IT WAS all about Poowong when Channel 7’s Matty Richardson, Daisy Thomas and Rebecca Madden interviewed Hawthorn sensation Jai Newcombe after the big semi-final win against Adelaide on Friday night.
They wanted to hear about his unconventional journey on to an AFL list again and how he thought the people back at the Poowong Hotel might be feeling on the night after the way he played and how Hawthorn brought it home.
“Yeah, there’s a pretty good pub at Poowong. Good I hope,” he said of the hometown response.
And did any family members and friends make the trip over to Adelaide?
Parents Clint and Heather Newcombe were there, they’ve hardly missed a game, said Jai.
His pop John (who taught him everything he knows), girlfriend Georgia and quite a few others.
And also, Poowong legend Rudi Mandemaker, who knows a thing or two about Hawthorn, after being recruited by the Hawks from Poowong, and also Adelaide, after being traded to Central Districts as part of the John Platten move to Victoria.
Both parts of that trade paid off with Platten’s role at Hawthorn well known and Mandemaker making his mark at Centrals across seven seasons, topping their goal kicking for six seasons and winning the league goal-kicking award with 93 goals in 1989.
He was even named on the Adelaide Crows inaugural list in 1991.
And how did Jai get to Hawthorn from Poowong when he was passed up for selection by Gippsland Power, held back by the COVID years and missed out in the AFL draft?
“There were a lot of good players around at the time like Sam Flanders, Caleb Serong and others, but hopefully I’m starting to catch up with them a bit now. I was added to Gippsland Power as a 19-year-old but there were no games because of COVID and I missed the opportunity there.”
And why do you think you were overlooked, asked Daisy.
“I was a bit small at that stage and had a growth spurt later,” said Jai.
Fortunately, however, he was asked down to try out for the Boxhill Hawks in 2020, made his VFL debut in 2021 and was added to the Hawthorn list at pick no.2 in the midseason draft.
In a whirlwind start to his AFL career, he debuted against Sydney in Round 13 in 2021 at the Sydney Cricket Ground and immediately made a huge impression with a record 14 tackles on debut and the rest is history, playing 100 games for the Hawks across five seasons.
He got the Hawks going against Adelaide on Friday night, with seven first quarter clearances, finishing with 28 possessions, three marks, three tackles and a goal with 408 metres gained despite coming in for closer attention from his Adelaide opponents the further game went.
And if you thought he was getting a few easy questions from Daisy Thomas, you’d probably be right, and the fact that they both attended Drouin Secondary College in their youth, obviously years apart, might be the reason.
Was it Newcombe’s best game for Hawthorn? Probably. And he certainly handles himself well behind the microphone.
