T he Nick Watson moment came on Dustin Martin’s day. Michael Willson’s photo of Martin exiting the MCG captured the man, the moment and the mood.
Halfway through the first quarter, he anticipated a spilling ball, collected it at full speed, took a bounce, absconded around the boundary line and hit up Dylan Moore with a weighted kick.
Mark Thompson insisted Geelong should never draft any player under 180cm, a rule he reluctantly broke for Matthew Stokes. Early in that 2024 season, when Hawthorn had lost six of their first seven games and Watson was injured, there was talk that they may have blown such a high pick.
Hawks coach Sam Mitchell has his own criteria when assessing young prospects – he looks for players who are equally proficient handballing with both hands and who can turn on a dime. Watson trained at Hawthorn in the pre-season before he was drafted and Mitchell loved him straight away. All the things evident in that one passage of play against Richmond were evident in Hawthorn’s summer drills, and had been there through the entirety of his junior career.
Every Hawthorn game is now replete with these moments. In the second drawn game against Collingwood, Isaac Quaynor guarded him at stoppages like a security guard watching for shoplifters. Quaynor had the most minor of stumbles, and Watson already had 20 metres on him.
The first came when Walker momentarily lost contact with him, Watson motored in on his blind spot, parted a pack of Dockers, and volleyed a goal at full pelt.