The Sam Mitchell talk that sparked Gunston’s amazing revival

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Jack Gunston got the call a few weeks ago: he’d made the All-Australian team. He hung up the phone and instinctively went to call his Dad, Ray.

Ray died three years ago. Jack’s dad might be gone but the urge to call him isn’t. Every time he has news, every time there is something big or small happening in his life, he reaches for his phone to tell Ray.

Jack Gunston returned to the Hawks as an on-field coach, and ended up kicking 62 goals.

Each night before a game his phone now stays silent. It used to ping with a text from Ray, just a little message of encouragement, always positive, always telling Jack his strengths and a tip on his opponent or opposition. The next day, every game day, Ray would be there watching from near the forward flank, moustache twitching as he walked in circles, too nervous to settle.

Ray Gunston, a popular AFL administrator, died suddenly of a heart attack on the morning of June 4, 2022.

Jack has worn a black arm band in every game he has played since.

“He never missed a match of mine so it’s a symbol for me that I like to remind myself that he’s still there with me and still watching,” Jack said.

“He was my greatest mentor in football. He was just a perfect dad, always had a lot of information but only shared it when I asked, and he knew my game very well, constantly gave me the support I needed.

“I just feel like while my footy is still going I owe him a lot. It’s like, when I have really good personal moments he was always the one I’d call and thank and part of me fears the end of my career, whenever that might be, because he is the first person I’d want to call and show how thankful I was for all of his support and how much time and effort he put into my footy. Not being able to do that is going to be quite tough whenever that day comes.

“Obviously, my life at the moment revolves around football so whether it’s team selection or who you match up on this week, we’d always text, and he’d send me one the night before the game and just remind me of my strengths and what to do. I never asked him and never said anything about it, but I’d always get a text, and he’d be in the room standing up the back after the game, win, lose or draw, and if I went up to him, sweet, if not, then we chat later on.

“His death was sudden. I was here at the footy club the Tuesday morning it happened and I got a few calls which was a bit strange. I think that [the suddenness] is the hard part as well, there’s no goodbye. Your life, not spirals, it just goes into a whirlwind for a while and footy comes second. It was like, ‘well I’m now the man of the family, I need to look after Mum, I need to look after my sister and spend time with them’.”

Jack - part of the Hawks’ 2013-15 three-peat - had been thinking of moving to Brisbane before Ray died, but undoubtedly his death played a part in his move to the Lions as a free agent at the end of 2022. The change of club, he figured, would be good for his football after 11 years at Hawthorn. After Ray died he wondered if the change would also be good for his family. Ray and Jack’s mum, Mandy, went to every game, and he thought the opportunity for his mum to come to Brisbane regularly might be good.

“There were definitely thoughts of it being good to get away and change after Dad,” he said.

What made the move more wrenching was the level of love and care the club, and in particular Sam Mitchell, Rob McCartney and Cam Matthews, gave him after Ray died.

While Jack quickly fell in love with the Lions as a club, he also just as quickly realised that as a player he didn’t fit in their system. Before long, he was wondering if he could just wind things back and return to Hawthorn.

“It was at the back end of the year and I probably just thought they were crazy thoughts at the time. Obviously, I struggled in the Brisbane Lions system, I think that was pretty obvious from afar, the type of player I was in the system that they play, so that was a challenge for me,” he said.

Sam Mitchell was clear about what he needed from Gunston. He got that, and a whole lot more.

“I think it’s a pretty rare move for someone to go up for a year and then come back. And I knew that it would bring a bit of negative publicity along with it but, in the end, it’s my career and I want to take ownership of it and I felt what would be best for my career was to come back to Hawthorn.

“People probably saw all the negatives to that - which I completely understand, and I’ve seen all those [critical] articles, I’ve seen everything - but as long as I knew what I came back for and how I could help at this footy club.”

That didn’t make the first phone call to Rob McCartney any less weird.

“It was a strange one. I think it probably threw them a little bit,” Gunston said.

“Although, Rob’s a mentor of mine so it wasn’t a phone call out of the blue to Rob, but when it was floated obviously it was a bit delicate at the time. And I expected a ‘no’, really. I understood they were going down a different path and got rid of a lot of older guys, and so I understood that if it was a ‘no’, then that’s totally fine, like, then I would have finished my career up at the Lions.”

