New recruit Karl Amon recently joined SEN Sportsday, diving into several topics as part of Hawthorn’s SEN Membership Day.
We’ve summarised some of the key points the 27-year-old midfielder spoke about on the show below.
On the practice game against Collingwood
“One of the things we talked about after the game was our resilience after the first 10 to 15 minutes. Collingwood kicked the first three goals, but our group showed some really good signs to bounce back. I think after that first 10-minute mark we showed a really strong performance. It was really promising, and we left with some key takeaways from it."
On his first impressions of coach Sam Mitchell
“When I first met Sam last year I got some really good impressions. I think the one thing that stood out to me is just his knowledge of the game as a player and I think he’s transferring that really well into his coaching career. He's only 16 months into his coaching tenure, but I think he’s really impressed me just with just his knowledge of the game and how he wants us to play the Hawthorn brand and style of football."
On the upcoming season opener against Essendon
“It’s really exciting to have Round 1 on a Sunday afternoon against your arch-nemesis. Hopefully there is going to be 80,000 at the ‘G which will be the largest crowd I would’ve played in front of. It’s a really exciting time for the footy club - if we can pack that out with t a full crowd at the MCG and get a win that would be a really good start."
BUY A TICKET TO OUR ROUND ONE GAME AGAINST THE BOMBERS HERE
On his leadership and influence on the group for far
“I think the first thing I wanted to do coming into the club was just build those relationships and try and connect with the boys and coaches as quickly as possible. I think the sooner I feel more comfortable in an environment, the better my leadership will be. Whether that’s going to be an entire team thing – or specifically within the midfield group – I think I'm the oldest in there by three years. I think the likes of Jai Newcombe and James Worpel are really going to take the midfield by the scruff of the neck and if I can tag along with those two and give my bit then that would be the best plan of action."
On what Sis is like as captain
“It’s going to be really good to have Sis (James Sicily) as our leader – he’s so respected in the group – he has been such a consistent performer especially coming back from his knee injury. I’m sure it will be really raw for James early on – he had some experience last year captaining a few games. But I think the leadership group is behind him now – he's really going to bounce off them. We've got Luke Breust as a vice captain who is a tremendous player and character and there is Dylan Moore our other vice captain who is really respected by the group as well."
On coming up against his old club
“When the fixture first came out that was the first game I looked at. It's going to be really weird to be honest – I've got some really good mates over there, it's not like I went out on bad terms. The way the whole situation was handled by the club and myself was really good. I still speak to a lot of those blokes every day – I was there for nine years so I built some really good connections over there. But it’s gonna be a weird experience going up against them.”
Listen to the full interview with Amon here.
