MANY brothers playing in the AFL dream of lining up together at the same club, but not first-year Hawk Bradley Hill.

The West Australian, brother of Fremantle midfielder Stephen, settled in for last year's NAB AFL Draft quietly hoping not to hear his name called by Ross Lyon's team.

It's not that he had anything against Freo or that the brothers aren't close - they speak on the phone every week - but the younger Hill wanted to make his own name.

"I wouldn't have wanted to go to Fremantle," he told AFL.com.au this week.

"I didn't want to play with my brother, just because people might have judged me against him more if we were on the same team."

Blessed with remarkable pace and endurance, Hill made sure he'd be remembered at the 2011 NAB AFL Combine.

Whereas Stephen had set the combine's agility run record in 2008, Bradley had his eyes on a different mark.

What's more, he wasn't afraid to declare his intentions to Hawthorn's recruiting team.

"When you have your interview at the combine they ask you a lot of questions, and the beep test was the next day, so they asked me what I was going to run," Hill said.

"I said, 'I'm going to try to get a 16', and they said, 'Oh, really?'

"It looked like they were a bit shocked. But I did it."

Hill's score of 16.1 easily broke the existing beep test record of 15.6, and the Hawks were sufficiently impressed to take the young speedster at No.33 in November's draft.

But the former West Perth junior had a rocky start to life as an AFL player.

At home over the Christmas break, he found himself in trouble with the law after failing to pull over when flagged by police for speeding.

"It was a stupid thing to do," he said.

"I should have stopped straight away.

"I don't know what I was thinking; I was around the corner from a mate's place, so I went there.

"I learned a lot from it.

"When I came back to the club I had to go in and talk to the boys in the leadership group, which I got a bit nervous about, but they were good.

"They just told me, 'You've stuffed up once, don't do it again', and they told me I'll have to earn respect.

"I think I have now. Most of the boys are pretty good with me. They like to have a laugh."

Hill has since defied his own expectations by breaking into the strong Hawthorn team for five senior games this year, adding extra pace up and down the wing.

His first game was against West Coast in Perth, sparing family and friends a long journey to watch him debut.

Big brother Stephen was there, but didn't stay for too long.

"He came into the changerooms [before the game]," Hill said.

"He was a bit nervous about coming into the Hawthorn rooms, but he did.

"But he didn't stay at the game because he didn't want to sit with all the West Coast supporters.

"So he went home and watched on TV."

With senior players returning from injury in the coming weeks and competition for spots heating up in the run to the finals, Hill may face a challenge to hold on.

Either way, his first year in the big league will have been a success.

"I'm not missing home at all; I like Melbourne," Hill said.

"It's a bit different to Perth, but I'm enjoying it.

"I hope I can hold my spot, but just playing five games this year has been really good - I didn't expect to play in my first year.

"Hopefully I can get a few more now."




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