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“All-Australian certainty”: Gunston’s awe-inspiring renaissance
Andrew Slevison • August 18th, 2025 1:16 pm
Hawthorn veteran Jack Gunston is putting forward a compelling case to be named in this year’s All-Australian team.
The 33-year-old has well and truly wound the clock back in 2025, booting a career-high 60 goals from 19 games which has him sitting second to Jeremy Cameron (79) in the Coleman Medal.
Gunston’s previous best season goal tally came in 2014 when he kicked 58 in 23 outings and he has bypassed with at least a few fixtures left given the Hawks will play finals.
He kicked 7.4 in the Hawks’ 36-point win over Melbourne at the MCG on Saturday which was his third bag of six or more this season.
Pondering what the three-time premiership forward has been able to achieve in the twilight of his career, Gerard Whateley admits he is in awe of Gunston and believes he should make a second All-Australian team.
“The best season of his career. He’s kicked 60 goals, it’s a remarkable story,” he said on SEN’s Whateley.
“He has been consistently excellent with this performance right at the end to stamp himself as an All-Australian certainty.
“This is the season that Tom Hawkins had in 2022 when he was All-Australian captain after kicking 67 goals.
“Gunston look finished at Brisbane and he came back to Hawthorn for a greater good. Then he has this season.
“I am in awe of the season that he has put together.”
All-Australian selector Nathan Buckley was equally awestruck by what the former Adelaide Crow has done this year.
He says Gunston’s name has certainly been discussed at All-Australian selection meetings.
“It is the epitome of a renaissance,” Buckley said.
“The journey up to Brisbane and back, the team success in his early years and then to be back playing a selfless role initially with trying to bring this forward line together.
“Then he becomes the spearhead again through accident really. If Mitch Lewis was available, if they’d had their full choice of forward mix then Gunston probably would have played a different role considering the evolution of this team.
“That’s not the way life works, there’s always things that shuffle and change and he’s just made the most of it and been brilliant.
“You’re looking at him with Mitch Georgiades, Jamie Elliott and Ben Long playing similar roles, you could probably throw Isaac Heeney in.
“As a selector I can’t tell you which way I would go but he’s obviously been right up there in our conversations.”
Kane Cornes also spoke glowingly of Gunston who came into Sam Mitchell’s team in Round 3 against GWS after being used as the sub the week prior.
He says the seven-goal bag on the weekend is one of the bets individual performances of the 2025 season.
“At the MCG on Saturday Jack Gunston took five marks inside forward 50 in the first quarter alone on Steven May,” Cornes said on SEN’s Fireball.
“He absolutely made him look foolish in one of the best individual quarters and games that I’ve seen this year.
“You could make a case that it is the most impressive individual performance of the season. 33 years of age, has kicked a career-high (60 goals).
“You think of that amount of good footy he’s played, in 2014 he kicked 58 and he’s beaten that with a game to go.
“Seven goals on the weekend, an extraordinary performance. What a bonus it is for the Hawks.”
The Hawks, who sit fifth, take on the club Gunston had a brief dalliance with, the Brisbane Lions, at the Gabba on Sunday night.
A win could see them finish in the top four, provided other results go their way. A loss could potentially see them fall to as low as eighth, but that also depends on other results.
