HAWTHORN Assistant Coach Luke Beveridge says he hasn’t been surprised by the ability of key defender Ryan Schoenmakers to slot back into defence after a serious knee injury.
Schoenmakers was originally expected to play a swingman role for the Hawks because of his capability to play forward and back but those plans were changed in his return in Round 7.
The 23-year-old kicked four goals playing as a forward against St Kilda in his comeback before being forced into defence due to an injury to full back Brian Lake.
Since then, the young key position player has been forced to spend the majority of his time on some of the game’s elite forwards due to the growing injury list at Hawthorn.
With Lake (calf) still at least two weeks away and Josh Gibson (pectoral) out for an extended period, plus the injury that forced Ben Stratton (adductor) out of Sunday’s win over GWS, Schoenmakers looks like he’ll settle in defence for the immediate future.
His availability and form have been welcome additions for the Hawks, although Beveridge, Hawthorn’s defensive coach isn’t surprised by his ability to slot seamlessly back into a key defensive post.
“I’ve really liked his defensive game, he’s been quite exceptional with some of the things he’s done,” Beveridge told hawthornfc.com.au
“Just before he did his knee, he was starting to establish himself as very good key defender and it’s a great credit to him to be able to come back into the game and defend really well straight away.
“I’ve been happy but not surprised.”
Since returning, Schoenmakers has played on Sam Reid and Kurt Tippett at Sydney and Jeremy Cameron against GWS and been impressive on each.
But arguably his best game was against the Power, when he restricted then-Coleman Medal leader Jay Schulz to just six disposals and a goal.
Schulz didn’t take a mark in Hawthorn’s loss at Adelaide Oval.
But while his defensive efforts have impressed Beveridge, there are still areas in which Schoenmakers needs to improve, particularly in his offensive game.
“It’s more than that, we need his rounded game back and he’s got some things he’s working on offensively that will help us,” Beveridge said.
“We just need to get him used to using the footy again and make sure how our offensive transition is working more efficiently than it has been.
“As the weeks tick by, we expect him to get better and better.”
Now four games into his comeback season, Schoenmakers is feeling confident in his body and hopes to keep improving with each game.
"I've been really happy with the knee and my match fitness is slowly getting back up to a level that I'm happy with," he said.
Schoenmakers faces another tough task this week against West Coast, althoguh he won't line up on Josh Kennedy after it was revealed he'll miss Saturday's clash at Aurora Stadium with a fractured cheekbone.
The Hawthorn defender will instead get set to tasks on key forward Jack Darling or resting ruckmen Dean Cox and Nic Naitanui.
