“I think with first-year players, even if they are enormously talented, there’s [Nick] Daicos, who we would always compare and say, ‘Well, he just walked in and was ready for the AFL straightaway’, but I think if you look at every other first-year player, there are some ups and downs in their journey.

“[Watson]’s going to play some really good footy for this club – I don’t think anyone doubts that – but is he going to play really well every single week and be a 50-goal, first-year player? I hope so. But, I wouldn’t put that sort of expectation on him.

“What he’s been able to do on the training track has been nice and consistent. It’s not just goals, it’s pressure, and things that he does around the ground.”

Mitchell foreshadowed “a lot of new faces” in Hawthorn’s line-up across the opening month of the season, with pre-season key defensive recruit Ethan Phillips another in contention. Two-gamer Henry Hustwaite, a 195-centimetre midfielder who has re-signed until 2026, is a likely inclusion after an impressive summer.

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Important Hawk Dylan Moore (glandular fever) is set to face the Bombers, but the Hawks are undecided on whether he will serve as the substitute or not.

However, Mitchell said reigning club champion Will Day (foot stress fracture) was at least another month from playing.

“He has a scan every two to three weeks, and he’s got another one next week, which will give us a bit more specific look at what his likely time frame is,” the coach said.

“He’s sort of just going along at the rate that we hoped he would. He’s not hitting it out of the park, as far as healing goes, but he’s not behind schedule either ... we’re really bullish about what he’s doing now. He’s starting to get fit, and he’s starting to run on the Alter-G [antigravity treadmill].

“As long as his scan is as we expect it to be; we expect him to be running on ground next week.”

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Mitchell was reluctant to talk about finals or any win targets for Hawthorn in his third season in charge, but said he wanted his team to “earn games a little bit more” than the past two years.

“The first two years were really about embedding a foundation about how we want to go about things, and this is the first year where we start to turn the dial a little bit towards some better performances, we hope,” he said.

“We’re still going to be very young – I think we’re the second-youngest team in the competition. There are going to be some exciting faces, [and we are] still continuing to get games into players who we know are going to be great players for this club over the journey.”

There is still some indecision about whether Blake Hardwick will play his former role down back or as a forward, where he spent the pre-season.

Draft class of 2023 makes an instant impact

Roy Ward

Six of the top-10 picks in last year’s AFL draft are in line to debut this weekend.

North Melbourne have confirmed No.2 and No.4 picks Colby McKercher and Zane Duursma will make their debuts while Hawthorn and Western Bulldogs will also throw pick five Nick Watson and pick six Ryley Sanders into the fire respectively.

Sanders, 19, will be joined on making his Bulldogs debut by 2022 No. 39 pick Harvey Gallagher who has waited 471 days to earn his first senior game.

The status of No.1 pick Harley Reid won’t be confirmed until teams are named but Eagles coach Adam Simpson said this week that the young midfielder was “definitely in the mix” as long as he completed training on Thursday.

“We’re trying to protect him as much as we can because he’s an 18-year-old young man but he’s probably built like a 22-year-old,” Simpson told SEN WA on Thursday.

“So he’s going to be fine in the physical space. That’s not a worry at all, it’s just dealing with expectations and making sure that we protect him as much as we can as a club because we don’t want a guy like that trying to play just to prove everyone right or wrong, we just want him to play to his strengths and let him try and enjoy a bit of being an AFL football in the early parts of his career. But it is tough with Harley.”

No.7 pick Caleb Windsor made his debut for Melbourne last Thursday night during the opening round in Sydney while it is unclear if Adelaide will hand No.8 pick Daniel Curtin a debut.

Essendon coach Brad Scott said earlier this week that No.10 pick Nate Caddy will likely need more match practice before playing his first game while Gold Coast’s Jed Walter is injured and Ethan Read didn’t play in last week’s clash with Richmond.

‘Healthy and happy person’: Goodwin rapt with Oliver

AAP

Clayton Oliver has turned his life around “significantly” since the AFL star’s well-documented struggles, according to Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin.

