THE beaming look on his face after the match said it all – Stuart Dew is back doing what he loves best, and he’s pretty happy about it.
The former Port Adelaide premiership player and surprise Hawthorn recruit donned the brown and gold for the first time on Saturday night and showed enough with his 14 possessions to suggest he might just be one of the bargain buys of the season.
Eighteen months ago Dew walked away from the game after 180 matches and 10 seasons with the Power.
"I have weighed up my options and I feel it's not fair on anyone ... to play on if I'm not 100 per cent into it,” the raking left-footer said at the time.
"I have got a year on my contract and I could have played on and gone through the motions but I'm not that kind of person.”
Fast forward, and now Dew, 28, is as excited as a kid in a lolly shop – except you know a lolly shop is the last place you’d find him in his new life in Melbourne.
“It’s been a fantastic transition. I’m really excited,” Dew says of his reinvention as a Hawk. “It was a weird feeling playing football again after about 18 months. (But) it was great.
“The boys have been fantastic, the way they’ve helped me settle in and even before the game there was really great encouragement.
“The first touch I thought the heat would be on and it was good to just dodge around a couple and give the handball off. It felt pretty comfortable after that.
“But it was weird to play here [at AAMI Stadium] against the Crows in different colours.”
Given his obvious level of enjoyment, did Dew now wonder ‘why did I ever walk away’?
“Not really,” he says. “I was in a position where I really wanted to step out. And to be able to enjoy it like I am now, it wouldn’t have been possible if I hadn’t done that.”
Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson, who raised eyebrows with his pursuit of Dew, knows exactly what his new recruit is capable of, having been an assistant coach at Port Adelaide when Dew was at the height of his powers. And Clarkson clearly has a specific role marked for Dew at Hawthorn.
“He’s a very, very talented player,” Clarkson says. “He’s played a lot of footy and he’ll be a great contributor for us over the next little while.”
The immediate future, though, holds more hard work for Dew.
“(Tonight) was what I needed at this stage. To get in a bit of traffic, in a competitive game, it was a good chance to get a good workout,” Dew said.
“We’ve got another two or three hard weeks and then we’ll look at it. I’ll play this week and next week and maybe even the weekend off, depending on how I’m going.
“I’ll try and put my hand up for Round 1.”
It was perhaps ironic that the man best known for his skills as a ‘superboot’ handballed more than he kicked in his debut for his new club (4 kicks, 10 handballs). Was that a deliberate ploy, to ease back into the game perhaps?
“No, not at all – it’s just the way it panned out. I think I had about four or five (handballs) before I kicked the ball. When I got to the fifth I thought ‘OK, I’d better get a kick here soon’.
“But I was just happy to get a few touches and feel comfortable around the team.
“Unfortunately we didn’t get over the line – but we’ve got bigger plans.”
Hard work and big plans. Sounds like it might be a while before this Dew is kicked off the grass again.
