Arguably Essendon’s most improved player over the last twelve months, Cale Hooker, notches up his 100 game milestone this weekend against Melbourne at the MCG.
Hooker said he was excited to be reaching the 100 game mark after a consistent two seasons of football.
“It’s exciting to play 100 games, but I’ve never really thought about it, and probably still don’t even think about it,” Hooker said.
“I guess when I got drafted six or seven years ago, I never knew what would happen, and to get to 100 games is pretty exciting for me.”
The Western-Australian born defender said the big move to Melbourne several years ago was not an easy one.
“When I moved over to Melbourne, I was in with a host family and they put me out in their garage for a couple of years,” Hooker said.
“They brought me up the tough way, and they were awesome.”
He even went as far as to credit them for his success.
“They had a big part to do with my early settling in and building a career, and I’ve really got to thank them a lot for helping me settle in to Melbourne.”
Hooker, into his seventh year at the club, has since moved into a more settled household with teammate Tom Bellchambers.
“Tommy lives with me now and he’s a great housemate and we get along really well and he’s been great to live with,” he said.
As Hooker enjoys his best season to date, averaging an astonishing 21 disposals and almost nine marks a game for a key defender.
“I think it’s just training and listening to the coaches, and my teammates helping me,” he said.
Asked specifically on how he has developed into multifaceted defender, Hooker acknowledged it was working hard in defence first then helping in attack.
“Yeah, I think when I first started playing on the good players for the other team, I was very defensive and tried to spoil and shut them down a lot,” he said.
“Something I’ve worked on is being more attacking and take more marks for myself and start our attacks.”
Hooker was initially drafted to the Bombers as a forward but slowly made the transition into defence.
“I think when I got drafted, Scotty Lucas, Matty Lloyd and Courtney Johns were all up there, so I was down the cue a bit for a game,” he said.
“So they put me down back and I managed to get a few kicks down there and found my way down there.”
“I’m really excited to get down back and feel settled down there and really enjoy playing with the guys we’ve got down there,” he said.
“Fletch and Hurls, Jakey Carlisle, Hibbo and they really look after me down there so really enjoying it as a backman.”
The 25-year-old has worked closely with previous backline coach, Sean Wellman and more recently with Matthew Egan.
“Sean Wellman was pretty big for me when he came a couple of years ago.”
“Ego has taken it to another level this year, and he’s been great for me, I’ve learnt heaps off him and I’ll keep learning off him as long as I can.”
“I’ve still got a lot of improving to do, so I’ll keep working hard on my game, my preparation, my skills and keep improving.”
The key to the Bombers defence will play a major role in determining the outcome this Sunday’s clash against Melbourne.
“They’ve played pretty well the last couple of weeks; they almost beat Port Adelaide, so we’ve got to be on our game.”
“The way they’ve been playing they like to keep the ball off you.”
“So we’ve got to try and get the ball back off them as quickly as we can and get the ball going our way.“
Asked whether he will have the big task of limiting Melbourne big man, Chris Dawes, Hooker said he will have to wait and see.
“Ego usually tells me about a day before the game, so I’ll guess I will find out on Saturday.”SNAP SHOT
Career Games - 99
2014 averages
Kicks - 11.8
Handballs - 9.6
Disposals - 16.4
Marks - 5.7
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