Career High SuperCoach Score: 165 Vs Carlton (2015)

Career High AFLFantasy Score: 161 Vs Carlton (2015)

Career High SuperCoach Average: 95.5 (2015)

Career High AFLFantasy Average: 92.2 (2015)

Impact on new club

Any potential felt pain the club might have had with the departure of Dan McStay to Collingwood was immediately gone with the arrival of Jack Gunston. ‘Gunners’ is a sniper, and while a different style of tall forward to McStay, he is a significant improvement.

I’ve long viewed Gunston as a ‘gravy’ player. And that’s by no means a negative thing. On the contrary, it’s a good thing. In the premiership dynasty of the Hawks, they had a forward line with names like Roughead, Franklin, Breust & Rioli. What Jack did in this era was become the forward that killed you if the opposition defenders were strong enough to negate some of the others.

At Brisbane, I can foresee a similar role and dynamic level to how and where he played at Hawthorn. Of course, Jack isn’t the daunting key position threat of Eric Hipwood or Joe Daniher, nor is he the dynamic X-Factor forward of Charlie Cameron and Zac Bailey. But what he does is create a constant forward presence and threat.

A genuine case could now be made that he’s the Lions fourth or even fifth most damaging forward prospect, and as a result, there will be games he tears opposition backlines apart.

Impact on the old club

Have you ever heard the phrase ‘sometimes you have to go back to go forwards?’ I think this will be the case for Hawthorn with the departure of Jack Gunston. Last year Gunston was one of only four Hawks to kick 20+ goals. His departure immediately impacts Mitchell Lewis, Chad Wingard, Jacob Koschitzke, Luke Breust and Dylan Moore, the likely only avenues to goal.

I believe his departure will mean that Hawthorn will not progress higher on the ladder; I have them now safely inside the bottom four. That’s because, with Gunston’s departure and some others, I don’t see them being as competitive as they continue striving to get more developmental talent. This won’t necessarily be a bad thing. For a rebuilding club, the two key things they need to invest in are securing high end talent through the draft and exposing young talent to the AFL system.

The departure of Gunston should mean the Hawks can get more games into kids and not leave quality players like Jack squandering in the VFL. While not direct like-for-like replacements, I expect to see more games into Jai Serong and Sam Butler. Additionally, I expect the hawks to be looking into drafting a marking forward with pick six in the draft, potentially Aaron Cadman or Harry Sheezel. If both are gone, they might look to use pick 24 on Isaac Keeler or Brayden George.

Fantasy Summary

When the Hawthorn football club was at the heights of it’s premiership dynasty Jack Gunston was a genuine fantasy football prospect. Between 2014-2018 he averaged between 83-93 in AFLFantasy and 86-96 in SuperCoach.

If he could reach these scoring averages, it might not place him in the top tier of premium forwards, but it would get him in the ballpark. In AFLFantasy/DreamTeam, he’ll be priced at an average of 60 and 65 in SuperCoach. So arguably, there are potentially 20 points per game of upside if you believe he can wind the clock back and match some of these scoring ranges.

While I believe it’s in the realms of possibility, given that it’s a new team, new system, and considerably older, he’s more likely to be in the mid-high 70s range. That might not make him relevant in salary cap formats, but he could be a strong late pick with an upside for drafts.