Star Essendon defender Cale Hooker is keeping his feet on the ground after the Bombers bounced back in emphatic style to defeat Geelong by 34 points on Saturday.
Hooker received the Tom Wills Award for best afield in the Country Game at the MCG as the Dons ran riot against the Cats for the second year running, but he said the victory was “just one small step”.
“We’ve got to keep working on our game and until we can become a really consistent team we’ve got to keep working hard on our game,” Hooker said post-match.
Coming off six losses from its last seven games and off the back of assistant coach Mark Neeld’s resignation, Essendon showed great grunt to win and Hooker said he was confident the side return to its best.
“It was obviously a pretty tough week for the club, we were under a lot of pressure and rightly so – we deserved to be under pressure,” he said.
“I was really proud of the boys today stepping up in difficult circumstances and it was great to see the boys just have a crack and execute a lot of the things that we’ve been working on this week.
“I believe a lot in this group, I believe in the talent that we’ve got and it’s about working hard.”
The Bombers recorded 91 tackles for the second week in a row and kept the Cats to just seven goals, including the last three of the match when the result was certain, in the strong defensive performance.
Hooker credited two of this week’s five inclusions, Jordan Ridley and fellow defender Matt Dea, and a rise in pressure throughout the ground for the backline’s improvement.
“It was great to see Matty Dea come in and Riddles really come in and play really well,” Hooker said.
“And it made a big difference the way the mids were winning the ball out of the centre and the forwards and midfield putting really good pressure on.
“It makes our job a lot easier and makes us look a lot better just like when we’re under siege we look a lot worse, but tonight we got made to look better.”
The All Australian defender was thrilled for Ridley – who had a sensational 25 disposals and five rebound-50s – and fellow debutant Dylan Clarke for their impressive first matches.
“It was really impressive, it’s always great seeing the families of these guys come in and how excited they are and how hard they’ve worked for it.
“And it was great to see them just come in, play their role and contribute to us winning tonight.”
Hooker talked down his outstanding game in which he gathered 21 disposals, 11 marks (four contested) and six one-percenters, and said there is still plenty of room for improvement.
“It was obviously nice to perform for the team, but like I said, it’s 22 guys trying to play like a team and that makes all the difference.
“We know the three games we’ve won, we’ve played really well, but the challenge for us is to do it every week.
“And we’ve still got a lot of parts of our game to work on, so that’s what we’ll be doing during the week and hopefully it comes out again on Saturday.”
The Bombers travel to face Greater Western Sydney at Spotless Stadium next Saturday evening.
Tom Wills Award votes:
Garry Lyon
3 Hooker
2 McDonald-Tipungwuti
1 Merrett
Glenn MacFarlane
3 Hooker
2 Merrett
1 McKernan
Mark Howard
3 Hooker
2 Merrett
1 Heppell
All Essendon guernseys worn by the Bombers in the Country Game can be purchase by auction HERE.
