Young Hawk misses selection after inconsistent pre-season

Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell admits that young tall forward Calsher Dear is down on confidence this pre-season.

Dear was left out of Hawthorn’s 26-man side to face the Western Bulldogs in Friday night’s AAMI Community Series clash, leading SEN Breakfast’s Kane Cornes to ask the Hawks coach about where the 20-year-old is currently at.

Mitchell says that Dear wasn’t picked due to him not quite being at his best this summer due to a limited pre-season, adding that he’s ‘up against it’ to get picked for the club’s Opening Round clash against GWS.

While Dear was left out, Mitchell says that rebounding defender Karl Amon’s omission was simply due to load management at this stage of the pre-season.

Cornes: “I went through your team that you named for tonight's game against the Dogs with an eagle eye last night, and there’s a couple of obvious ones we need to touch on. 

“There’s no Calsher Dear, what's the go there? Have you not been happy with his form in pre-season or not?”

Mitchell: “He probably hasn't quite been at his best. We’ve got quite a few tools in the front half, and we’re looking at trying to get the mix right.

“He's just down a little bit of confidence, just currently. He's obviously been a little bit limited with his pre-season.

“I'd expect to see him in the side fairly soon, but he’s probably up against it for Opening Round at this stage, but nothing's too late.”

Cornes: “Karl Amon is the other one, is he just sore? Where is he at?”

Mitchell: “He's just management. He's got some ongoing long-term knee stuff, which we just manage really carefully with him. 

“He's an absolute pro. He played a fair bit of game time last week, and he didn't really need the run this week. 

“He's pretty confident that he's ready to go. So we’ve just taken him out for this one.”

Hawthorn’s AAMI Community Series clash against the Bulldogs begins at 7:10pm at the Whitten Oval on Friday night. 

Listen to the AFL Nation call of the game LIVE on SEN from 7:00pm.