We’ll go game-by-game across the AAMI Community Series to offer all the latest insights from coaches into who’s in form, who’s got a good role and the latest injury updates.
Hawthorn vs Western Bulldogs
Hawthorn assistant coach Adrian Hickmott
On James Sicily’s role:
“Things change throughout the week. You’ll notice he went forward today in the last half of the first quarter and then the last quarter he went forward. We’re experimenting with those little things. As the year goes on, we’ll see how it unfolds.”
On recruits Tom Barrass and Josh Battle:
“Yeah, they looked good. They worked together really well. The back six or the back seven, with (Josh) Weddle and the other guys there, their scoring efficiency against was pleasing. I think the Bulldogs had 61 inside 50s which is a fair bit so to hold up when they did was a good effort.”
Western Bulldogs assistant coach Daniel Pratt
On Sam Davidson:
“We were really pleased with ‘Davo’. He held down his wing for the day. He’s played a bit of senior footy and, obviously, we saw the talent in him in the VFL last year. We’ve been really pleased with him. Today really represented his pre-season.”
On Ryley Sanders:
“He’s been working really hard on his game with Jarryn Geary and Brendon Lade – the midfield coaches. The pressure he can apply can help us immensely. We saw a lot of that in the first half. I think he ended up 22 or 23 touches. He’ll continue to develop. He’s a high talent and we expect him to keep getting better.
“There are a number of guys who came through who played midfield time today: (Riley) Garcia, (Harvey) Gallagher has played in there, Joel Freijah got a run in the last quarter in the midfield and ‘Sando’.”
On Marcus Bontempelli’s calf injury:
“We just took him out. We weren’t going to take any risks. Not many clubs would at this time of the year with a player like him.”
