Game to reach the milestone of 500 goals, which would see him become the eighth Hawk to achieve this milestone.
With boom young forward Calsher Dear closing in on a return to the senior team, likely against Melbourne in Round 9, and lone key tall Mabior Chol showing some impressive form over the past fortnight, Gunston's superb form in 2025 means that he will still be a valuable commodity in the Hawks forward line as they look to build connection and momentum over the rest of the 2025 season.
Great read!