HAWTHORN has picked Jai Serong to replace Sam Frost in defence ahead of Friday night's semi-final against Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval.
Frost played the first 24 games of the season for the Hawks before suffering a foot injury late in the elimination final win over the Western Bulldogs, with subsequent scans revealing a stress fracture.
With James Blanck sidelined after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in February, the Hawks are undersized down back and short on experienced options.
Sam Mitchell had been weighing up Serong or pre-season supplemental selection period signing Ethan Phillips.
Serong is understood to have won the spot after a strong season at Box Hill.
The 21-year-old has been included in the VFL Team of the Year squad, along with Phillips.
Serong played four games between rounds six and 10, taking him to nine appearances across his first three seasons in the AFL.
The 193cm backman averaged 21.4 disposals and 7.4 marks across 14 VFL appearances in 2024.
"You obviously can't replace Sam Frost exactly. He is so important to us and has had a fantastic season," Hawks coach Sam Mitchell said earlier on Wednesday.
"Even the way he's handled the last few days. He has been in every meeting. He is helping with the backline, he's helping with the preview, helping with what works and what perhaps doesn't with the Port Adelaide guys. Trying to replace everything about Sam Frost is not going to be able to be done."
Hawthorn beat Adelaide by 66 points in its last game at Adelaide Oval in round 20, 10 weeks after coughing up a 41-point lead to lose to Port Adelaide by a single point, with two Power goals arriving in the final 22 seconds. That fadeout still burns for the coach.
Mitchell is wary of Ken Hinkley's side after it was smashed by 84 points against Geelong last Thursday night.
"The narrative around Port Adelaide is really interesting and we obviously have no control over that element but there is a lot of focus on they didn't play well last week and there is negativity around that," Mitchell said.
"They finished second, they'd won six games in a row, including beating Sydney by over 100 points. They had one bad performance and everyone is writing them off.
"We need to not fall into the trap. We're going away to probably one of the most hostile environments in the competition. It will be as loud as the MCG last week but instead of it being a neutral crowd it will be 95-5. We understand what's to come this week and we need to be ready."
Mitchell expressed the club had zero issue with Jack Ginnivan's "see u in 14 days" comment to former Collingwood teammate Brodie Grundy on Instagram, despite Hawthorn great Luke Hodge condemning the action earlier in the week.
"'Hodgey' is obviously from my old school days. I heard his comments and I know he is just trying to spur on the Hawks," he said.
"Social media is a funny thing. A lot of players don't have each other's numbers. In my world, you send each other a text. They don’t do that. They send it via Snapchat or TikTok or who knows what else."
With Will Day and Cam Mackenzie both missing last week, Hawthorn opted for Josh Ward instead of Changkuoth Jiath against the Bulldogs and the former pick No.7 rewarded the selection decision with his most defining performance to date.
The 21-year-old finished with 22 disposals, nine tackles and five clearances in his first final, after spending a large chunk of the year in the VFL.
"Josh Ward is a great story. There is a lot of players that we feel have really improved this year without necessarily doing it at AFL level," Mitchell said.
"I think with Josh, he had to play a lot of VFL footy. He had to work on a few things in his game. He has some great attributes. He has been ready to play AFL and step into that role for a long time, but because of the durability of those mids, he has never got the chance. Last week he took it. It gives us great confidence that the programs we have in place are working really well."