Asked before Thursday morning training how much he thought Oliver was turning his life around, Goodwin replied “significantly”.

“You see a very healthy and happy person walking into your environment, training well, connecting with people, smiling – and they’re the things we’ve learned to love about Clayton,” Goodwin said.

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“We know we have a Clayton Oliver that we love and respect and we know is going to produce some really strong football for us. We’re incredibly happy with how he’s tracking.”

Goodwin also understands that he will continue to be asked about Oliver. “We’ve certainly worked hard on our unity piece and making sure we’re really clear about what we’re expecting in our environment,” he said.

“Clayton’s done everything he can to be a part of that.

“I’m not disappointed – I’m not surprised, though, that it’s still going.

“In the end, it’s been a big topic of conversation and in the end, until we start getting some results, it’s going to continue to be a topic.”

Goodwin added that Oliver will only improve as he plays more games. “He had his possessions, no doubt about that, and he got better as the game went on,” the coach said.

“Clearly, his strengths – we still want to see more of what he brings to the contest and how he gets out of contest.

“That’s a big part of his game. But first game back, we can’t ask for much more - he delivered on everything he’d been working towards. He’s just going to grow and get better.”

The Dees will regain exciting utility Kysaiah Pickett (suspension) for Sunday’s MCG match against the Western Bulldogs.

“It’s going to be great – geez, we missed him,” Goodwin said. “He’s a pretty good player, Kos – to get him back in the front of the ground, where he has his biggest impact, but also around stoppage and centre bounce. We saw through the pre-season, he’s evolving into a pretty damaging stoppage player.”

Forward Harrison Petty (toe) will also most likely return on the weekend through the VFL.

“The good thing about where we’re at right now is we’re starting to get some competition back for spots, especially in the forward half,” Goodwin said.

Magpies problems from loss an easy fix, says Schultz

Michael Gleeson

The post-mortem of Collingwood’s loss to the Giants found the causes of the poor performance were clear, and it would be quick to fix, according to small-forward recruit Lachie Schultz.

Coach Craig McRae highlighted after the match that the Pies had lacked their usual defensive cohesion. As one of the forwards, Schultz accepted responsibility for the fact that inaccuracy in front of goal had also denied the Magpies any chances at momentum.

“The cohesion behind the ball wasn’t there and they [GWS] were able to score sort of every time they went forward,” the former Fremantle Docker said.

“So they [the defence] broke down a little bit, but nothing that we’re worried about. Obviously, it’s still more of a mindset thing going both ways, even going forward. Getting the ball forward and then [our] finishing off needs to be better, and I’m sure it’s something that’s an easy fix.”

The Magpies had 27 shots at goal (11.16) to the Giants’ 24 (18.6). Schultz kicked three behinds, Brody Mihocek and Pat Lipinski both kicked two and Jamie Elliott missed a set shot from in front well within range.

“It was obviously a disappointing start to the season, but there’s still a lot we can take out of it. A lot of learnings, a lot of positives,” Schultz said.

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“When you break it down, it just came back to we need to capitalise on opportunities. We missed a lot of shots at goal, and I’ll put my hand up; I was one of them [who missed shots].

“I’d nearly always kick that [a set shot from 35 metres out]. It’s only early days, and we’re back on board this week and the focus goes to Sydney, so looking forward to bouncing back.”

Schultz said his role was largely the same as at Fremantle – put pressure on, tackle and kick goals – and after the pre-season he was comfortable he understood the way Collingwood plan to transition the ball and where he needs to be.

“I’ve had the full pre-season under my belt now, and a lot of that is starting to make more sense to me, and [I can see] where I belong and where I fit into the side. ‘Fly’ [McRae] has been awesome and made me feel like I can’t put a step wrong,” he said.

“I guess I’ll play a very similar role to what I did at Freo. And obviously the game plan is a little bit different but certainly the role I play – put pressure on, kick the goal is the same as at Freo.”

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