AFL: How Jacob Koschitzke's Clarko chat inspired forward line breakout

As Adelaide's prized number two pick and debutant Riley Thilthorpe put on a five-goal show at one end, five-game Hawk Jacob Koschitzke matched it at the other.

The 20-year-old kicked three in the first term to finish with a game-high 5.3 and nine marks, inspiring the Hawks to a three-point victory and bagging a rising star nomination in the process.

Made to wait two years and a role switch for his senior debut, Koschitzke said Sunday's performance had been a long time coming.

"A lot of the things that came out in the game I'd been working on for months and hadn't quite transferred over to the first couple of rounds," Koschitzke said.

"So it was nice to see them come out in games and they're far from complete - I still had lots of areas of improvement in the game at the weekend - but I guess it's just nice that even though there's still a lot to work on I still had an ok game."

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Pick 52 in the 2018 draft, Koschitzke arrived at Hawthorn as an under-18 All-Australian full-back.

He played his first two seasons in the AFL system as a defender before a conversation with coach Alastair Clarkson sparked a change.

"I was drafted as a key defender but I'd grown up until I was about 16 playing as a full-forward and centre half-forward, so I always had forward craft in my repertoire," he said.

"But it sort of fell away a bit when I was converted to a defender in my 17th and 18th years and first years at the club.

"As a defender I was drafted with pretty strong ability to intercept mark, but as I got into the AFL system I'd fallen away a bit from it and had a really strong emphasis on doing the one-percenters like the spoils and tackling and fell away from that flair that they'd drafted me on.

"Clarko and I had a chat at the end of last year about how we could reignite some offence in my game and bring my strengths to the table again and that was to try me up forward for a couple of quarters in the scrimmages.

"I had a couple of moments, and in my exit interviews we decided that forward would be the best position on the ground for me to use all my attributes to the best of my ability and help the team perform.

"My first couple of games I was just finding my feet and at the weekend I sort of got a little bit of a roll-on in the first quarter and found a bit of confidence and felt like I belonged."

With a maiden appearance at UTAS Stadium under his belt - "the surface is immaculate" - Koschitzke's next goal is to become a consistent threat in the Hawks forward line.

This weekend will see the 196cm talent line up against St Kilda, the team he supported growing up and the former club of his 200-game cousin Justin.

"As soon as I was drafted I put all emotions away for all the other teams that hadn't picked me up and Hawthorn is pretty much where all my emotion lies now."

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