Brent Stanton expects to split his time between the midfield and defence this season.

The veteran Bomber played across half-back throughout the final two JLT Community Series matches and averaged 19 disposals. 

“I’ve been training a fair bit over the pre-season but I’ll still probably be 50:50 between midfield and half-back,” he said.

“We’ve got some pretty good choices that can roll back there as well. 

“We’re just trying a few things there at the moment.

“It’s probably the same amount of running but it’s not as combative as if you were playing wing or midfield.

“I find it’s a little easier to read the play – the ball is coming to you most of the time rather than you going to find it.

“Hopefully it can extend my career, who knows how long I’ve got left, hopefully there is still a fair way to go yet." 

After a long lay off Stanton is confident he and his teammates are well prepared for the round one blockbuster against Hawthorn.

“We’ve had a lot of match practice – not just these three JLT games but also in the pre-season,” he said.

“It has been a real concerted effort by the coaching staff to get as much match play into us over that period so that whoever [the returning players] plays in round one or throughout the year we’re ready to go when we’re asked to and step up and play a role for the team.

“Not everyone might light it up in the first five or six weeks but we know we’re going to need 30 to 35 players to be able to be successful for the whole year. 

“We just want to keep improving and we’ve seen a lot of improvement out of the younger guys that had the opportunities last year and we’re just trying to complement that and go as far as we can.”