Nick Watson takes terrific mark during Hawthorn Hawks AFL training at Waverley Park

The AFL season does not start for six weeks so somebody better tell Nick Watson.

The “Wizard” took a screamer of mark during Hawks training on Thursday as stunned teammates watched one during a simulation match at Waverley Park.

It was an ominous sign to rivals that the Hawks may be better than the dark horse outfit of 2024 that stormed into the finals.

“Most insane training clip I’ve ever seen,” the Hawks wrote in the video post.

Channel 7 AFL expert and commentator shared the clip simply asking ”This AI?” to his X followers.

Wtson kicked 25 golas in his second season with the Hawks and was instrumental in Hawthorn making the top eight and winning their elimination final over the Bulldogs before losing spiteful encounter to Port Adelaide in the semifinal.

Last month Watson said he had his sights set on “revenge” against Power who Hawthorn will play in Adelaide during Gather Round.

The Power were fined $20,000 for coach Ken Hinkley’s taunting of Hawks players after the siren in his side’s tense three-point semifinal victory in September.

“I think everyone’s pretty keen to get their revenge back,” Watson said in December.

Hinkley launched a verbal attack on Jack Ginnivan and was involved in a fiery exchange with James Sicily as the two teams lined up for a guard of honour for 300-gamer Luke Breust.

The fallout dragged on, with Sicily later decrying Hinkley’s actions, while Hinkley admitted he regretted approaching Ginnivan and was punished by the league for “conduct unbecoming”.

Hinkley traced his reaction back to Ginnivan’s social media comment before the match, which, he said, fuelled Port’s motivation for the sudden-death final.

Ginnivan, responding to an Instagram post by Sydney ruckman Brodie Grundy, wrote “see u in 14 days”, referring to the preliminary finals.

The AFL jumped on the storyline, scheduling the next meeting between the sides as a blockbuster finish to Gather Round in April.

It is one of a suite of prime-time fixtures the “Hollywood Hawks’‘ have been handed in 2025 after emerging as the competition’s great entertainers last season.

“Definitely a couple of the early games, and that Gather Round clash against Port will be pretty good,” Watson said.

“Just because of what they did to us last year.”

After a stunning surge back into the top eight last season, Hawthorn shape as genuine premiership contenders under Sam Mitchell next year.

The Hawks have been bolstered by high-profile additions Josh Battle and Tom Barrass, and are eager to make a mark early in the season to set up a flag push.

“The (hunger’s) definitely there and it’s just good to see everyone’s faces back (at pre-season training) and smiling,” Watson said.

“We’ve got two big recruits in Battle and Barrass to (supplement) our back-line.

“We had a strong year last year, but we’re not satisfied yet. We’ve all got that hunger and desire to go one better, and that all starts from now really.”

The 19-year-old is eager to improve his consistency and stay injury-free in 2025, saying he is putting more time into his recovery and preparation, while hoping to enjoy the benefits of a full pre-season campaign over summer.

“I obviously had a few hiccups during my first season, but (I just want) to improve off that,” Watson said.

“It’s my second year now, so hopefully I can go a bit better than last year.”

Watson and Ginnivan cancelled a planned kids’ football clinic in October, calling in sick the morning after Hawthorn’s best-and-fairest event.

Watson brushed off a question about the incident on Wednesday, while helping unveil “The Nth Pole’‘ family Christmas activation at Marvel Stadium.

“I’m not going to go into too much detail about that, but there’s definitely rescheduling and hopefully we can do it some time soon,” he said.

With AAP