Dylan Moore’s mates jokingly ask the star Hawk the same question every time Hawthorn play Gold Coast these days.
“Are you going to thank them after you run out on the field?”
Dylan Moore signed a new contract with Hawthorn this week.Credit:Joe Armao
They are, of course, referencing Moore’s career-saving, 25-disposal performance in the final round of the AFL’s infamous COVID-crunched season spent in quarantine hubs in 2020.
The 23-year-old’s career was on life support, to the point the club’s then list boss, Graham Wright, sat him down in the Barossa Valley, where the Hawks were staying, with a fortnight left in the season, to tell him he could not guarantee his spot for the next year.
Worse was to come, with Moore – who this week re-signed for three years, after being one of the league’s most-coveted free agents – subsequently given a lesson by Bulldog Caleb Daniel.
Moore, playing as a defensive forward, won nine disposals. Daniel racked up 28, kicked a goal and had seven inside 50s. The umpires gave him two Brownlow Medal votes for good measure.
Dylan Moore has become one of Hawthorn’s most influential players on and off the field.Credit:AFL Photos
“That’s when I thought my career was done. I’d turned into a tagger,” Moore told the Sunday Age.
“Luckily, I think it was [Daniel Howe]; he got a corkie, so he didn’t play the last game, and that allowed me to play. That’s when they said, ‘Go to half-forward, and play how you want this game’, so it helped me a lot and freed my mind a bit.
“I wanted to give it my all, and I was like, ‘I’m going to be cooked at half-time’. If I wasn’t going to get a contract, at least I was going to know I left everything out there.
“I’ve got to thank Gold Coast, in a way, because I don’t think they showed up much that day. It was [Luke] Breust or [Paul] Puopolo who said, ‘They don’t want to be here’ – and it triggered me. I’d already had a few touches by then, and I was determined to make a game for myself.”
Moore did keep his list spot, in large part due to that Suns match (as well as, he suspects, for being genial off-field), but had to wait until almost December for his one-year lifeline as the Hawks’ 38th signing, days ahead of the delayed draft.
His mindset transformed forever, including jotting down a few goals he wanted to achieve. To start with, Moore wanted to become Hawthorn’s best trainer – meaning he would no longer be selective about when he gave maximum effort – and he would treat every match like it was his last.
Then came the more specific ones: the Eastern Ranges and Caulfield Grammar graduate wanted to play every senior game in 2021 and finish top 10 in the Hawks’ best and fairest.
Moore happily shares those goals now, given everything that followed. He made 42 appearances across the past two seasons, placed fifth then third in Hawthorn’s club champion award, and was the sole player in the AFL to average at least 20 disposals and 1.2 goals last year.
Moore possibly would have been anonymous at the end of 2020 without the brown and gold on. Now, minutes before speaking to the Sunday Age, he was congratulated for his new contract and stopped for multiple “selfies” – the modern-day proof you have made it.
But Moore thinks differently, even though he appreciates being able to put a smile on a fan’s face, like Cyril Rioli and Luke Hodge used to do for him with a simple high-five.
“I’ve achieved nothing in my career, to be honest,” he said.
“If I had to give the game away today; I would have played 52 games and come top five in a couple of best and fairests, but what have I achieved?
“Individually, I’ve achieved some of what I’ve wanted to achieve, but as a team, I haven’t. I want to leave the game as a premiership player – and an All-Australian.”
Moore is unsure exactly when the Hawks will contend again, but he stuck around not just because he grew up supporting them. Under second-year coach Sam Mitchell, he believes they are building something special.
That is why Moore told his agent, TLA Australia’s Dylan Hodge, younger brother of his former idol Luke, not to even tell him if rivals inquired.
Where others saw problems in last week’s training scuffle between James Sicily and Sam Butler in Morwell, Moore loved the intensity and physicality they all want Hawthorn to adopt. Dare he say it, the “unsociable Hawks” are coming back.
“I truly believe I’ve got a great opportunity here to play in grand finals and enjoy premiership success,” he said.
“Geelong’s closer to the next premiership than us, but I feel like we’re closer to our next dynasty.
“People will probably laugh at that, but you see the rise of some of our players – we’ve got Mitch Lewis, who, two years ago, people wondered whether he was going to be a good key forward, and now he’s probably a top-five key forward in the game. Jai Newcombe burst onto the scene, too.
“We saw what Sydney did, and everyone’s been talking about Collingwood [last season]. I don’t know if it will be next year, or the year after that, but I feel like some time in the next five years, we’re going to be very successful.”
Moore’s extraordinary rise has been especially noticed internally. Fringe teammates facing the axe started approaching him mid-season the past two years trying to find out his secrets.
There have also been other subtle changes in his standing at Waverley Park this pre-season.
“Jack O’Sullivan, a small forward who we just drafted, comes up to me during training sometimes and asks, ‘What were you thinking there? What were you doing there?’, whereas usually, everyone goes to Luke Breust,” Moore said.
“He still goes to Breust, but a couple of guys are starting to come to me; just to ask about football as a whole.
“It’s cool because Breust’s been part of the reason why I’ve been able to regenerate my career and become a solid AFL player. He’s really helped me, so if I can do that for someone else; that makes me really happy.
“I know in three, four or five years’ time, to win a premiership, we’re going to need people younger than me to be our star players, so if I can help one of them become a little better, I’ll feel like I’ve done my bit.”
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