HAWTHORN head of coaching and development Chris Fagan gives his assessment of every player on the Hawks' list ahead of the club's official start to pre-season on November 26:

PRIMARY LIST

Jed Anderson
He trained on Monday and he looked good. He's a nice mover, with good leg speed and agility. We think he can add a little bit of x-factor in our midfield. He's certainly a player with a lot of promise. He's a left-footer. It's still very early, but we think he'll do some good things for us. You'd probably think he'll have a year of development (at VFL level) to begin with, but you never know.

Max Bailey
What we're very pleased with is that he'll be able to do a pre-season right from the word go, which is exciting for Max given his history over the last six or seven years. He had the setback with the wrist last year. He's training already, and looking very fit. We think he's a bloke that could bring another dimension to us if he can get up and going. He's got skills, he's tall, he can get around the oval, he's a good team man, and he understands the game. The ruck position has been most affected by the sub rule, so the ability to do something else as well as ruck is really important. For most of them, that's being able to go forward and take a mark. So he's definitely got to work on that. That's the next part for him, and he's well and truly aware of that.

Grant Birchall
He's had two really great years in a row now, so his challenge is to reach that level again, and surpass it if he can. He's got a great attitude, and deserved everything that came his way last season. Provided he keeps working hard and looking for ways to improve, we would expect that he'll grow as a player, and hopefully in time he can become a real leader at the club. There were times last year that his on-field leadership was really improving, and we want that to keep going.

Luke Breust
He had a terrific year. When you look at his statistics, he was probably one of the leading small forwards in the competition. It wasn't just what he did when he had the ball, in terms of kicking goals and creating goals, but also his pressure. He's a really good, honest person, so I'd imagine he won't get carried away with what he was able to do this year. He'll be looking to improve again, and probably that improvement will come from being able to play in the midfield a little bit more. He did a bit of that towards the end of the year, but that's a real growth area for him. He's got a good tank and good agility and speed, and a good footy brain.

Shaun Burgoyne
His great value is that he can play anywhere on the ground and have an impact. The critical part for Shaun is just to keep looking after his body as well as he can, get into good shape, and just get out there and play.

Kyle Cheney
He knocked on the door hard this year and he got some games, but it was a hard team to get into, particularly if you play in defence like he did. We had a pretty settled defensive line-up. But when he did get in there he played well. So he's capable at the level. He was excellent at Box Hill. He's fundamentally a defender, but maybe he just needs to diversify a little bit and see if he can play in the midfield a bit so he's got a few more options. That might be something we explore with him.

Taylor Duryea
He was probably one of our most improved players. He was a really steady performer at Box Hill off half-back. Probably the only thing that kept him from getting an opportunity was the backline was so settled and playing well. His skill level, his ability to kick the ball and his decision-making were all things that we were pleased with. It would be fair to say, his first couple of years, he was a bit injury-plagued and really struggled with form and consistency. But he found it this year. The truth is, up until this year he was probably just hanging on to his spot on the list. But he's really made great progress, and it's a credit to him.

Xavier Ellis
He had a great pre-season last year and he was right to go, and then David Hale stomped on his foot in the practice game in Launceston, and that really set him back. From there he just kept having little bits and pieces go wrong. But to his credit he persisted and got into the team for the finals. He'd be happy that he got back, but he wouldn't be happy with the form he displayed, because he's capable of a lot more. It wasn't his fault that he didn't produce that. It was more just circumstance. So he'll front up again and he'll be working hard to have a really good pre-season. Hopefully he can get a really good run at it in terms of injury and be the player we all know he can be, because he's got lots of ability and he's a very intelligent footballer. He had some post-season surgery on his wrist, but that won't stop him from running, so we don't think it will hold him back too far.

Lance Franklin
Up until the point where he hurt his hamstring last year, he was having an outstanding year. He was leading the goalkicking, but he was also pretty high up in shot assists, and he was leading our pressure count. He has become a better all-around player. I think that's his challenge: as one of the superstars of the game, there's no doubting his ability to play the game, but what all the great players do is make the players around them better players by bringing them into the game. He took some good steps with that last season, and that's the thing that needs to keep growing next year.

Josh Gibson
'Gibbo' is a very consistent performer. He's been very good for us from the time he arrived at the club. I'm sure he'll appreciate the arrival of Brian Lake. It should free him up to be a bit more attacking and offensive, which he's more than capable of doing. He won't have to play on the bigger bodied players so much, so he can maybe jump up and mark the ball a little bit more. He's a real professional in the way he goes about his footy, so we expect him to be just as consistent as he has been in the past few years with us.

