There’s a Patton emerging

GIVEN the amount of time Jonathon Patton has already spent at Waverley Park, it won’t take him long to get used to being a Hawthorn player.

Traded from GWS, Patton grew up just down the road from the Hawks’ Melbourne training ground and regularly headed there for a kick after school.

As a 14-year-old, he even completed work experience in Hawthorn’s recruiting department under football manager Graham Wright, who helped orchestrate the future fourth-round selection deal to get the key forward to the club.

Now 26 and with three knee reconstructions behind him, Patton said he was looking for a fresh start in the familiar surroundings.

“There’s been a few things in the background with the Hawks and when they were talking to my manager I was pretty interested,” the 2011 AFL No.1 draft pick said.

“The move to this club is going to give me a lot of new life, new energy and obviously getting to know a whole new game plan, new teammates and new coaches ... it’s something that’s going to help my footy.”

Patton is following in the footsteps of his former Giants teammate Tom Scully, whose AFL career appeared in doubt because of a serious ankle injury before joining Hawthorn for the 2019 season.

With the medical team working their magic, the midfielder made his debut in round two and played 21 of a possible 22 games this year.

The club had also had similar success with Jaeger O’Meara in 2016 and the injury-ravaged Shaun Burgoyne in 2009.

“Of course it plays a part,” Patton said of the Hawks’ success with injuries.

“From what you hear coming from some good friends I have here in Jaeger and Sculls [Scully] and what the history is, of course that definitely helps.”