WHY AREN'T you an All-Australian yet? Dylan Moore wasn't expecting such a blunt question when he sat down with Adrian Hickmott at Waverley Park last November. He didn't have an answer. But Hawthorn's new forwards coach had made his point.
The narrative shifted last year. It was no longer just about Moore making the most of his second chance at the Hawks. He had recovered from being delisted at the end of 2020 to finish fourth, third and sixth in the past three Peter Crimmins Medals.
But the anguish of being cut is woven into his story. It always will be. Moore spent most of 2020 living in hubs in Sydney and the Barossa Valley, playing in 12v12 or 14v14 scratch matches against opposition that included greying assistant coaches and data analysts. Famously he salvaged his career across the space of two hours in front of 2,000 people at the Adelaide Oval that September.
The rest is history. Moore has played 88 of 90 games since being cut and then added to the rookie list. Now he has an All-Australian blazer and is one of the premier high forwards in the AFL.
But this year didn't start smoothly. Moore was diagnosed with glandular fever on February 14, the day before Hawthorn's nightmare intraclub at Waverley Park. He raced back for round one on March 16, but wasn't right until a month in. By then, Hickmott had tweaked Moore's focus.
"I had glandular fever a month out before the season, just before the first intraclub and I was shattered. I thought it was going to ruin my season. I went all 'Doctor Google' and I saw it could turn into chronic fatigue, I could miss a year," Moore told AFL.com.au this week.
"Adrian got me doing a lot of work on my mind. There is an app called Muse which I use. It gives you real-time feedback of how your brain is working and if you're in the present or not. I have been doing that for six months now, once a day, where I have been trying to stay in the present more. I am an overthinker: I'll go to future events, past events, especially on game day. I will get a bit frazzled. This year I've been much calmer on game day.
"The first reason we did it is because he said: 'Why aren't you an All-Australian yet'? He was very forthright. He said: 'You've got the skills, the talent, the workrate, why aren't you an All-Australian?' I couldn't give him the answer. He wanted to work on my mind. When I went down with glandular, he said it was the perfect time to start. I haven't stopped since."
Moore's brilliant 2024 form led to Melbourne menswear boutique Sam and Ko tailoring an All-Australian blazer for him last week, following a season where the 176cm forward kicked 35 goals to go with 31 goal assists (No.2 in the AFL). It meant the selectors went with him over Greater Western Sydney's Brent Daniels and Brisbane's Cam Rayner - two players who went much earlier than him in the 2017 AFL Draft.
The 25-year-old has always felt like he has a point to prove. First to the Eastern Ranges, who cut him multiple times before he made the list in his draft year, starred for Vic Metro and became an under-18 All-Australian. Then to recruiters who passed over him, before Hawthorn read out his name at pick No.67. And then to the Hawks, who delisted him after playing 10 games across his first three seasons.
"I knew I was good enough. Even going pick 67, clubs were passing before I was taken and I thought I was better than players being drafted before me, no offence. I felt like what's wrong with me? What have I done wrong? I took that into my first couple of years and thought, maybe I am just pick 67," Moore said.
"I started working on my weaknesses a lot. I wasn't a great overhead mark; I wasn't a great left foot kick; I just tried to get them better and forgot about my weapons. I only realised that when I got delisted and I thought I'd wasted my AFL career. That could have been me done. Me, Finn Maginness and 'CJ' [Changkuoth Jiath] were all in a similar boat. We needed to train harder and lift the standard for ourselves. We trained like we were AFL players even if we were getting delisted. Luckily enough the Hawks kept me."
Sam Mitchell has been integral to Moore's renaissance. He infused him with belief and has given him the freedom to wield his weapons. But across the summer of 2021, three-time Brisbane premiership great Craig McRae arrived at Waverley Park and tinkered with Moore's mindset in his one season at Hawthorn, before Collingwood signed him as senior coach.
"Going into that pre-season Craig McRae came to the club as a forward line coach and one of the first things he said to me was: Why are you good at footy? What are your weapons? Workrate, tough in the contest, footy IQ. He said let's work on them. That was a crucial point. I was focusing on the wrong things. Now I work 75 per cent on my strengths and just work on my weaknesses in the background," Moore said.
"I connected so well with 'Fly' by being yourself and not worrying about what others were doing. He gave me a lot of belief in my fourth year. I started getting a game each week and playing a role for the side. He gave me great belief that that mattered. Then with Sam taking over, I've had more of a license to do more of what I want. Sam gave me more freedom to spread my wings and that has helped take me to another level."
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HAWTHORN has evolved into one of the most watchable teams in the AFL this year, returning to September ahead of schedule at the business end of Mitchell's third season at the helm. The TikTok Hawks are the AFL's Gen Z club. They do things millennials wouldn't dare. The celebrations. The selfies. The social media. It works because they are winning, playing with a freedom and confidence many did in school footy. That is by design.
Nearly half the list attended one of Victoria's 11 APS schools, ranging from Jack Gunston who graduated from Haileybury College in 2009 to Nick Watson who finished at Caulfield Grammar last year before being picked at No.5 in the 2023 AFL Draft. Four went to Haileybury, including Karl Amon, Jack Scrimshaw and Connor Macdonald. Josh Ward and Max Ramsden went to Melbourne Grammar. Josh Weddle finished at Carey, while Cam Mackenzie graduated from Brighton Grammar.
