Delisted Giant and social media star’s honest admission about AFL future  

Delisted GWS wingman Cooper Hamilton hopes to play on in 2025 despite admitting that he’s in a unique place with his football.

The 20-year-old joined the Giants via the Rookie Draft in 2021 and would go on to play eight senior games across 2022 and 2023.

While Hamilton showed promise during his time in orange and charcoal, his most recent season was cruelled by foot injuries as he played just eight VFL games.

Due to those injuries, Hamilton admits he didn’t quite enjoy his football in 2024 and while he hopes to continue playing, he says he wants to find his love for the game again to truly give a career at the top level another crack.

“Yeah, absolutely (I’d like to continue playing),” Hamilton told AFL Trade Radio's The Early Trade.

“I still love football, and I'd love to see what I can do with football, but I'll be honest with you, I haven't been sort of enjoying my football for a long time.

“I've played a couple of games this year, but I was playing while worrying about my foot and stuff like that.

“I need to go to the right place to sort of enjoy football again and sort of find the love for it again.

“As I said, I've got no idea what I'm doing next year. Your guess is probably as good as mine.”

That key injury was a stress reaction in his foot which ultimately led to surgery on his navicular bone.

After spending much of the season on the sidelines, Hamilton today was finally cleared to begin his rehab.

“I actually got told yesterday I can start my rehab finally, it's been about 10 weeks since my surgery on my navicular,” Hamilton said.

“Previous to that, I'd had 10 weeks of doing pretty much nothing to try and de-load it.

“I'm pretty excited that I can finally do something.”

During his time at GWS, Hamilton probably became more well-known for his off-field exploits on social media than his on-field performances.

The youngster became a star for GWS in several hype videos for games produced by the club’s media team and Hamilton says being able to play that character was a great way to take his mind off footy despite dealing with plenty of feedback from opposition fans.

“That was sort of a way for me to switch off from football as a release, I could sort of just take my mind off football,” Hamilton said.

“When the social media guy came to me, I jumped on the opportunity because it was the final series in 2023, we were coming in really hot. We had a lot of momentum, and he just said this is what I want to do. I said, ‘Yeah, I'd love to join in, that’d be so much fun’.

“It gave me a sense of sort of feeling a part of the finals push in the finals campaign and then we sort of gained a bit of traction and people loved it.

“So, we carried it into this season, and I did find it hard, especially at the start of the year when I was playing football and the backlash I was getting while I was playing football.

“There were a lot of comments when I did the Opening Round video for Collingwood or the game against Sydney early in the year when I was playing. That was definitely a lot harder.

“But then once I got injured and realised I wasn't going to be playing again this season, it made it a lot easier.

“I was able to sort of just almost lean into that character more so than being a footballer just because I knew I couldn't contribute very much in any way on the field.

“It was definitely a great way for me to sort of just express another side of me.”

Hamilton’s last AFL game came in Gather Round 2023 against Hawthorn where he picked up 16 disposals.