EAGLEHAWK’S round one opponent finished on the bottom of the ladder last year, but the Hawks won’t be under-estimating South Bendigo in their Bendigo Football League season-opener on Friday.
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The Hawks and Bloods meet at Canterbury Park.
“There has been a lot of talk about South Bendigo’s turnover with players coming in and going out, so they are going to be a bit of an unknown,” Eaglehawk coach Luke Monaghan said.
“It’s always quite dangerous when you’re playing a team that will be wanting to prove a point first-up like South Bendigo will be, so we’ll be ready for them to come out and give us a good contest.”
Eaglehawk’s round one side features six recruits, although, three have previously played with the Hawks - Matt Gretgrix, Tim Hill and Cameron Milward.
The Hawks will also unveil recruits Chris Hudson and Nathan O’Brien from Lockington-Bamawm United and Ben Holman from Tongala.
“We’ve had a good pre-season; the boys have played to the structures well in the practice matches and their fitness has shown to be good,” Monaghan said.
“We want to make sure we keep improving on our ball-use and decision making, but leading into our first game, we’re fairly happy with where we’re at and looking forward to getting stuck into it.”
The Hawks will have four players missing through injury - Riley McIvor (broken fibula), captain Luke Button (calf), North Ballarat-listed Jesse Collins (hamstring) and Jarrod Findlay (ankle).
South Bendigo has seven new players in its team, as well as a new coach in Steven Oliver.
