Hawks add ‘speed and class’ for premiership push
DRYSDALE co-coach Tom Ruggles has declared his side can take the next step and contend for a premiership after a targeted recruiting spree netted two key players.
The Hawks have landed Leopold’s Michael Case and North Shore’s Ross Celano, two sought-after players who will instantly add “speed and class” to the premiership hopefuls.
“Michael is a young kid who has struggled with a bit of injury last year and he wanted to step back from that level of GFL footy where it takes up all the time,” Ruggles said.
“He’ll be really handy for us going through the midfield, he’s still young so we’re keen to develop him a bit.
“Ross has actually been our fitness guy for the last two or three years, and is now coming on board to play.
“They’ll have an instant impact for us, Michael will play as a midfield and forward sort of player, and Ross has a lot of pace with him, we’re not too sure where we’ll use him yet but he could be on the ball or on one of the flanks, he’s pretty flexible.”
Suffering a six-goal defeat in the preliminary final to eventual premier Barwon Heads, the Hawks are eager to close to gap in search of an elusive flag.
Case played the opening four rounds of the season for Leopold, kicking three goals before injuries marred the remainder of his 2022 campaign.
Celano spent time on Footscray’s VFL list and played at Portarlington in 2019.
Ruggles said the club had been specific in its targets.
“We looked at how we ended the finals and saw that we could use a bit of pace, we’ve got some good inside midfielders but needed some pace on the outside,” he said.
“That’s what we’ve looked at, those two boys have brought that in straight away and we’ve hopefully got one or two more coming in as well.”