{"id":209816,"date":"2026-03-17T16:13:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T06:13:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/?p=209816"},"modified":"2026-03-17T16:13:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T06:13:34","slug":"preseason-qa-harry-van-hattum-northern-knights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/2026\/03\/17\/preseason-qa-harry-van-hattum-northern-knights\/","title":{"rendered":"Preseason Q&amp;A: Harry Van Hattum (Northern Knights)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>NORTHERN Knights ruck <a data-type=\"player\" data-id=\"165101\" class=\"_dc_spo\" href=\"\/afl\/player\/harry-van-hattum\/\" target=\"_blank\">Harry Van Hattum<\/a> not only owns one of the most eye-catching names in this year&#8217;s draft crop, but shapes as a potential pick one wildcard. The towering tall has grown to 205cm, which is bad news for the opposition as he looks to further impose his power on the Talent League.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A talented junior basketballer, Van Hattum made the decision to pursue footy after making Under 16 representative sides for both sports in 2024. He has gone on to become the Knights&#8217; first choice ruck and earned a Vic Metro berth last year, before being inducted into the 2026 National Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>We sat down for an interview with Van Hattum at the recent Talent League preseason testing combine.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EQSLFHOoVpI?si=cHIvS1-ATpXkRssX\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-preseason-q-amp-a\">PRESEASON Q&amp;A<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Q: Harry, can you walk through your footy journey and how you got started?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>HVH: <\/strong>My dad got me started, playing for St Mary\u2019s juniors. Then obviously into Knights Futures and Knights 18s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Q: Did you play any other sport growing up?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>HVH: <\/strong>I played basketball until the end of 2024, and had to make the decision to quit that and just stick with footy, but I love that too\u2026\u00a0 I played Vic Metro Under 14s and Under 16s, but after that I had to quit and just play footy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Q: How has the preseason been, having opportunities with Vic Metro and the National Academy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>HVH: <\/strong>It\u2019s been really good. Through the National Academy I went to New Zealand, that was an awesome experience. Then I got to go to Collingwood through the Academy as well, so I got to go there for a week which was obviously an unreal experience as well. Good to learn off those experienced boys. It\u2019s been a really solid injury-free preseason, so hopefully [I\u2019m] set up for a good year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Q: Who took you under their wing at Collingwood?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>HVH: <\/strong>Big \u2018Darce\u2019, <strong>Darcy Cameron<\/strong> took me under his wing a bit. I&#8217;ve learned heaps off him, so that was really handy for me. Probably <strong>Billy Frampton<\/strong> as well, I learned heaps off him too. Yeah, that&#8217;s been really good experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Q: What kind of goals have you set for yourself this year?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>HVH: <\/strong>Obviously the ultimate goal is to get drafted end of the year, but just to have a consistent [season] throughout all the different levels &#8211; through Knights, Metro, and Academy as well. Just have a good, solid baseline throughout all that and hopefully have a consistent year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"684\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.central.rookieme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Harry-Van-Hattum-NK-2025-CTL-1024x684.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-199962\" srcset=\"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Harry-Van-Hattum-NK-2025-CTL-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Harry-Van-Hattum-NK-2025-CTL-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Harry-Van-Hattum-NK-2025-CTL-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Harry-Van-Hattum-NK-2025-CTL-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Harry-Van-Hattum-NK-2025-CTL-2048x1367.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Harry-Van-Hattum-NK-2025-CTL-128x85.jpg 128w, https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Harry-Van-Hattum-NK-2025-CTL-32x21.jpg 32w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Harry Van Hattum in action for Northern | Image Credit: Rookie Me Central<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Q: Have you grown at all?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>HVH: <\/strong>I have grown a bit. Last time we measured here I was 202cm and now I&#8217;m almost 205, so hopefully still growing a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Q: What does that mean in terms of your role this year, will you still be predominately rucking?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>HVH: <\/strong>Yeah, obviously mainly ruck for the Knights, but I\u2019ll definitely spend a lot of time forward too. I\u2019ve learned that forward craft off \u2018Pebbs\u2019 (Northern Knights coach, Anthony Rocca) so hopefully I can get both roles going for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Q: Do you tend to watch a lot of footy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>HVH: <\/strong>I love my footy. I\u2019ll watch whatever game&#8217;s on and just watch my favourite players\u2026 I go for the Hawks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Q: Are there any players you try to model your game on?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>HVH: <\/strong>Yeah, definitely. [Players] like <strong>Max Gawn<\/strong> and <strong>Sam Darcy<\/strong>, those kind of players. Especially Sam Darcy being that huge ruck-forward too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Q: What are some of your strengths, and the areas you\u2019re still looking to improve on?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>HVH: <\/strong>My strengths are probably my aerial ability. I love crashing the contest, crashing packs. Try to take a hanger if I can. My ruck craft as well is definitely a strength for me, trying to dominate every area of my ruck. An improvement would be my aerobic tank, so getting across the ground more so I can get to every contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Q: Are there any teammates you think we should look out for to have a big year?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>HVH: <\/strong>Definitely <a href=\"\/afl\/player\/lewis-houndsome\/\" data-type=\"player\" data-id=\"165102\" class=\"_dc_spo\" target=\"_blank\">Lewis Houndsome<\/a>, he\u2019ll have a great year down forward. Looking forward to playing with him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>>> <strong>MORE: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/2026\/03\/12\/knapp-the-name-to-note-in-talent-league\/\">Knapp the name to note in Talent League<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-dc-block-dc-mention _dc_mention\"><div class=\"section-heading_wrap\"><span class=\"section-heading is-small\">Mentions<\/span><span class=\"hor-border\"><\/span><\/div><ul class=\"js-overflow-list overflow-list\"><li class=\"object-mention_single\"><div class=\"tag tag--is-clickable\"><a class=\"tag-text _dc_mention_p\" href=\"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/player\/harry-van-hattum\/\">Harry Van Hattum<\/a><\/div><\/li><li class=\"object-mention_single\"><div class=\"tag tag--is-clickable\"><a class=\"tag-text _dc_mention_p\" href=\"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/player\/lewis-houndsome\/\">Lewis Houndsome<\/a><\/div><\/li><li class=\"js-dropdown dropdown overflowed\"><button class=\"btn btn-icon-only\"><span class=\"icon btn-icon\">\n                    <!-- icon - plus circle - 20px-->\n                    <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 20 20\">\n                        <path d=\"M15,9.28h-4.3V5h0A.72.72,0,1,0,9.28,5h0V9.28H5a.72.72,0,0,0,0,1.43H9.28V15a.72.72,0,0,0,1.43,0h0V10.71H15a.72.72,0,0,0,0-1.43Z\"\/>\n                        <path d=\"M10,0A10,10,0,1,0,20,10,10,10,0,0,0,10,0Zm0,18.57A8.57,8.57,0,0,1,10,1.43h0a8.57,8.57,0,0,1,0,17.14Z\"\/>\n                    <\/svg>\n                <\/span><\/button><div class=\"popover\"><div class=\"popover-content\"><ul class=\"popover-menu\"><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NORTHERN Knights ruck Harry Van Hattum not only owns one of the most eye-catching names in this year&#8217;s draft crop, but shapes as a potential pick one wildcard. The towering tall has grown to 205cm, which is bad news for the opposition as he looks to further impose his power on the Talent League. A [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":209817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18050,8,11594,18229,20172,3134],"tags":[21983,22418],"class_list":["post-209816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afl-draft","category-news","category-northern-knights","category-q-a","category-talent-league","category-victoria","tag-harry-van-hattum","tag-lewis-houndsome"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209816"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209825,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209816\/revisions\/209825"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}