VFL Hawk Cass Papadopoulos has heaped praise on the culture of the Hawthorn women’s side from the top down, describing it as “one big family.”
Despite the on-field success of the club, currently sitting fourth on the ladder, Papadopoulos pinpointed Hawthorn’s tight-knit environment as the overall highlight.
“No matter who it is, whether it is a coach or a staff member or a player… you know you can rely on them,” Papadopoulos told hawthornfc.com.au.
“Everyone there has your back, and you have theirs.”
This is no coincidence, with the club making this off-field side of the game a clear focus leading in to the season.
Having played for the Hawks last year, Papadopoulos is seeing improvements in 2018.
“It’s been a really good team building experience, we’ve really worked on our culture as well, just improved it even more than last year” she said.
Her praise is a testament to the club considering the number of new faces in the brown and gold this year. Papadopoulos says the girls are gelling well with every girl contributing.
“(I have) really enjoyed the vibes every girl is bringing in – new and old,” she said.
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The midfielder cited the competition for spots as one of the greatest hurdles for her personally, being squeezed out of the Hawks line-up once this season.
But this hasn’t dampened her spirits by any means, thoroughly enjoying her time at the Hawks in 2018.
“I’m absolutely loving it, it’s been fantastic. I’ve learnt so much, improved so much,” she said.
“(I’ve) been really critical on my game and performance - it’s made me improve as a player.”
Improving on-field isn’t Papadopoulos’ only priority, having hopes of joining the leadership group and captaining the Hawks in the future.
“The leadership group at the moment is so strong, and I’m learning so much from them and I want to be one of them,” Papadopoulos said.
While she is loving being a Hawk, she is keeping one eye on the big time.
“The ultimate goal would be (to play) AFLW, that’s my dream and that’s been my dream for ages now ever since that was a possibility for women,” she said.
The Hawks suffered their first loss on the weekend going down by seven points to Collingwood. While it was “sad at the time”, Papadopoulos sees it as a useful learning curve for the side.
“We’ve reviewed our game very critically and we’re going to use this loss and turn it into a positive, to essentially become better players and a better team from it,” she said.
