By JARROD POTTER
SLOTTING his first AFL goal in front of friends and family will forever remain a great highlight for Hawthorn debutant Billy Hartung.
While his first shot on goal veered off target, by his own admission of getting caught up thinking about the celebration afterwards, Hartung didn’t falter on his second go – running into goal against St Kilda last Saturday – and loved hearing the MCG and his Hawthorn team mates roar with joy for his achievement.
“In the second quarter I missed an easy one and it was pretty disappointing, I was thinking about what I was going to do after I kicked it and that didn’t happen,” Hartung said.
“Later on I got on the end of one of Hodgey’s handballs inside-50 and kicked my first one and was pretty happy about that.
“I loved how the boys got around me and it made me feel pretty good to cap off a great debut game and help win it for the team.”
The whole week leading up to the clash and the match itself – Hawthorn’s 145-point drubbing of St Kilda last weekend – took the wily former Mornington/Dandenong Stingrays midfielder/wingman by surprise as he thought he was another week or more off a debut.
“I was pretty surprised – I didn’t know I was going to get the call up,” Hartung said.
“The week before that against Richmond I was the carry over player, the emergency, so I didn’t get to play VFL or AFL and I thought that might put me back in VFL to play another week.
“I was lucky enough that I got the call up against St Kilda – I was excited and nervous at the same time, but a bit more excited to get the debut game in front of family and friends in Melbourne.”
As far as debuts go, Hartung’s will rank among the top AFL echelons as he snared 26 possessions along with kicking his first AFL goal to go with it.
It is even more remarkable as he started the game as the substitute and waited until an unfortunate injury ruled out club legend Sam Mitchell and brought Hartung into the action.
“I was pretty surprised with how it all turned out – I couldn’t have played a better debut game myself,” Hartung said.
“I didn’t know I was going to get subbed on so early – I saw Mitchell get brought to the bench with a bit of a hobble.
“It was nice to get on early obviously instead of later in the game so I could get a bit more of a feel for the game.”
Hartung is living the schoolboy fantasy as an AFL footballer and has cherished his dream start in the senior ranks.
His next hope is to maintain his place in the Hawthorn team and make sure he doesn’t travel between the senior team and their VFL affiliate Box Hill.
“More so I just want to play consistent footy so I can keep my spot in the team,” Hartung said.
“I don’t want to come in there, play a couple of games, then go back to VFL – I want to consolidate a spot and there’s a few injuries around at the moment so I’ve got a good opportunity.”
Hartung held his spot this week and performed ably when the sub vest was taken off, gaining seven possessions and three marks in Hawthorn’s 19-point loss to Sydney.
