Hawthorn draftees Josh Ward and Connor MacDonald have pushed themselves into contention for early season debuts as Hawks coach Sam Mitchell commits to blooding youth at the club.
Ward was the Hawks' prized pick No.7 at last year's NAB AFL Draft, with half-forward Sam Butler (No.23) and MacDonald (No.26) following inside the top-30 selections.Mitchell wants to invest time into developing his list as he takes the reins at Hawthorn, with hard-running midfielder Ward expected to be a central part of the club's plans in coming seasons.
The new coach told AFL.com.au this week that the Vic Metro star's training had been at a high standard to give him a chance at an early impact."Our draftee cohort has been really strong this year. They've all come in and done most of the training," Mitchell said.
"Josh's work ethic and his running capability puts him in a great position for a pre-season and he just has some nice skills. He's still an 18-year-old, he still has some work to do and some learning in his craft of the game and the gap between under-18s footy and the elite footy is continuing to grow.
"It's going to be tough for too many first-year players to make a huge impact but I think he's in a good position."MacDonald averaged 30 disposals last year in the NAB League for the Dandenong Stingrays and was a popular second-round option for clubs before the Hawks swooped.
Mitchell said his coaching panel was still working through the best mix of their midfield options, with experienced duo Tom Mitchell and Jaeger O'Meara and best and fairest James Worpel all in the plan, but that MacDonald had already turned heads at the club.
"Connor's had a really strong pre-season. The thing about him is the players love him. They think, 'Connor MacDonald, he has some nice moves, he's nice and silky'. So when the players rate another player I think that's always a good sign they're on the right track, players pick up different things sometimes and they have a level of trust," he said.
"Sometimes they just give him the ball, it doesn't matter where he is because he's got that level of confidence in his ability and foot skills to get himself out of trouble so I think he's a player we'll see this year."
The Hawks enter the Mitchell era knowing they are in the thrust of a rebuild, with many fresh faces expected to be given opportunities across the season.
"We have a clear plan. We want to invest in the development of some of our younger players, we want to play an exciting brand our fans would love to watch," Mitchell said.
"Developing that ruthless and tough attitude takes time and we know that is required to win finals so we are looking at developing our game style that will help us win finals when the time comes.
"Unfortunately premiership teams aren't built overnight so what we look to do is try to continue to develop and have this real focus on the development phase because we know how important that will be in the next phase for the club."
