Josh Battle Biography

Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has spent the past week in New Zealand with a group of assistant coaches and star players ahead of the start of pre-season.

Free agent signing Josh Battle headed across the Tasman with the club's past two Peter Crimmins Medallists – Jai Newcombe and Will Day – along with Kade Simpson and David Mackay.

The group spent time inside the two most successful organisations in Super Rugby history, visiting the Crusaders in Christchurch and the Blues in Auckland.

They also met with coaches and officials at NRL franchise New Zealand Warriors while on the North Island.

New Zealand Cricket and Rowing New Zealand were also stops on the itinerary, with the Hawks searching for incremental gains after returning to September this year for the first time since 2018.

Josh Battle officially signs a six-year contract with Hawthorn as an unrestricted free agent.

The Saints have received band one compensation in return, which currently equates to pick eight in the upcoming Telstra AFL Draft.

New Hawthorn signing Josh Battle explains why he made the decision to leave St Kilda.

"Leaving was always going to be a tough decision, but I felt it was the right one for me and my family. I'm looking forward to making new relationships and getting to work at the Hawks," he said.

St Kilda had asked Battle not to attend the Trevor Barker Award after he chose to exercise his free agency rights. Saints coach Ross Lyon and president Andrew Bassat didn't mention him in their respective speeches and his podium finish was barely acknowledged at Crown Palladium.

"I respected the Saints' decision for not wanting me to go. They need to do what's best for their club now," Battle said.

"I totally accept and understood why they didn't want me at the Trevor Barker. I would have liked to have gone, but I was comfortable with their decision at the end of the day and we move on."

Saints coach Ross Lyon admits he has "no idea" where Josh Battle will end up next season as the in-demand defender weighs up his future.

"Josh has invested a lot in us, we've invested a lot in him, but I just let it play out," Lyon said.

"He's playing great footy, we have a strong relationship, but at the end of the day it's a professional environment and there's mechanisms that people either avail themselves of or they don't."

Russell Ebert passes away after a battle with cancer at the age of 72.

Ebert was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, a form of cancer, in December last year.

"Russell Ebert was an extraordinary footballer and his record attests to that as the only person in SANFL history with four Magarey Medals, coupled with multiple premierships and nearly 400 senior games just for his beloved Magpies, alongside his brilliant state career and a season with North Melbourne in the VFL," AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said.

Josh Battle is likely to miss the rest of the 2021 season after scans revealed bone stress in his ankle.

Saints medicos will meet with a surgeon next week to determine the next steps for the 22-year-old. However, the club is confident he'll be fit to tackle pre-season ahead of 2022.

New St Kilda coach Brett Ratten has labelled Josh Battle the club's "ultimate swingman".

"We played him back last year for a big chunk and he has the ability to play forward as we know, [but] with that running power, could he play on the wing or through the midfield as well," Ratten told SEN radio.

"Maybe he could go through the three lines and give us the versatility to throw someone somewhere else. He could go on the ball or flip from one end to the other and really surprise an opposition team."

Bailey Banfield says the next step in his evolution as a run-with player is improving his mental strength.

Banfield wanted to prove recruiters wrong in 2018 after being overlooked in two national drafts, and the mature Claremont product featured in 20 games for Fremantle playing predominantly as a tagger.

"Physically, my body held up not too bad. I was pretty happy with the way I was able to recover and get up for the game," Banfield said.

"It was more the mental side where I felt the fatigue. It is a long season and I started to feel the grind towards the end of the season."

Tom Boyd says he is unsure where he would be if he ignored help to deal with his mental health battle.

"I was really struggling with quite a bit of stress, and though I didn't know it at the time, a bit of anxiety and really not feeling great about myself," Boyd said.

"I started suffering from quite bad insomnia and spent probably a month to six weeks without really sleeping at all.

"The real moment where my mind started to turn was having panic attacks when I was driving and the physiological effects of your heart racing, sweating, can't concentrate, feeling dizzy and that was a really challenging period of time in my life.

"I was seeing a psychologist from the club, who was an amazing support for me and quite honestly I'm not sure what would have happened if she wasn't there."

Josh Battle will miss up to three weeks with a fractured eye socket.

The 19-year-old has played three senior games this season, having made his debut with just one match in 2017.

Scans revealed two small fractures, but he won't require surgery.

Josh Battle signs a contract extension with St Kilda to remain at the club until the end of 2020.

Josh Battle makes his AFL debut for St Kilda at Docklands Stadium with 5 disposals (3 kicks and 2 handballs), 2 marks and a goal in a 61-point loss to Essendon.

Josh Battle will make his senior debut against Essendon at Etihad Stadium this week.

"Given what Tim provides our team and given we've come off such a strong performance, we want to keep it as like-for-like as possible," St Kilda coach Alan Richardson said.

"Josh is a really strong athlete; he's got a great combination of speed and endurance; he's a clever footballer; he wins the ball well in the air; his pressure and defence has been really positive at VFL level so we've decided to go with him because of all of those factors."

St Kilda select Josh Battle with pick No.39 in the 2016 National Draft.

"A medium forward who comes up at the ball and he's a good goalkicker and kicked nearly 40-odd goals in the TAC Cup and should complement the forwards we have at the club," St Kilda recruiting manager Tony Elshaug said.

"He's also an elite runner and a good young man."