AFL 2023: Fergus Greene on his journey from Western Bulldogs to Box Hill to Hawthorn

Hawthorn was strongly considering giving Fergus Greene his second shot in the AFL, but the Hawks coach needed to hear it from Greene that it was actually what the forward wanted.

After all, Greene had been out of the system for two years, hadn’t played an AFL match in more than four seasons, and in many respects had moved on with his life. He was working full-time as a sales rep, and having missed out in the mid-season draft earlier in the year had all but accepted that his chance had come and gone.

The only thing was, Greene kept kicking goals. Thirty for Box Hill in the abridged VFL season and then another 53 in 2022 to narrowly miss winning the Frosty Miller medal as competition leading goalkicker. Hawthorn had just lost Jack Gunston to Brisbane, so the prospect of a soon-to-be 25-year-old medium forward was alluring.

But it had to be Greene’s call about whether to proceed. Mitchell needed to check.

“He said, ‘there’s a chance, but I had to call and make sure it’s actually what you wanted to do,’” Greene says of that phone call from Mitchell, who had coached him at Box Hill in 2021.

Realistically, it was not a tough choice.

“I think the decision was made once the phone call came,” Greene says.

“Every decision I’d made over the last two years was to try and get back on a list at some point.”

Greene was prepared. But the Hawks still hadn’t committed.

“I didn’t hear anything for a while. That was awful, that silence. I’m an anxious person at the best of times,” Greene adds.

“There was a little bit of interest elsewhere that might have helped get the ball rolling a little bit quicker.”

But Greene was intent on being a Hawk, albeit an AFL one rather than a VFL one.

“My whole goal was to be at Hawthorn if I could get there, purely because of Sam and my relationship with him prior.”

And so come the delisted free agent window, Greene was signed. And with Mitch Lewis sidelined early in the season with a knee injury, a man who hasn’t played an AFL game since round 23, 2018 could end up playing an important role inside the Hawks’ forward 50 come round one.

It would cap a remarkable revival for a player whose last AFL appearance came against a Richmond side that featured Alex Rance. Yes, it was that long ago.

Greene spent four years on the Western Bulldogs list but his five AFL matches to date came inside a month at the tail-end of a forgettable season for the Dogs. He kicked one major in each of those games, showing signs that he could be a competent AFL player.

But injuries cruelled his 2019 season, leaving him with an uphill battle to save his career at Whitten Oval in 2020. Then came the pandemic, and the cards were further stacked against him.

“I really loved my time [at the Dogs]. I made some connections and relationships that I will still have for a long time,” Greene says.

“It was disappointing how it all sort of finished with the hub. I missed a lot of time through injury. With that came frustration.

“Playing those 14, 15 [a side] hub games didn’t give me the best opportunity to showcase what I can do.”

He also had a sense that the Dogs were focusing on what he couldn’t do, rather than what he could.

“I think it was just that physicality defensively, bringing that pressure. I think my intent’s always there, it was probably more technically something that I’ll always try and work on.”

Along came then Box Hill general manager Daniel Napoli and senior assistant Andy Collins. They caught up with Greene and found a footballer at a low ebb.

“They were really big on telling me what they thought I could do, and all my strengths. When you get delisted, you’re told everything you’re really poor at. And you feel quite low personally and in regards to your footy,” Greene says.

“Box Hill were really big on trying to build the confidence back up.

“I think I have real offensive traits that are strengths. I enjoy kicking goals, I have a high workrate.”

The Box Hill-Hawthorn alignment has been the most enduring in the VFL, and the path from Box Hill City Oval to Waverley was well worn. Greene hoped that VFL form could translate to a second opportunity, but drafts came and went without his name being read out.

It was “alarming” for Greene when he received little interest at the end of 2021, leaving Greene to enter 2022 focusing more on a Box Hill premiership than any AFL dream.

But he started the year well again, and his hopes were once more raised. It meant that last year’s mid-season draft was the toughest blow.

“I always felt like if I got the opportunity I could really grab it,” Greene said.

“The mid-season draft came and went, I’d had conversations with Hawthorn in 2021 and 2022, and got passed over. I remember 2022 mid-season that was my last crack at it. That was a really tough night. I don’t think any of the boys at Box Hill knew I’d spoken to Hawthorn. That was a really rough couple of days post-that, thinking I might be done.”

However with the support of partner Sarah and his family, Greene persisted. Then came the phone call, and soon it could be a sixth AFL match.

He’s had to park the sales rep work, and is still living in Yarraville, a fair commute from Waverley. Teammates even try to guess how long it will take him, often nailing it at around 52 minutes.

It’s a small price to pay for a player who despite his limited AFL experience is something of a senior citizen at the young Hawks.

“I’m the eighth-oldest, which is very confronting.

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“I’ve really enjoyed it to this point.

“In terms of the playing group and coaches, I couldn’t be more rapt with the group I’ve landed at. Especially given I have a relationship with a lot of them through Box Hill anyway.

“I’ll do my best to help the team in whatever way I can. ”