When Hawthorn were amassing three consecutive premierships in 2013-15, a young Cameron Mackenzie was watching from the stands with his dad and younger brother.
A small twist of fate had made him a Hawthorn supporter. His parents being South African were new to football, and when they arrived in Melbourne one of the first people Mackenzie met barracked for Hawthorn – which was enough for him.
He then decided to give them his allegiance too, and, being the oldest child, indoctrinated the rest of the family into the brown and gold, who would watch games together.
Now, in one of those ‘funny how the world spins’ stories, Mackenzie embodies a lot of future promise for fans. Taken at pick seven in last year’s national draft, he’s a key part of his childhood club’s rebuild.
Cameron MackenzieCredit:Getty
“I remember meeting players like Roughy [Jarryd Roughead]. I used to go to the open trainings and get all their autographs … I had a lot of good memories following the Hawks as a kid,” Mackenzie told The Age.
“I never went to any of the grand finals, but always the preliminary finals, I always went to them and there were some absolute classics. I remember the Geelong one and the Port [Adelaide] one, I was just sitting on my seat with Dad and just none of us could watch. It was ridiculous how close it was.”
Similar to the strategy that Hawthorn took which resulted in the three-peat, the club has taken a youthful approach to their current list in the hopes of recreating some of that past success, which involves Mackenzie as a top 10 draft pick.
“Sam’s [Mitchell] been very clear with how we want our future to look. We don’t want to spend time being down the bottom, we want to get back to the top and have success like we had in the past,” Mackenzie said.
“It’s great to be part of a young group so far who’s all eager to have success.”
Hawthorn’s average age heading into 2023 is 22.1 – a significant drop from last year’s 24.4 average, which was the fourth youngest in the league. And it’s an even further cry from 2019, when the club was ranked as the oldest average age per team in the league at 26.5 years.
Mackenzie is joining the ranks of the new generation of Hawks, alongside 21-year-old Jai Newcombe, 24-year-old Mitch Lewis, 19-year-old Josh Ward, 23-year-old Changkuoth Jiath and 24-year-old Ned Reeves, and fellow 18-year-olds following the most recent draft Josh Weddle, Jack O’Sullivan, Henry Hustwaite and Bailey Macdonald.
Helping this number is the retirement of 252-gamer, Hawthorn captain and two-time premiership player Ben McEvoy and 255-gamer and triple-premiership player Liam Shiels last year, along with Jack Gunston, Tom Mitchell and Jaeger O’Meara all finding new homes at rival teams.
Mackenzie admitted it was a bit weird – albeit extremely exciting and cool – to now be coached by one of the people he grew up watching in Sam Mitchell and playing alongside in Luke Breust, the only one left from the golden premiership days.
“It did take a bit to sink in. It’s literally like a dream come true in a way because you grow up following a club, and the fact like I’m now playing for them, it’s hard to believe,” he said.
But the 18-year-old added he wanted to join the club based off his draft interviews with Mitchell, which left him feeling like he’d be able to contribute to the club’s future success.
“Those last couple of [draft] interviews helped … it definitely made me feel like it wasn’t just the club I barrack for, it was also going to be a good club and a welcoming club,” he said.
“We’re a very young group in comparison to other teams and it was sort of amazing to see how much everyone was willing to work and not just the players but also the coaches as well.”
Now he’s in the doors, he’s adamant: “I want to contribute to the club’s success”.
