Young defender Blake Hardwick says he’s raring to go ahead of the Hawks’ qualifying final clash with the Tigers as he prepares to make his finals debut.
Hardwick, who’s played every game so far in 2018, is one of a number of young Hawks who are yet to taste finals action and could be joined on Thursday by as many as eight teammates in stepping on to the September stage for the first time.
“There’s definitely some nerves there,” Hardwick told Macquarie Sports Radio on Tuesday.
“But I’m mainly excited to get out there with the boys and experience my first final along with a few of the others that haven’t played one yet as well.”
The 21-year-old is likely to be joined by star onballer and second-year Hawk Jaeger O’Meara in making his finals debut, as well as young midfielder pair Harry Morrison and James Worpel, who have enjoyed breakout seasons.
Teammates David Mirra, Kaiden Brand, Teia Miles and Conor Nash all featured in the Round 23 win over Sydney and will be in line to also play their first final, as will ruckman Jonathon Ceglar.
The 27-year-old is another who is yet to taste September action in his career and could be recalled to face the Tigers after missing the last two matches of the season through injury.
But despite the litany of potential fresh finals faces, Hardwick said the experience of the club’s 14 premiership players had held the side in good stead.
“We obviously have a lot of players that have been there before and experienced this, so they just try and keep it as normal as possible for us,” he said.
Meanwhile one player the Hawks appear certain to recall is James Sicily, who has missed the Hawks’ last six games with a fractured scaphoid.
Sicily, who’s played just the one final, was in career-best form before suffering the injury in Round 17, with Hardwick looking forward to having his fellow defender return to a defensive unit that’s performed impressively right throughout the season.
“We’re pretty excited to get him back,” the 42-gamer said.
“He’s been pretty good for us down back all year apart from the last few weeks he’s been out.”
“All the young boys down back, we’re starting to gel pretty well so we’re pretty excited for what’s to come.”
Hardwick also said the Hawks were unlikely to apply a hard tag to any of the Tigers’ star players, instead opting to back in the side’s system of defence across the ground as they look to topple the reigning premiers.
“It’s definitely more team defence for us, there’s not too many times we’ve tagged throughout the year I don’t think, so it’s definitely team defence that we focus on,” he said.
