<p>Welcome to The Huddle’s AFL Finals previews!</p> <p>After the tightest and craziest season ever, we are finally down to the final eight teams that will battle it out for this year’s premiership.</p> <p>As we gear up for all the September action, it’s time to look at and preview all the teams that have qualified for the AFL Finals in 2024.</p> <p>After a remarkable rise from a zero-five start to the year, the Hawks have flown into the finals for the first time since 2018. Let’s see how they shape up ahead of their return to September.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Hawthorn’s Road to the AFL Finals</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>It looked for all money like another year of growing pains with flashes of brilliance for Sam Mitchell down at Waverley. Until it wasn’t.</p> <p>The ‘Hokball’ phenomenon kicked off on a Sunday afternoon at the start of May against the Lions at Marvel Stadium. It was their second win of the season but it kickstarted the Cinderella story of the year.</p> <p>The young, brash, goal-celebration laden Hawks, started taking claiming scalps here, there, and everywhere. There were a couple of heartbreaking losses in their middle of the season run but it didn’t stop the exuberance showing through.</p> <p>After living much of the season in 13th position, largely due to how even the competition had been, A statement 66-point win against Collingwood at the MCG proved that the Hawks were a fair-dinkum footy side already.</p> <p>They won their last six home-and-away games by an average 66-points each to storm into the finals. In doing so, they've become just the third team in VFL/AFL history to make the finals from a 0-5 start, and emerge as a premiership fancy from outside the top four.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Players to Watch</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3>Jai Newcombe</h3> <p>Not too long ago, Newcombe was running around playing for Poowong in local footy. Now he’s leading the midfield pack at the Hawks in preparation for the biggest game of his life.</p> <p>His last month of the season has been his most profitable when it comes to winning the ball and is ranked eighth in the competition for total stoppage clearances, franking his standing in the game.</p> <p>You get the feeling though, the higher the stage, the higher the floor gets with him.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3>Dylan Moore</h3> <p>The vice-captain of the Hawks is quite possibly the most dangerous player on the ground for the opposition team to keep tabs on.</p> <p>He can kick a goal from everywhere, he’s fleet of foot, and he isn’t afraid to put his head in the hole when the going is tough and win a hard ball.</p> <p>He’s a matchup that coaches must get right, otherwise, he’ll make you pay.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3>Jack Ginnivan</h3> <p>For all the fanfare and headlines that Jack Ginnivan has created in his short career to date, he’s largely let his football do the talking at his first season at his boyhood club.</p> <p>25 goals from 21 games and as the season progressed, he’s started to find more and more of the footy. Including a damaging 31 possession, two-goal game against his former side Collingwood.</p> <p>One of the leaders of the Hawks’ “rascal pack,” He’ll pop up and do something amazing this finals series.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Why Hawthorn can win the AFL Grand Final</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>It’s often said it’s impossible to win the flag from outside the top four. The numbers since the turn of the century have backed that up.</p> <p>But what if, of all the teams that have qualified, the team playing the best football is sitting in the bottom half of the top eight and needs to run the table to win the flag.</p> <p>That’s Hawthorn. They’ve built and built throughout the year and when teams around them faltered, they surged past them.</p> <p>They enter the finals series with the least finals games experience on their list but, like most other things this season, which won’t phase them one bit.</p> <p>Prediction: Whoever comes out of the Dogs/Hawks Elim Final can make the Grand Final.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>How Many Premierships do Hawthorn Have?&nbsp;</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>13. Most recent AFL Premiership – 2015.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Hawthorn’s AFL Premiership Odds</h2>