HAWTHORN footballer Jordan Lewis will have a slow start to his pre-season as the Hawks look to move on from their heartbreaking grand final loss.
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The Warrnambool export, who is recovering from wrist surgery, is in town with teammate Jarryd Roughead.
The pair, who were both top 10 draft picks in the 2004 AFL national draft, will join colourful Melbourne identity Mick Gatto at a fund-raiser for local cancer charities tonight.
Lewis, 26, and Roughead, 25, arrived in Warrnambool on Wednesday, having put the heartache of Hawthorn’s grand final loss to Sydney behind them.
The 2008 premiership players took time to relax in between some training sessions.
“We’ve pretty much been training for the last month and it’s nice just to get home and sit on the couch and watch some sport and really just enjoy our time back home,” Lewis told The Standard yesterday.
“We did a cycling class this morning and tomorrow we’ll go for a run and ‘Roughy’ will do some boxing with my uncle.
“I just had a wrist reconstruction, so I am sort of non-contact until February, so I can’t do a lot.”
Lewis said Hawthorn would start pre-season on November 26.
“I don’t think you can ever look forward to pre-season,” Lewis joked.
“We have had a really good break and I suppose when we get back we’ve got another month until we’re on Christmas holidays, so you can really knuckle down and get your head around really training hard for a month and then maybe have a few weeks off and then go again after Christmas.
“We go back for two weeks and then have a camp in Mooloolaba for a week, so it sort of breaks that month up, which is great.”
Roughead said the Hawks needed to focus on next season.
“To lose a grand final by 10 points or so, you do sit back and think what might have been. But it was two months ago now, so hopefully a lot of the boys have forgotten about it and just want to get stuck into pre-season and next year is a whole new year, which is good,” he said.
The forward-cum-ruckman said the Hawks, who added former Western Bulldogs full-back Brian Lake to their list in the free agency period, had confidence in their list.
“We got a kid from the Northern Territory (Jed Anderson) who is meant to be very good with the ball and lightning quick, so it will be interesting to see how he goes,” he said.
“There are five new faces already and we’re not even at draft day.
“The list rotates pretty quick, so we have to get them in and up to scratch with our systems and what not, but hopefully they’ll be right.”
Lewis and Roughead, who both spent time in America during their pre-season break, have known each other since they were teenagers.
“We sort of knew each other from basketball days, especially under 16s and under 18s, and then played under 18 football together and were fortunate enough to get drafted together,” Lewis said.
“We have remained good mates ever since.”
Lewis said Roughead, who hails from Leongatha, had visited Warrnambool a number of times and kept “nagging me to bring him back”.
He said they were happy to help at the A Night On The Couch charity event tonight at Quality Suites Deep Blue, which has been organised by Jeremy O’Donnell.
“It is very much a relaxed style — go there, have a few drinks and support a great cause,” Lewis said. “We’ll get along and hopefully there’s a few Hawthorn supporters there, otherwise we’ll get stuff thrown at us.
“I think Mick might be the interesting one out of the lot of us.”
Lewis and Roughead will donate a signed Hawthorn jumper.
Lewis said it was humbling they were able to help great causes because of their football profiles.