RUNNING with the midfield group throughout the pre-season has Paul Puopolo ready to spend more time in the engine room, if required, this year.
 
Coming off a career-best 29-goal season, Puopolo has hit the ground running with his preparations for 2016.
 
The three-time premiership Hawk, who played as a small forward with stints through the midfield last year, believes that the reduction in the interchange cap might force the Hawks to be even more versatile this year.
 
“I’ve been running a lot with the midfield group to try to get my endurance base up so I can play a bit more there if I’m needed to,” Puopolo told hawthornfc.com.au.
 
“With the way that the rotations are going to go, we might need more guys to play on-ball and in different kinds of roles.”
 
Having the flexibility to play in multiple positions has been a trademark of the Hawks’ success in recent years.
 
Puopolo – who has played back, forward and everywhere in between in his five seasons as a Hawk – can only see that becoming more important.
 
He still sees himself playing a similar role to last year, but is building his tank to be able to spend more time up the ground if that’s what’s best for the team.
 
“It’s going to be important, and if that’s what we need to do, I’m willing to keep working on it,” he said.
 
With the interchange cap reducing by 30 per game – from 120 to 90 rotations – Puopolo said it had been another demanding pre-season.
 
“It’s been a pretty challenging pre-season,” Puopolo said.
 
“Obviously with the way the rotations are going to go, the boys have to work pretty hard now on their endurance.”
 
And there’s been no rest for the Hawks’ senior group.
 
With at least four spots up for grabs in Round 1 – due to the retirements of David Hale and Brian Lake, the departure of Matthew Suckling, and a knee injury to vice-captain Jarryd Roughead – the Hawks’ younger brigade have been driving the group, according to Puopolo.
 
“We’ve got a lot of young kids coming in - we’ve lost a few older guys – and the young kids are really hungry and they’re driving the guys,” he said.
 
“If you’re not putting in the yards, you’re going to get overtaken and that’s good pressure for the older guys. Everyone’s been driving each other and that’s good to have.”
 
Among the young guns to impress Puopolo have been defenders Kaiden Brand and Kurt Heatherley, speedster Zac Webster and forward James Sicily.
 
He believes Sicily could be one option the Hawks look at to try to add another dimension of flexibility to the forward line with Roughead sidelined for the first half of the year.
 
“He’s exciting, he can take overhead marks and could play on a wing if he needed to,” Puopolo said.
 
“Obviously Roughy played up forward and then sometimes went on-ball and did that sort of work, so if we’ve got another guy that can slot into different positions, it will really help us.
 
“We’ve got plenty of guys that can play that role – we’ve seen Big Boy (Ben McEvoy) can come down and kick a few goals, so to have that kind of flexibility in the side is really important.”