AFTER a spate of injuries in 2015, young gun Zac Webster could be in a position to play senior football next season, according to Head Fitness Coach Andrew Russell.
The Hawks’ pre-season camp in Mooloolaba is done and dusted, with Russell labelling Webster as one of the standout performers across the 10 days.
The 20-year-old Tasmanian was recruited by the Hawks with pick 48 in the 2013 AFL Rookie Draft, and is yet to make his AFL debut.
Injury limited Webster to just eight appearance at VFL and VFL development level in 2015.
“Webby’s been really, really good,” Russell said in Mooloolaba this week.
“He’s had his challenges in the last few years, but he’s attacked his work, done everything that has been asked of him and has done a lot of extra work outside of the program.
“He puts himself in a good place to try to challenge to play some senior footy next year.”
Russell said there were plenty of strong performers on camp, which means the club finds itself in a similar position to the last three or four years heading into Christmas.
“You could throw a blanket over probably 20 players in terms of who’s trained at the highest level since we’ve been here, and that’s what we’ve been really pleased about,” he said.
Among those have been the recently re-appointed skipper, Luke Hodge, and triple premiership players Ben Stratton and Paul Puopolo.
“Ben Stratton has had the best pre-Christmas training block he’s ever had, Luke Hodge is the ultimate professional and he’s done every bit of training and continues to impress us with his mental approach and physical approach.
“Paul Puopolo trains hard, (and) plays the way he trains – he’s a bit underrated Poppy, but we really like what he puts out there.”
The playing group has now earned a well-deserved Christmas break.
Russell said the start of that break would focus on recovery, before the players get ready to return in early January to prepare for the NAB Challenge and 2016 season.
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