Rookie Hawks rewarded for pre-season

HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson says rookies Ryan Schoenmakers and Luke Shiels will have a chance to hold down a spot in the senior team after being selected for the side’s NAB Cup opener against Melbourne on Saturday.

The pair, who were the Hawks’ first two choices in the 2008 NAB AFL Draft, will make their debuts in the brown and gold against the Demons at Launceston's Aurora Stadium and Clarkson says there is no reason why they could not be playing in the early stages of the home-and-away season.

“I suppose the one thing we’ve been pleased with (concerning) those two lads in particular is they have the bodies that can withstand the rigours of the game,” Clarkson said.

“They’re both young players of course but they’ve both been able to withstand the fair amount of pre-season training we’ve put into our players to date.”

Clarkson said he would use the pre-season campaign to give youngsters and fringe players a chance to put forward their claims for a senior position.

“From a coaching point of view the next generation of Hawks is already starting to come through. We’re pretty excited about what the NAB Cup series will bring to our footy club,” he said.

“We’ve got four games and we see it as a great opportunity to trial some of our young players and trial some of the new rules that have been put in.”

Hawthorn will be missing nine players from the team that won the 2008 Grand Final against Geelong but Clarkson said there were plenty of players who can step in and command a game.

“We’ve got a group of eight to ten players who have been around our footy club for two or three years now who are hungry to take the next step,” he said.

“If we can get those guys to consolidate senior positions in the side then it puts great pressure on the rest of the group to step up as well. That’s where we’re looking for our improvement to come from over the early part of the season.”

Clarkson said while the Hawks would field their best side every week in their premiership defence, it was important to be constantly injecting the team with youth.

“We’ve always been a club that wants to bring through young players. Even in the glory days of Hawthorn sides of the 70s and 80s they brought on the next generation of players really well and we’ll do that as well,” he said.

“We won’t be forcing our hand. If senior players perform well they’ll stay in the side and, similarly, if young guys that have performed well and play well deserve their opportunity in the side then we certainly won’t hold them back from playing senior footy.”