![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
The notion was relatively obvious: Hawthorn thought it was one midfielder short of a genuine premiership charge. <\/p>\n
Adding the dynamic left-footed Merrett to a core engine room group already boasting Will Day and Jai Newcombe would have elevated the Hawks into premiership favouritism. <\/p>\n
Instead, Newcombe leads from the front with Day sidelined, as Ward and the likes of Cam Mackenzie and Connor Macdonald have been counted on to step up their responsibilities between the arcs. <\/p>\n
But Ward, who says he\u2019s \u201cinternally driven\u201d \u2014 and exhibits shades of Merrett in his own right \u2014 didn\u2019t gain any added personal motivation from the club\u2019s desperate chase of the five-time Crichton medallist. <\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, I\u2019ve got a lot of drive in myself \u2014 regardless of what else is happening \u2014 to become a good player,\u201d Ward told Foxfooty.com.au post-match last Thursday. <\/p>\n
\u201cI really feel like I owe it to the club for their faith in me to become as good a player as I can be. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo, regardless of what the outside noise is \u2026 like, I would have loved him (Merrett) to come to our club, because it would have helped us win.<\/p>\n
AFL face injury crisis to start 2026 | 01:59<\/p>\n
\u201cBut, yeah, I want to be the best player I can be, regardless of what\u2019s happening (externally).\u201d<\/p>\n
No extra kick at all? \u201cNo. I\u2019m internally driven \u2014 that\u2019s what I try to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 22-year-old was one of Hawthorn\u2019s standouts in last Thursday\u2019s comeback win over Sydney, collecting 27 disposals and registering eight score involvements in the 17-point triumph. <\/p>\n
Yet he\u2019s cognisant of the constant need to improve, pointing to his disposal as an improvement area despite the increasing positives in his game. <\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, a bit similar to us as a club,\u201d Ward said of his start to the year. \u201cVery poor first game, wasn\u2019t myself, and I\u2019ve been working really hard to bring the intensity in my game. <\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like the first two games had some positives, but I had so many clangers (last Thursday) as well, I feel like I\u2019ve got a lot of room to get better with my ball use and structure around stoppage. <\/p>\n
\u201cA long way to go for me as well, but I\u2019ll take some positives out of tonight (last Thursday).\u201d<\/p>\n
Who are the Tassie Devils’ top targets? | 00:37<\/p>\n
Figuring out what drives his performance remains a key growth point for Ward, who\u2019s a harsh judge of himself in a sign of his lofty standards. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think just understanding what gets me playing well, which is my intensity around the ball and being able to react quickly to loose balls and having fast feet to put pressure on,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat gets me going, and I learnt a good lesson in GWS \u2014 when that wasn\u2019t on, my whole game wasn\u2019t good enough. So, that\u2019s been a big focus early on.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hawks had answers for everything the Swans threw at them last Thursday, overcoming a four-goal Sydney run-on that almost broke the game wide open in the third term. <\/p>\n
\u201c(The win was) Very satisfying. It\u2019s been a growth area for us \u2014 being able to manage the mental and deal with times when the opposition gets a run on,\u201d Ward said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI thought we were able to respond really well when they were up and about and on top of us. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe were able to stay calm and stick to our process. We had some key players stand up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Victoria clubs out to lure Ben King! | 00:51<\/p>\n
Coach Sam Mitchell pre-game last Thursday wanted to see what \u201cthe real Hawthorn\u201d was, but while the Hawks gave a good account of themselves, Ward knows their mettle will be tested in the long run. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019ve got to keep answering it week in week out. You don\u2019t suddenly become a good side from one game,\u201d Ward said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been able to stack two good games together, but we\u2019ve got a long way to go. So, we\u2019ll find out the answer at the end of the season, really.\u201d<\/p>\n
On finding consistency on a weekly basis, Ward spoke of the challenges of finding \u201cthat fire\u201d after a win, rather than a loss, citing Mitchell\u2019s messaging. <\/p>\n
\u201cSam spoke a lot during the week about how it\u2019s easier to play well after a bad loss, like we had against GWS,\u201d Ward said. <\/p>\n
\u201cAfter that, you spend the week just angry and wanting to make amends, but it\u2019s harder when you play a good game to find that fire. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I think being able to find it however you need to, to be able to get yourself up and get a bit of fire and rage about you before the game. <\/p>\n
\u201cSam said that\u2019s going to be a key for us to keep scoring well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mitchell\u2019s side now has an extended break leading into its traditional Easter Monday clash with Geelong on April 6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Josh Ward could be forgiven for feeling the pinch when Hawthorn strongly pursued Zach Merrett last offseason. Because…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":561826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,689,55,639,11295,82572,276989,276991,276990,10145,276987,2105,2485,7492,129809,1809,3231,19100,33693,681,107022,276988,31727,647,673,677,19095,52519,701,25862,276986,1820,51240,85,90116,670,660,275926,9020],"class_list":["post-561825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-ben-king","tag-coach-sam-mitchell","tag-core-engine-room","tag-desperate-chase","tag-exhibits-shades","tag-garry-lyon","tag-genuine-premiership-charge","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-gold-coast","tag-hawthorn-hawks","tag-improvement-area","tag-injury-crisis","tag-jack-jovanovski","tag-jai-newcombe","tag-james-wiltshire","tag-jon-ralph","tag-josh-ward","tag-key-growth-point","tag-key-players","tag-melbourne","tag-new-south-wales","tag-oceania","tag-preliminary-final","tag-premiership-favouritism","tag-queensland","tag-sam-durham","tag-sam-spoke","tag-score-involvements","tag-senior-games","tag-sports","tag-standout-season","tag-sydney","tag-victoria","tag-victoria-clubs","tag-young-gun"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/561826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}