Young gun Rebecca Beeson made her long-awaited Hawthorn debut on the weekend in the club's tough seven-point loss to the Pies.
Hailing from the GWS in the AFLW, Beeson has played every game in the first two seasons of the national competition, receiving a Rising Star nomination in Round 1 this year.
The youngster said it was an uplifting experience donning the brown and gold for the first time despite the Hawks’ suffering their first loss of the season.
“It was obviously very exciting to be out there for my first game and make my debut,” Beeson said.
The 21-year-old admits she was a little rusty, with the hit-out being her first competitive match since her last AFLW game in March.
“It took a while for me to find my feet, but I am pretty happy with how I finished off the game,” she said.
“(I’ll be) looking to build on that and get a bit better each week and get more confidence up.”
Despite playing up forward on the weekend- as she did at the Giants – coach Paddy Hill appears keen on giving her midfield minutes.
“I think Paddy wants me to move into the midfield as I get a few games under my belt, but to start off he threw me at half-forward,” Beeson said.
Moving down from Sydney to join the Hawthorn was daunting at first for Beeson, but the tight-knit culture of the club has stood out to her.
“Being a Sydney girl I knew two players – Phoebe McWilliams and Peppa Randall from the Giants -but everyone else I didn’t really know,” Beeson said.
“It was kind of intimidating at first coming in but everyone’s so lovely and the cultures great, so I felt really welcome from the get-go.”
While she made her first on-field appearance last weekend, she has been putting in work for the club behind the scenes for the past few months. Beeson has been working part-time on Hawthorn’s events team while she finishes her Commerce degree.
She says this has also helped her transition into the Hawthorn side.
“Whenever I come into work everyone in the office is always asking how footy’s going , so it feels like our team is being supported across the board, including all of admin and staff,” she said.
“It’s really exciting and it makes us feel really important being here.”
Beeson also recognised Hawthorn’s emphasis on integrating the newly founded women’s program into the club.
“It’s been fantastic. Briana Harvey, our footy ops manager, has done a fantastic job and is working hard to integrate the men’s and women’s team.
“We also have other great admin and medical staff, who have all been fantastic and have really helped us along this journey.”
“Personally, it’s been a pretty smooth transition from AFLW level to here at Hawks at VFLW level… in terms of resources and people behind the team.”
The push to build a strong culture is paying dividends, with Hawthorn sitting in fourth spot on the ladder and losing just one game.
“I feel really welcome here and the girls all feel the same,” she said.
“We feel really supported by the club and… people are always keen to know about the womens team. It feels like the whole club and supporter base are behind us.”
And despite playing against many of her Hawthorn teammates during her AFLW career, she says they have all come together.
“At the end of the AFLW season you kind of put that aside for a while and focus on something else,” Beeson said.
“We’re all here playing for the Hawks and that’s our focus. I’ve got Giants down the track but… for now it’s fully Hawthorn.”
Beeson has re-signed with the Giants for the 2019 AFLW season along with fellow Hawthorn teammate Peppa Randall. She likes the chances of some of her Hawks teammates joining her in the AFLW next year.
“I think there’s a good opportunity we will get a few girls drafted to clubs at the end of the year,” Beeson said.
“There’s a lot of good talent coming through, especially some of the young girls, so hopefully we get some more AFLW players from the Hawks drafted for the 2019 season.”
