INJURED Hawthorn defender Ryan Schoenmakers has become the fourth player in two days to extend his contract with the Club, signing on until the end of 2015.
On the comeback trail from a knee reconstruction, the Club showed no hesitation in signing up the promising defender who wasn’t due to come out of contract until the end of 2014.
The decision to commit to Hawthorn was a no brainer for the 22 year old from South Australia.
“I love it around the club, it’s good to be around the boys so I’m really happy to extend and sign on for another couple of years,” he told hawthornfc.com.au
“I’ve had an amazing five years here and am more than happy to stay.
“This club has been great for me, it has made me grow up and supported me in everything and really gone out of their way to make me feel welcome so I’m very happy.”
The injured defender says the support of his teammates, the Club and the supporters has made the challenge of a yearlong rehabilitation easier and the one-year extension a bonus on top of that.
“It has been a tough year for me, so to get this I suppose is a bit of a bonus and puts my mind at ease for next year so I can focus on coming back and playing some good footy without the pressure (of a contract),” he said.
“Everyone has been so amazing, it has been a long and tough year so far with rehab and everything, but the support has been amazing and makes it a whole lot easier.”
Originally recruited from Norwood, Schoenmakers has played 63 matches for the Hawks, but it was his four senior games this year as well as his pre-season campaign that has seen him become a fan favourite.
Much maligned early in his career, the development he has shown at senior level has proven that he’ll be an important player in Hawthorn’s plan for sustained success.
He is part of a core group of players around the 21-25 age bracket who have committed to the Hawks - with the likes of Isaac Smith, Paul Puopolo, Matt Suckling, Ben Stratton, Luke Breust, Cyril Rioli, plus youngsters Jed Anderson and Bradley Hill who have all signed contract extensions both this year and last year.
“Especially in the last couple of years, we’ve had a lot of good, young talent come through who have all formed really close bonds and that makes it a really good footy club to be around,” Schoenmakers said.
“When you’ve got a lot of mates, it makes it very hard to leave.
“It’s a great thing to have everyone stay together, that’s what keeps a successful club going and we’ll all hopefully be taking part in a building a big future for the Club.”
Schoenmakers is aiming to return for next year’s pre-season competition and build up a solid fitness base and match conditioning to return for the opening rounds of next year’s home and away season.
“I’ll hopefully have a really strong pre-season, that’s the way to kick start a really good year,” he said.
“I’ll have a solid pre-season, work really hard and look to play some good NAB Cup games and get my fitness base back up again to get back into the swing of things.”
But that doesn’t mean sitting on the sidelines as his teammates and close friends participate in another finals campaign is easy.
For only the second time in his career, Schoenmakers will sit out a finals series in which Hawthorn is participating – the other being in 2010, when the Hawks were beaten by Fremantle in an elimination final.
It will be his motivator for 2014.
“Even though I’m not part of the team, I’m trying to stay positive around the boys and stay involved as much as I can,” he said.
“Watching the guys this year and how well they’ve performed and going into another finals campaign, not being part of it this year makes me so much more hungry to be involved next year so that will be driving me.”
Schoenmakers joins wingman Isaac Smith and youngsters Jed Anderson and Bradley Hill as players to extend their contracts with the Club in the last 48 hours.
