Second year Sydney Swans midfielder George Hewett hasn’t needed to look far for inspiration this pre-season.
With Hewett’s locker nearly neighbouring that of Luke Parker, he has been quick to seek out the youngest winner of the best and fairest award in 17 years, for advice.
“Luke’s a great bloke, he had a very good year, you just see the way he trains, he’s never off the park, he’s always training session by session, so hopefully I can learn a few tips off him,” Hewett said.
“I want to learn how he overcame the reserves stage to playing great senior footy.”
After arriving at the Swans after last year’s draft with a minor knee complaint that required surgery, Hewett’s first AFL pre-season wasn’t ideal but he recovered in time to play round one in the reserves and didn’t miss a game from there.
Hewett in action during pre-season training.
As the season progressed, Hewett felt much more confident at the level and started to produce some consistent performances in the NEAFL.
His development didn’t go unnoticed with the coaches with the then 18-year-old getting an opportunity to be the travelling emergency for the club’s trip to Perth to play West Coast.
Now feeling much better prepared to tackle pre-season and with no injury concerns over summer, Hewett is enjoying a solid stretch on the training track and has been focusing on one area of his game in particular.
“Probably the biggest area I’ve been working on is my fitness, my endurance,” he said.
“As a midfielder, that’s probably the number one thing you need.
“I’ve also been working on my outside game and playing a bit forward while also concentrating on my strengths which is close inside.”
As he continues to seek out Parker for advice, Hewett has also been working closely with his mentor Josh Kennedy and fellow midfielder Tom Mitchell as he vies to make his debut.
“The number one goal is to play senior games but you’ve got to do that by training well, keep playing well in the reserves or whatever it is, just to keep ticking the boxes,” he said.