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Full Noise by SN
Clubs will circle: Why aren't Hawthorn picking Calsher Dear?
Harry Cumming • April 1st, 2026 9:11 pm
Son-of-a-gun Calsher Dear has had a tricky to start the season having been left out of the side for Hawthorn’s first three matches.
Dear has shown glimpses that he could become one of the game’s premier key forwards with his aerial prowess and reliable goalkicking technique.
However, a number of injury setbacks have hampered his career so far with back stress fractures and a more recent hamstring injury that saw him miss Hawthorn’s semi-final and Preliminary Final last year.
Hawthorn also is spoilt for choice when it comes to key forwards and big men with the age-defying Jack Gunston, Mitch Lewis and Mabior Chol all ahead of Dear.
Garry Lyon raised Dear's omission on SEN Breakfast and discussed with Tim Watson what’s next for the young forward.
Lyon: “This is a player that has at times looked like he's ready to rip apart that Hawthorn forward line and now he can't get a game.”
Watson: “He's got to force his way in like a lot of young players do from time to time.”
Lyon: “They're playing Lloyd Meek and Ned Reeves, so they're playing two ruckman and then playing Chol and Lewis.
Watson: “I think at some point they'll probably investigate another way of playing Dear, but at the moment he's got Gunston ahead of him, he's got Chol ahead of him, and he's got Lewis ahead of him as the three talls, so they can't play another.
“You're not suggesting in any way that he might be superfluous to what Hawthorn are trying to build now?”
Lyon: “Well there's an article in ‘The Moneyball’, which is the part of the Herald Sun that is dedicated to what's going to happen at the end of the year, which is an interesting concept in itself.
“But the fact that he can't get a game at the moment means that the boys on ‘The Moneyball’ are saying that other clubs are starting to circle.
“He's kicked 35 goals from 26 games, and they clearly want him to be in their best 23 if he's up to it, but right now he's not there, and I just wonder what's going on with him.”
Watson: “He's a super talent but he had an injury, so that probably set him back a bit, and now he's got to fight…there's no doubt that Hawthorn aren't entertaining the idea in any way that they would trade him.
“But it's not a bad thing for somebody to have to really fight their way into a team.
“It can serve you well, it can be the making of you as a player to understand the value of getting a game at an AFL club.”
Lyon: I wonder in this modern day though, are players prepared to do that for too long, or are we living in this era where they go, ‘Ok, well if you're not going to play me, I'm going to move on and find someone that will.’
“Key forwards are so sought after, Ben King's going to receive all sorts of offers somewhere along the line, but Calsher Dear, if he's not getting a regular game somewhere along the line, both he and his manager and opposition clubs are going to have a look at it and maybe try and wrench him out of there.”
Dear has had a mixed start to the season playing VFL at the Box Hill Hawks with 2.2 in Round 1 before being held scoreless last weekend against the Geelong VFL side. He will need some strong performances to put pressure on the forwards currently in the Hawthorn side.
