Nick Hall will return for his 5th year with the Harden Hawks in 2026. Nick’s experience, dedication, and passion for the club have been invaluable.
The Harden Hawks have secured the return of head coach Nick Hall for the 2026 season, marking his fifth year at the helm of the George Tooke Shield club. The announcement brings stability to the club following a period of unprecedented consistency that has included back-to-back Grand Final appearances.
Hall’s tenure has been defined by success, though the ultimate silverware has remained tantalisingly out of reach. In his four seasons, the Hawks have made the semi-finals every year, capping the last two with heartbreaking defeats in the Grand Final, both times at the hands of rivals Bungendore.
Despite the close calls, Hall insists the team is still on a clear “upward trajectory” and sees no reason to step away. “I love coaching and I go to training every Tuesday and Thursday, and I’m looking forward to it,” Hall stated.
“The job never weighs on me. The guys never weigh me. Challenges never weigh me; well, challenges weigh a little bit, but they don’t persuade me to it.”
The Culture Carrier
Hall identifies his core philosophy as being a “culture type coach,” arguing that long-term stability is essential for success in local leagues.
“I try to create an atmosphere, I try to live an atmosphere, I try to continue an atmosphere and culture coaches need to come and stay,” he explained.
“You can try to set a culture, walk away, and it falls apart, so I’m trying to be there and have good fun, good footy, good discipline, good people, good everything. It’s the goal.”
He views the team’s progress as a patient, brick-by-brick construction, asserting that the team hasn’t yet reached its full potential.
“You do a lot of hard work setting your team up and getting the culture… and then generally you are under coaching, right? You can’t do all the tricks you got because you’re not ready for that,” Hall said.
“It takes years to ultimately see the sort of footy we could be playing, and we’re not there yet.”
Grand Final Pride, Not Regret
Reflecting on the consecutive Grand Final losses, Hall maintained a perspective of pride rather than despair, using the results as a selling point for the club.
“We are very proud of how far we’ve come. Two grand finals in two years, that’s very hard,” he noted. “It’s not a loss losing a Grand Final, it is, but it’s a good result. It’s hard to get to a Grand Final, and this is a very competitive comp, so I’m proud of getting to Grand Finals.”
This success has naturally attracted interest. “Players want to come and be part of that,” he said. “We’ll freshen up and we’ll have another go at it.”
Recruitment and Retention
Looking to 2026, Hall expects a high rate of retention among his current squad of 25-26 players, though he anticipates a small level of “attrition with work and life and old age.”
He confirmed the club is looking at one or two new faces, but recruitment in the George Tooke competition remains a grounded affair. “There’s one or two names we’ve looked at bringing in. You can’t do too much in George Tooke. You are not going to bring in NRL players,” Hall cautioned. “Nothing really gets cracking till January, February anyway, so nothing’s really committed till then.”
The coach praised the current squad’s unity: “They are a tight group, they’ve got each other’s back, they are all pushing in one direction. There’s no stuffing around. If there are any issues, they just talk about it, they deal with it, and they move on.”
With Hall’s commitment locked in, the Harden Hawks will continue their pursuit of the coveted title, confident that their strong culture and collective discipline will eventually yield the ultimate reward.
“Definitely want to win it, and I guess one day we will do that,” he concluded.
– Tully Potts
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