Hawks looking strong
The Age
Saturday February 13, 2010
HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson hopes six extra weeks of pre-season training, compared with last year, will put his side in a much stronger position entering tonight's NAB Cup clash against Richmond in Launceston.Putting the disappointments of last season behind him, Clarkson said the side was almost at full strength leading into the opening round."Last year when we had a few hiccups with surgery and injury throughout the summer we just found we didn't have the time to recover those guys as well as we might," Clarkson said at a light training session yesterday."We've had a great preparation and feel very optimistic about the prospects for our side this year."Our preparation this year has just been so much stronger than last year because of those four to six weeks . . . that's been the biggest difference."Clarkson said midfielder Cyril Rioli (groin) and new recruit Shaun Burgoyne (knee) were among the few players still sidelined through injury, while Chance Bateman and Rhan Hooper might play in the second NAB Cup game."We're not resting any players, if they're fit and had a good preparation over the last three to five weeks they're playing, so that's most of our squad," he said.He said Rioli's workload had been eased because of some groin tightness."There's always a little bit of concern there with a groin injury but we're hopeful if we back him off and he responds well to treatment he'll be right to go in the latter stages of NAB Cup."He added that Burgoyne, who is recovering from knee surgery, could make his debut late in the pre-season comp or round one of the season proper.Clarkson said while the Hawks liked to win every game, he was more interested in getting match fitness into his players.Meanwhile, Tigers coach Damien Hardwick said he just wanted his new team to show some promise after introducing a new game plan since he took over as head coach."The result's irrelevant, I just want us to play a nice game," Hardwick said yesterday."Our ball movement's really important, defensively we're looking for some things."It's broken down on a quarter-by-quarter basis, there's going to be times when we play it really well [and] due to inexperience, there's going to be times where we don't cope with it well."It's a really good learning experience for us."
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