Drysdale pins hopes on young blood

THE threat of relegation does not concern Wade Chapman, as the Drysdale mentor casts his eye towards the future.

There has been a bit of change at Mortimer Oval — more outs than ins, to be honest — but Drysdale’s improvement was always meant to come from within.

There are a handful of Hawks who have already played more than 50 senior games, and Chapman is putting it on them to lead the charge.

“We’re just looking forward to some of the guys that have been there four or five years now and are over the 50-game mark, to start stepping up,” he said. “Mitch O’Dowd, Kyle Davis, Ben Ryan, Jack Jenkins, Taylor Bonner, these guys are up around the 50-60 games now, it’s time for them to really start showing their talent.

“The three practice matches, I’ve played Niall Gee and Peter Kilpatrick, who can still play under19s, and even Jack Preece, who’s played in the three practice matches in the seniors that can still play under-17s. They’ve showed me and the other coaches a little bit too, so all three might come into the equation in Round 1.

“I’ve still got an eye on this year, but also, you still need to look after and develop the younger ones with an eye to the future.”

With five wins against their name in 2017, Drysdale said the Hawks should have hopes of breaking that number in 2018.

“We’re coming from a long way back, but the competition has improved and we’ll need to improve too if we want to improve on those five wins,” he said.