What followed were “some strong conversations that we probably hadn’t really had before” with Sam Mitchell who was clear on what he wanted from Gunston if he did come back. Mitchell was open to it, but there were no guarantees a trade would be possible.

Brisbane, suffice to say, were not thrilled that Gunston wanted a trade after only one year.

“And fair enough too, I don’t blame them, like they’d gone out on limb to get me up there, and I’d come back after one year, so I don’t blame them. Any footy club would probably feel the same way, but that just shows the character of people they are, and they care about the individuals,” he said of Lions football boss Danny Daly and coach Chris Fagan.

Gunston had no regrets, no FOMO, watching the Lions win last year’s flag. On the contrary, he was their biggest fan.

“I feel no jealousy or missed opportunity,” he explained. “Even grand final day when I missed out in 2023 I couldn’t have been cheering any harder there. And last year was the same.”

“You will probably play some VFL. Are you prepared for that? I don’t just want another tall forward, I’ve got a few of those, I want an on field coach for those young blokes. Can you do that?”

Sam Mitchell was clear about what he wanted from Gunston. The expectations of him were modest; the returns he has delivered have been anything but.

Gunston and fellow Hawk Josh Battle made the All-Australian team.

He came back to coach and mentor forwards. This year as he kicked 62 goals - the biggest season haul of his life - the other forwards rib him by suggesting his coaching instructions are to “get out of the way and let them kick it to me”.

“From the moment I had my first conversation with Sam about coming back it was pretty much what he wanted from me [as an on-field coach], which I probably thought I did at a pretty good level but until your coach drives that into you, saying that I need the selfless off-field Jack Gunston, more than the 60-goal Jack Gunston, and to come in with that mindset, it helps you play better footy, but it helps you as a person as well,” he said.

“I hope what I’ve been able to do so far back at Hawthorn has repaid the faith Rob McCartney and Sam had in me in allowing me back.”

One adjustment he had to make was fitting in with a new culture at Hawthorn, embracing the sort of stuff that was anathema to the teams he had previously played in. The new punky small forwards he plays with now - with the obvious exception of his close mate Luke Breust - appear to enjoy their ostentatious goal celebrations to the crowd as much as goals.

“It took a while for me to embrace the younger guys’ celebrations. I learned from ‘Roughy’ and these guys to quickly go straight to your teammates, celebrate with your teammates. And I still do that, it’s just how I’ve gone about it, but the game’s theatre now, it’s all about eyeballs, and it’s showing your personalities and to be who you are. And these young guys, they haven’t convinced me to be able to do it - but I love watching them do it and be themselves and have fun and enjoy playing AFL footy because it’s so stressful,” he said.

Last year he played some good footy, and spent time in the twos, but was good enough to earn another contract. Before the semi-final loss to Port Adelaide, he already had a plan for this year.

He was going to turn everything he did on its head. He had battled a bad back for years and had always been conservative in managing it. Whenever his back flared up he would back off training and slowly build up again. It was a continuous cycle of getting fit enough but never being fully fit and free.

This year was going to be different. Within five days of the final he was on the bike, not on holidays.

“I stripped everything back. I stripped all my weights back, stripped everything and just started from scratch. And it was about building up little muscles - my glutes, my back, wherever it might be, and just building up those muscles from the start and see where I get to.

“A lot of Pilates, lot of training, lot of bike sessions, and I got a movement coach in the off-season which is something I hadn’t done before but was great for balance, stability and strengthening.”

He then went on a training camp to Dallas in the US with a couple of the “young boys”: Dylan Moore, Connor McDonald, Jai Newcombe, Massimo D’Ambrosio, Will Day. They are all young boys when you’re 33.

“I avoided squatting for four years with the back, and this off-season, it’s like, well, let’s try it again. I sort of took this year as a free hit really.” It worked.

“I’m so grateful that I’m still in this position and able to go on again. But for now we’re slowly getting closer. We won a final last year. We’ve given ourselves a chance, [finishing] in the top eight. This year, it’s as even as ever and the boys are hungry.”

On Friday night Jack’s phone will be silent. On Saturday, he’ll run out to play the Giants in an elimination final with his black arm band on. He’ll look to the stands by the forward flank and think of Ray, then give quiet thanks to his dad.