Sam Grimley
He finished the year in the Box Hill development team, but that was partly because we had Luke Lowden and Broc McCauley - we had a lot of tall players - so it was more about giving Sam some good game time playing in the ruck. He's been with us a few years now, so it's time for him to step up and be more consistent at VFL level. But he's learning his craft. He's very athletic, and he's got an appetite to improve. He'll get a little bit more weight on his body. These big fellas do take time.

Brent Guerra
He trained on Monday. He doesn't have to be here this week but he is, and he trained with the guys. He looked like he's made a full recovery from his hamstring injury. He's been around the AFL scene for a long time, and he knows his own body really well now. So the key for 'Goo' now is to keep managing himself so that he's in good shape physically all the time, because he's a very smart footballer. It would have been nice to have him during the finals.

Jack Gunston
He had a good year. He's a clever player and he added another dimension to our forward line. He's a real opportunist who reads the play, and knows where to put himself to win the ball and kick or create goals. He's got a really good tank, so he can run hard up and down the ground. What he basically needs to do is keep working on getting his body stronger. He put on some weight last year and he'll continue to do that this pre-season. I expect in time he'll be one of the really, really clever forwards in the AFL. There's also no doubt he could go up to the wing if needed, too. He's smart enough to play there.

David Hale
We thought he had an excellent year. He took on the mantle of the No.1 ruckman, and he had some great games against some really good opponents. He's probably a little bit underrated by the competition, but not by us. He's also got the ability to go forward and mark the ball and kick a goal. He's been around the team a while now, so it's just about getting fit, looking after his body, and we'd expect to see more good output.

Mitch Hallahan
He's an inside midfielder, so he's got some challenges to break into the senior team, because we've got some good players in that area. But hopefully he might get some chances next season. He was a big improver in the second half of the year at Box Hill. In fairness to him, his first year was marred by an ankle injury, and he was still struggling with it at the beginning of this year. But the second half of the season, he got some continuity in his football and we saw some real improvement from him. He played a really good finals series for Box Hill. If he can just keep taking steps in that direction and stay fit over the pre-season, it'll be interesting to see how far he can go. He's a nice long kick. Probably if anything he needs to develop his quick hands a little bit over the summer, just to add to that.

Bradley Hill
He came on as a sub on quite a few occasions this season and racked up a dozen possessions pretty quickly in a quarter of football. He's got the tank and the speed and the footy smarts to be a player of the future. And he complements our inside ball winners. He learned a lot in his first year. He needs to get bigger and stronger this year so he can get in there and compete a bit more. But it was almost the perfect first season for a young bloke like him. He got seven opportunities in the AFL team, and his last final in the VFL team was pretty good. It was a steep learning curve for him living away from home, but we were pleased with what he did. He just needs to build on that.

Luke Hodge
He was at training on Monday doing some light jogging. It's going to be a steady build-up towards round one. I think in a way that's a good thing. There's no rush; we just want him to get right. It was a tremendously frustrating year for him this year with his injuries. I don't think he ever really got himself right, as much as he tried his heart out to get there. But I think he'll come out of it a better leader and a better person. He'll take a nice steady, gradual build-up towards the season, and we’re sure we'll have a fit and firing Luke Hodge at some point early in the season.

Jordan Kelly
He did well this year. He played a lot of senior VFL footy. He's probably one of those guys that's a bit inconspicuous; you don't notice him a great deal but he gets the job done most weeks. What we want him to add to his game is a bit more attacking flare. We know he can stop his opponent, but we want him to run and create, because he is capable of that.

Brian Lake
He's got a really good record of playing on the big power forwards; that's why we recruited him. We think he can help, not just as a negator, but he's also good at marking the ball and using it from defence. He's been around a long time and we think he fits our needs perfectly. He's been training for the last six weeks. He figured he'd had his break, and he's very keen to prove to his new teammates that he means business. For a guy later in his career, to go to a new club and have to prove yourself all over again is very motivating. At this point in time he seems to have embraced that really well. He's been running hard and getting himself ready to go.

Jordan Lewis
He's had a wrist operation, but he's not going to miss any running during the pre-season, so that's the main thing. He's a real professional in the way he goes about things, and I'm sure he'll be ready to go once the season starts. He had a very good year this year. He played different roles for the team at different times, and that's a sign of maturity. When they're young, they want to play onball and win a lot of the footy, but Jordan was able to adapt to different roles in different weeks, which was a good sign.

Angus Litherland
He played his first full season of senior footy this year. He's been at the club for two years, but in his first year he had a foot injury and hardly played. He played some really good games at VFL level. He's got an excellent build, good speed and power, and he'll benefit greatly from having had a year of senior footy. We'd expect him to be an improver next year.

