Late Hawk hero’s son to debut, stirring high hopes and feelings

Calsher Dear, the teenage son of late Hawthorn premiership player and Norm Smith medallist Paul Dear, will make his debut for the Hawks on Sunday in a rapid ascension since the key forward was drafted last November.

Dear, just 18, has improved rapidly since he was drafted as a father-son with the Hawks’ final pick, No.56, in last year’s national draft, to the point that coach Sam Mitchell handed him his first senior game this Sunday, well ahead of pre-season expectation, against the Bulldogs.

Dear’s first game will be a poignant event for Hawthorn fans, his family and ex-teammates of his father, who died from pancreatic cancer in July 2022.

One of Paul’s teammates, Andy Collins, admits that he felt some emotion when he was told that Calsher, whom Collins has been coaching in his role as Hawthorn’s head of development, would be playing his first senior game this weekend. “When we were told today he would play I became quite emotional about it,” said Collins.

Collins played in the 1991 grand final alongside Paul, whom Collins counted among his closest friends in their post-Hawthorn lives, Collins having persuaded Paul to play for Sandringham when the former was coaching the VFL team in the 1990s.

Collins, thus, is well-placed to compare the father and son, whose uncle Greg Dear rucked in Hawthorn’s 1986, 1988 and 1989 flags.

Hawthorn’s Paul Dear balances the ball on his fingertips in the 1991 grand final.

Calsher, who mixed footy with basketball in his junior days, owns what Collins called “an extraordinary leap” and at 196 centimetres, is both taller and leaner than his heavier-set but skilful dad, who often played – and with surprising efficacy – as an undersized roaming ruckman, at only 188 cm.

Calsher is right-footed, whereas his father had a left hoof and, as Collins recalled, could cover long distances accurately. Collins called Calsher’s kicking “an emerging talent” that needed work.

“He’s a 196 centimetres versatile sort of forward. He has a terrific lead. He has an extraordinary leap. He’s pretty good on ground ball tackling,” Collins said of Dear.

“But he’s got a stronger basketball background than he had a football background in his juniors, although he played footy throughout his juniors, I think basketball was his passion.”

From Beaumaris juniors – the same club that produced his mentor and veteran teammate Jack Gunston – Dear landed at Sandringham Dragons under-18s and in Hawthorn’s father-son program. “Then he’s really improved within that last 12 months.”

Dear had not been in line to play this soon in his career, but circumstances were such that Sam Mitchell has promoted him to replace the team’s absent first-choice key forwards Mitch Lewis and Mabior Chol (suspended). Dear’s performances at Box Hill had quickened brown and gold pulses, too – he’s booted 9.10 from five games, managing 2.4 and 4.2 in the past two games.

“We could flick magnets and we could take backs to forwards,” said Collins of the missing key forwards. “This is the real credit and courage of Sam [Mitchell]. He understands the importance of giving our youth the opportunity to play AFL footy and we know long term we’re going to be better for it.

“He could shift magnets, you know, you could put a [James] Sicily forward, you could put even a Frost forward.

Hawthorn’s draftees Nick Watson, Calsher Dear, Will McCabe and Bodie Ryan.

“And Calsher has had some really good moments at VFL level, but he’s far from a finished product at the moment. But hopefully – and we’ve seen it before – he can come on the footy field and get involved game and that would be a wonderful experience for him.”

“We’ve used Calsher in the ruck occasionally at VFL level. He’s a very courageous young man, you know quite strong mentally, quite resilient and obviously life’s journey has travelled him to this place. He’s a competitor.

“Even last week, he got a really bad knock [to his leg] early in the game and he was a little bit upset by it and in the second half, he really shook it off, when a lot of players may have been looking to come off the field.”

At first hobbled, Calsher showed his mettle. “In the second half, he was extraordinary – and when I say extraordinary, just jumped really hard at the footy, halved a lot of contests,” said Collins.

“He’s very different to his dad, both in mobility, physique, very different to his uncle [Greg]. Mum must’ve had some power because this young boy’s got a bit of leap.”

Paul stood 188 cm and didn’t jump high, despite his unorthodox proficiency in the ruck. He was a footballer, though. “It wasn’t a great strength of his [jumping], it was more about his power and his weight. Paul was very highly skilled particularly on his left side and was a real force,” Collins said.

Calsher’s progress is ahead of projections.

“This is a player that we have great hopes [for] now. When we saw him last year come into the academy, we saw a kid that could jump at the ball. But he’s come on a little bit quicker than any of us thought. It’s a real credit to Arryn Siposs [forwards development coach], Zane Littlejohn, the Box Hill coach, they’ve worked really hard with him, particularly Arryn Siposs.”

Calsher’s mother Cherie and his late father founded a campaign, Dare to Hope, following Paul’s diagnosis of stage four pancreatic cancer in September 2020. Dare to Hope was about finding hope for families and those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. This year’s Easter Monday game between Hawthorn and Geelong was designated by the Hawks as the Dare to Hope game – and while Calsher was not playing in that game, he was, according to Collins, deeply invested in what that day commemorated.

Gunston has invested considerable time in Calsher, too. Fittingly, Gunston was the first to tell Dear that he would be playing this Sunday, the pair sharing not only forward craft, but the trauma of having lost their fathers in 2022.

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