Moore is a Caulfield Grammar old boy and went to watch his alma mater a few times last year for one reason: to witness the ‘Wizard' terrorising teenagers, while being persecuted over the fence by opposition school boys.
"I went and watched Caulfield a couple of times and all I was there to do was to watch the 'Wiz'. The one thing that struck me with him is he fed off the energy of the crowd. He loved it. That was when he played his best football. That's why we know if he is having a crack at the oppo, he is in the right headspace," he said.
"One thing that I have been so surprised with him is his pressure. I watched him in a school game and I thought he needed to pressure more, I thought he was a bit lazy. As soon as he came in here, from his first training session he was just relentless at the ball carrier. I thought he was going to be pretty special. The vibrancy and the electricity that he plays with in the forward line is unmatched. Knowing a lot of people that know him through the school, we have a special bond."
Many other current Hawks went to AGS schools. Three attended Sacred Heart in Adelaide. For most, it was the most enjoyable football experience of their youth. Now they are trying to replicate that feeling in the cutthroat win-loss business of League football.
"Sam always starts meetings off with what's your favourite football memory? A lot of the guys say school football. Loved playing this game against our rivals. You come into school on the Monday and everyone is talking about the game and how good was it," he said.
"For a lot of us, APS footy was the best time. You spend all week together with your mates, get hyped together and the best time of the week was the game on the weekend. There was less pressure. That's the trap of AFL football, the most tense part of the week is the weekend, performing under pressure. We know that. What we've tried to foster making it the most enjoyable two hours of the week. That's why we do the celebrations, the selfies after the game, we want to enjoy it. We want to not put too much pressure on the weekend, lets enjoy it, play for each other."
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SON Heung-Min, James Maddison, Marcus Rashford and Mesut Özil might not be names Hawthorn fans instantly recognise, but Jack Ginnivan has made their iconic Premier League celebrations part of Hawthorn's DNA this year. Macdonald, Watson and Jiath have all been central figures, transforming Hawthorn from off-Broadway to box office over the course of a winter.
Mitchell would never have contemplated whipping out the camera (Son), dart (Maddison), temple point (Rashford) or baby (Özil) celebration during his 329-game career. Now the coach wants to know what celebration is coming next. Veteran forwards Jack Gunston and Luke Breust were ambivalent early, but Moore has been the conduit between the gaping generations at Waverley Park.
"We feel like that's our X-factor that's the driving force behind our resurgence," Moore said. "We've embraced it. If we start creating divides in the group where people are angry about others doing celebrations, then it doesn't really work. At the start, Gunston, Breust and even Sam was like do we want to be known for this? Now those two [Gunston and Breust] aren't doing celebrations but they love seeing Ginni do a celebration, which is such a credit to them. I'll do a few celebrations and I enjoy it, but not as much as I love watching ‘Wizard' [Watson] do a celebration. Credit to Sam, he has bought into it massively. Now he is coming up with celebrations. Post meetings he will ask what we're working on."
When Hawthorn returned from the Gold Coast 0-5 in April, Moore was stopped by reporters at the luggage carousel at Melbourne Airport. After winning eight games in 2022 and seven in 2023, expectations weren't sky high, but progress was expected. Moore was frank in his assessment with where the club was at. They weren't training and living to the standards required to be a decent side. Those conversations were held privately the night before inside the rooms at People First Stadium, long after the 13,900 supporters had left the building following the Suns' 53-point win.
Wins didn't happen overnight, but things changed from there. Hawthorn reached the bye 7-7 and suddenly were alive. If they didn't fade late against Port Adelaide in round 10, they would have won eight consecutive games. They ended up winning 14 of 18 after that awful trip to Queensland, clinching a return to September for the first time since 2018 by smashing North Melbourne by 124 points on the final weekend of the home and away season.
"Everyone saw me say 'bring mouthguards to training', but the biggest factor 100 per cent was the conversations the night before in the changerooms as a playing group. The coaches didn't come in, it was all the players where we asked: Is this what we want to stand for? As a playing group we just had conversations around: we're not doing this enough, we are not doing well enough in here, we don't want to have holidays in September again, we've had enough of this shit," he said.
"It was the first time where we have had the most honest conversations with each other. We were all trying to do the right things and that's when we realised that our culture is to be yourself, come in and enjoy your time but on the field we were getting angry at each other.
"Our biggest X-factor as a club was our culture and how vibrant we are, don't shy away from the limelight. That night we spoke about that. We put our arms around each other more than we previously had. From then onwards, we've had more intent. We've trained harder, maybe an extra five per cent, but that through 40 people is a lot. I think everyone from that night, we've gone on a bit of a ride."
No player is more emblematic of Hawthorn's rise under Mitchell than Moore. The champion junior steeple chaser still has a chip on his shoulder. Like his coach, the setbacks along the way will drive him a long way. Now he is an All-Australian. Hickmott had a point.