Luke Lowden
He's like a lot of big fellas; they take a while. He's 204cm. They grow quickly and their bodies have got to catch up. What we really liked this year was that he started to get some continuity in his football. He played some good games at VFL level. His ruck work's very good. He's got a good leap, and he's started to take some marks in the forward line as well. He's a real talent. He's just been held back by injury, really. I'm sure he'll mature into a good player, and hopefully he might get a bit of a look-in from time-to-time next year.

Sam Mitchell
There are no signs at the moment that he's slowing up, or losing his reflexes or his ability to read the game. He's a very smart player. He thinks quicker than most and he's fast on his feet in congestion. I would expect he'll have another solid pre-season, and knowing him he'll have another terrific year. He's one of those blokes that is just hungry to perform at his best at all times.

Paul Puopolo
His home and away season was terrific, with his forward line pressure and ability to kick or set up a goal. He's a real little livewire in our forward line. He'd be the first to admit his finals series wasn't all that he would've liked it to be. I'm sure he would have learnt a lot from that. Some guys just need to go through a finals series to learn what it's all about. Perhaps in his own mind he made it a bigger thing than what it actually was. We’re sure he'll learn from it and come back a better player. We think maybe he can play a little bit in the midfield from time to time. He just needs to keep adding little things to his game, because for small forwards, it can dry up sometimes. So to be able to go somewhere else and have an impact is important.

Cyril Rioli
He's good value in the midfield, and he's fantastic value in the forward line. He had a really good pre-season last year, and went on to play 23 games. That was important, because previous to that he'd been missing a few games with the occasional soft tissue injury. Touchwood he's on top of that now, and he'll just continue to grow as a player.

Jarryd Roughead
It was a great comeback from the Achilles rupture. It's a big injury, that, and he's a big man. The time and effort he put into it, and the work that the physios and doctors here did with him was outstanding. He was back in the team by round two and played the rest of the year. He maybe just got a little bit tired towards the end. It had been a big 12 months for him. He'll benefit from that. He's good value as a forward, and as a ruckman around the ground. He plays a bit like another ruck-rover, because his ball use is so good. This pre-season he's not recovering from anything, so he can have a good, strong preparation, and we'd expect probably even better output next year than we got this year.

Shane Savage
Not that there's anything wrong with being the sub in football, but we'd like to think he's not going to be doing that forever. He's just got to keep building his tank to run out games, and also develop the belief that he's definitely an AFL player. That's been something that's gradually building in him. He's a real line-burster for us, and he's a really good mark overhead for his size. We expect him to continue to improve and be able to play forward and in the midfield with impact. He's definitely one of the blokes [who can fill the position on the wing left by Clinton Young]. No doubt he'll be eyeing it off, which is a good thing.

Ryan Schoenmakers
I thought he had a great year. He really continued to improve as a player. Learning to play as a key back when you're a young man is not an easy thing to do, when you're playing on bigger, older and in some cases stronger opposition. He stayed positive throughout, and got some good scalps along the way. He got beaten occasionally as well, but that's all part of learning. He's only just passed 50 games, and to become a bona fide AFL defender, we reckon it takes somewhere between 50 and 100 games. He's well on the way to achieving that. Brian Lake coming in will take a little bit of pressure off him. He's got quite a good attacking element to his game. He's got a great tank and he's a nice kick.

Brad Sewell
I think 2012 was the best year he's had in my five years at the club. He was outstanding. He was so consistent, and prepared so well. He played on some of the best players in the game, and was able to win the ball himself while reducing their ability to have a big impact. In the past he's built himself up for the big games, but against teams lower down the ladder where motivation is more difficult, he hasn't been so good. But I thought against all comers this year he played well. We're just looking for him to keep trying to improve. There are always little things you can do.

Liam Shiels
He's the ultimate team player. He'll do whatever you ask him to do. He'll continue to play [run-with] roles in the season ahead, but he'll also hopefully grow as bloke that can win the ball a lot more in his own right, and we’re sure he can. He's still a very young player, but a real leader around the place. He's a greater preparer, and we think he'll just continue to improve, because he'll maintain that attitude.

Jonathan Simpkin
He's a bit of a journeyman. He's been at the Swans and the Cats. He was able to force his way into the Geelong team last year, and also had a very good year in the VFL. He's a great reader of the play. He's going to add some depth to our midfield. He's 25 years-old, so he's already had some experiences, and I reckon he'll be really hungry to have an impact and definitely keep the pressure on our group of midfielders. He's a good pick-up.

