WHILE Hawthorn’s Brad Sewell admits he would love to be part of the AFL’s Hall of Fame tribute game on May 10th he insists that his focus is purely on the season at hand. Sewell was omitted from the 40-man Victorian squad chosen by coach Mark Thompson, assistant coach Kevin Sheedy and captain Jonathan Brown.
“It would be great to play but we’ve got a different focus here,” he said.
“This week was Richmond. Next weekend it’s Collingwood so we’re just looking forward to that.”
The Hawks remain undefeated so far this year with a 12-point victory over Richmond on Sunday. Despite the fact that just six rounds have passed the footy world is already pin pointing the Hawks’ clash with Geelong in round 17 as the pivotal fixture of the season.
“It’s a long way away and there’s a lot of water to go under the bridge before then. They are and have been the best side in the competition for a long while now. We are starting to show that we are capable of some good footy but it’s still a long way away,” Sewell said.
The 2007 club Best and Fairest winner wasn’t surprised at how close Fremantle came to causing, what would have been the upset of the season so far. They lost to the undefeated Cats by just one point and Matthew Pavlich had a set shot in the dying minutes that could have sealed victory.
“Fremantle are a really good side over there but I guess Geelong’s class showed out in the end. Every side is beatable I think. No one’s untouchable. Fremantle really took it up to them. They (Geelong) took a little while to get their game going but they’re such a strong side.”
While Buddy Franklin wasn’t on song, scoring one goal and seven behinds, a stark contrast to his tally of eight against Brisbane the week before, Jarryd Roughead certainly had an impact on the score board, racking up five majors. Young star Cyril Rioli also booted two including a spectacular effort in the third quarter.
“It’s somebody else’s turn this week. Roughy was very good down there. We’ve got guys like Junior (Cyril Rioli) stepping up now as well.”
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.
