Hawks fans may have expected Captain Ben Stratton to head back to his hometown in Busselton, WA during isolation. But thanks to his three cats, Memphis, Moby and Monty, he’s decided to stay in Victoria and head down in Phillip Island, with cats in tow.
Stratton is spending his isolation period on the island so he’s still able to surf, noting the benefits of surfing to his wellbeing while speaking on Triple M on Wednesday night.
“Yeah I am surfing, but only if there’s one other person in the water," he explained, with all Hawks players currently heeding the government's social distancing advice.
"I've been getting outside a fair bit and still getting a surf in when I can, so that’s keeping me sane.”
Plenty of his fellow Hawks have headed home during this leave period; Jarman Impey is in Shepparton, Jaeger O’Meara has gone back to WA and Luke Breust is in country NSW with family. The boys are staying connected through video chat and competitions running through the group.
“We had a little Facetime with all the boys this afternoon.
"A lot of the boys have taken off, to get out in the open space, so they’re not cooped up in the city. There’s been a few puzzles going around, they’re all keeping themselves entertained and amused.”
“I don’t think Clarko knows what it means to slow down so he’s well and truly stuck in (footy) mode.
"[He's continually] talking to us about how we can treat this as an advantage as opposed to a disadvantage.”
Locking himself in as a lifetime cat guy, Stratton revealed the latest additions to his tattoo collection - including a dancing cat.
“A dancing cat and dancing horse. Yep, that’s the two latest.”
Stratton ruled out the return of the mullet but said he “could get a weird hair cut during this self-isolation period, who knows - might come up with something new.”