Isaac Smith
He's been here two years, and probably his first year was a little bit better than his second year. He'd probably say that himself. So he'll be looking to improve, and he has the capacity to do that. He's got a great tank, and he's a real excitement machine when he's got the football. So he'll just be working on his consistency. We think a bit of that comes when you get to your third and fourth year of AFL footy, and you start to work it out. He's a pretty intelligent sort of guy and we expect that he'll have a strong pre-season and play an important role next year with his outside run.

Matt Spangher
He did a pre-season with us two years ago and we really liked him, but the Swans drafted him. He's a good trainer and a good person. He was saying to me that this is the first pre-season he's been able to start; he's been injured in every other one that he's had. So that's a good thing. Hopefully it'll help him play some of his best football. He's very athletic and he's got good size, so we expect him to challenge. He could be a surprise packet.

Ben Stratton
He had a really strong season after the knee injury the year before. We thought around about the halfway mark of the year he really started to come back to that Ben Stratton stuff that we saw in his first year, where he'd launch himself across the front of the pack and mark the ball, and do all those sorts of things. We think it took him a while to get real confidence in his knee, but it eventually came. He's going to have a full pre-season under his belt this year, which will be good for him.

Matt Suckling
He's been on a steady growth path. He's been here six years. It took him a long time to make it, but his last couple of years have been terrific. He was a very, very influential player for us this year. His ball use is outstanding, he's improved his tank, and he's improved his defensive work. So for us it's just a matter of him keeping on with those areas. He's by no means reached his full potential yet. So it's just a matter of staying on that continuous improvement path that he's been on for a few years now.

Brendan Whitecross
He'll definitely play next year, it's just a matter of when. He's making very good progress with his rehab [from an anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction]. If you didn't know that he had hurt his knee, you wouldn't know by looking at him. He's moving well. He'll start some running soon. And he's one of the most diligent guys you'll ever meet. His attention to detail in his rehab so far has been outstanding. [Before he got injured] he had become an important part of our midfield. He'd played forward and did some good work there, but he was playing more and more in the midfield. He's got a good tank, he's powerful, he's hard to tackle, and once he learns completely about all the structures and things that go on in the midfield these days, we'd expect him to become a really good player in that area of the ground.

Alex Woodward
He probably could have played late last year, but we were pretty conservative given it was only his first year. He's up and ready to go now. We had great hopes for him before he got hurt last year (he needed an ACL reconstruction after getting injured in a NAB Cup match). He was the young fella who was having the standout pre-season. He's got an A-grade attitude, and the effort he's put into his rehab has been outstanding. He'll play straight away and hopefully he can put some pressure on our midfield group and force his way into the senior team. He's an inside midfielder and a little bit outside, too. He's tough, and he's got good leadership qualities. He's just an A-grade person, really.

ROOKIE LIST

Andrew Boseley
He's quite an athletic, tall defender. He came to us with reasonably dodgy shoulders. He'd had an operation on one, and the other one got a bit loose during the year. So we ended up putting him out early to get that operated on, so he could do a full pre-season. That will stand him in good stead. He's very capable and enthusiastic. We reckon a good pre-season of lifting weights and strengthening his body will make a lot of difference for him.

Amos Frank
What he did last year was pretty outstanding, considering where he's come from and that he had to overcome a language barrier as well. He made some good inroads in his first year. He's certainly got really fantastic leg speed and goal sense. His body is getting stronger, and he's getting fitter, so we expect that he'll keep improving this year and hopefully put some pressure on for a spot in the senior team. It was a big tick for his first year, not only for himself and the way he went about it, but the way everybody at the club helped him. Hopefully it ends up being a good story.

Will Langford
Will is looking good on the track. He's full of energy. He's had his issues with injuries over his first two years, but some of his games at Box Hill have been outstanding. He's too brave for his own good sometimes, which has caused some of his injuries. But he's got good speed, a good tank, a good attitude, and he's smart, so we'd like to think he could force his way onto the senior list sometime in the future.

Derick Wanganeen
He had some really good games at Box Hill this year as a small forward. He kicked four or five goals a couple of times, and he has also worked hard on his defensive pressure. It's an important year for him. He's been around the club for a couple of years now. He needs to step up a little bit more, and hopefully he can get some opportunities as a small forward in the pre-season and put up his hand to say he's capable of playing at senior level. He's got some talent.

INTERNATIONAL ROOKIE

Ciaran Kilkenny
He's arrived from Ireland and started training. He's a very strongly built lad, with a really positive attitude, and he's a highly talented player from the Gaelic code. He's got a fair bit of learning to do, but he's quick and aggressive, so we'll see how far he can go. We've been pleasantly surprised by how well he kicks the ball. He's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but he's pretty good. With more practice and time in the system, he'll improve.