Ethan Phillips has revealed that Hawthorn moved quite swiftly to add him to the senior list last week.
The 24-year-old defender was added by the Hawks via the Pre-Season Supplementary Selection Period (SSP) after James Blanck’s 2024 season was prematurely ended due to an ACL injury sustained in last week’s intra-club practice match.
Phillips acknowledges it was sad to see fellow VFL product Blanck go down, but is happy to take his opportunity after the Hawks made immediate plans to sign him as an SSP.
“As soon as ‘Blancky’ went down with his knee, the recruiting team called my manager pretty much straight away and organised a medical whilst the game was still going on,” he said on SEN Breakfast.
“I went in for a medical on the Friday, caught up with the recruiting team on Saturday morning and then ‘Mitch’ (Sam Mitchell) called me Saturday afternoon with the good news. So it all moved pretty quickly.
“It was terrible with Blancky going down. I was shattered for him, you don’t want to wish anything like that on a bloke on the eve of the season.
“But it’s funny how footy works and here’s my opportunity. There’s not a lot of excuses now, I get to put my full effort into it.
“I just really want to prove a lot of people wrong and show them that I am good enough top play at the level, because there’s been a lot of doubters over the years.”
Phillips divulged how the welcome conversation with Mitchell played out.
“He just asked me, if I wanted to, that they’ve got a spot for me,” he added.
“Of course I told him I wanted to, that I’ve been waiting a long time for it. It was good and exciting news.”
In finding his way onto Hawthorn’s AFL list, the former Port Melbourne backman continued an extraordinary streak.
The last 17 winners of the Fothergill-Round-Mitchell Medal (the VFL’s most promising young talent) have now won a spot on an AFL list, dating back to Jason Davenport in 2006.
Phillips won the award in 2022 and thankfully has kept that streak going.
“I was copping a fair bit of crap from mates over the years being the one who broke the streak, but I couldn’t be happier with how it all played out,” Phillips added.
“I wouldn’t change a thing, to be honest. I’ve got an opportunity now and I’m ready to take it.”
The 197cm intercept defender says he is looking forward to taking on such star forwards as Geelong’s Tom Hawkins and Richmond’s Tom Lynch when he finally cracks it in the big time.
“They’d be two of the biggest names still kicking around and they’re obviously in great form,” he said further.
“I’d love an opportunity to play on them, especially on ‘Tommahawk’ (Hawkins) on the Easter Monday game. That’s one game I definitely want to put my best foot forward to try and play.”
Hawthorn legend Gary Ayres, who coached Phillips at Port Melbourne, has seen him improve his game over the course of the last few years.
Ayres outlined the key aspects of his game and how Phillips has stepped up from his early days with the Borough.
“They’ve got a really good kid,” Ayres said on SEN’s Sportsday.
“He will give everything that he’s got in his repertoire and all the attributes which are his intercept marking and reading of the play.
“Clearly he’s been able to ply that trade in the VFL. He’s been able to come in as pretty much a ready-made player.
“His kicking needed some work and clearly that’s got better over the last couple of years.
“The pace as well was probably another issue, and I guess you can make up for that if you can read the play well. They were the two areas.
“But consistency was an attribute that he developed over the last few years.
“Let’s hope he gets an opportunity to do that on the big stage.”
Phillips will be hoping he can win a starting spot in Mitchell’s side when they meet the Western Bulldogs in a practice match at the Whitten Oval this Friday.