There has been much said about Hawthorn’s new ruckman, Ben McEvoy and how he arrived at the Club. Now that he’s had time to settle in at the Ricoh Centre, hawthornfc.com.au caught up with him to see how he’s fitting in.
Below is part two of a two part interview with Ben McEvoy.
Kate Salemme: Have you set any goals for yourself yet in coming to a new club? You’ll obviously need to develop a relationship with our midfielders.
Ben McEvoy: Yeah, that’ll be really important but probably for the moment I’m more just still settling in and getting to know guys and just working really hard and try to keep improving. It’s a great program here that is very well run, so I don’t think I’ll have to go too far out of the way to use the resources here, they’re all there right there in front of you. It’s a great set up.
KS: You had some dialogue with Alastair Clarkson before making your decision to come here but now you’ve met all the coaches and staff, what are you impressions of them?
BM: I couldn’t speak more highly of them so far but that might be a bit different if ‘Clarko’ starts giving me a hard time when the games start but everyone has been great. Andrew Russell (Head of Fitness) and the physios and doctors are all excellent and as I’ve said, I’ve just been able to slot right in pretty much. It’s a great set up here.
KS: You’ve known our more experienced guys as players but now you get to know them as people, how is that process going?
BM: I might have to let you know on that one. It is a bit different to know of each other and now try to actually get to know each other but it’s great, I’m really enjoying it so far. It’s a change of scenery with new people and I’m just jumping out of bed to come to training. I feel really lucky to be given such a good opportunity here.
KS: Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, what do you know about your teammates as players from your time studying them at the Saints?
BM: I guess there is a certain knowledge there of most of the guys that have played senior footy over the last couple of years but as we get further down the track and start playing games, it’ll be interesting to see the differences between the outside perceptions, which I’ve had before and an inside perception and what really goes on. That’ll be interesting to see as we go along.
KS: Which Hawthorn players are you looking forward to playing with?
BM: Apart from all of them, I get to play in a team that has won the premiership or I hopefully will, which is still a little bit flattering in that regard but getting to play with guys like David Hale and ‘Roughy’, I’m looking forward to playing with them rather than against them. In my time at St Kilda, it was always tough playing Hawthorn.
KS: What are you looking forward to most in 2014?
BM: We’re in the thick of pre-season at the minute so we’re all hooking into the work but post-Christmas it’s all about looking towards that first game and earning the chance to pull the brown and gold jumper on for the first time.
KS: That must be exciting, getting to wear the jumper for the first time?
BM: Yeah, I’m looking forward to it so hopefully everything goes well between now and then as I try to earn some respect and earn the chance to pull that jumper on for the first time.
