FRESH from his first starring role with Essendon, new recruit Paul Chapman will move quickly into studying an opponent he knows well: Hawthorn.
Chapman kicked four goals and had 21 disposals in his first game for the Bombers on Friday night against North Melbourne in a dream red and black debut.
After some nerves about representing a new side after 251 games, three premierships and 14 seasons at Geelong, Chapman settled quickly into things at the Bombers, but was quick to deflect praise.
"You're only as good as your teammates let you be. It was my turn tonight to kick the goals," Chapman told AFL.com.au after the game.
"I thought Patty Ambrose was amazing in his first game. He took a lot of hits, did the hard stuff, set up a couple of goals.
"I was lucky to get on the end of a few and hopefully it will be his turn next week, and that's the way footy works."
Next week he and the Bombers will face the reigning premiers at Etihad Stadium. After the Cats' Grand Final defeat at the hands of Hawthorn in 2008, Chapman famously pledged to never lose again to the Hawks.
While the Hawks broke their losing streak to the Cats in last year's preliminary final, Chapman was out suspended, so has still not individually tasted a loss to the Hawks since the last game of 2008.
"They're an amazing team to watch, and we need to bring our best form, and it probably needs to be better than tonight to be competitive with them," he said.
Despite his talents up the ground, Chapman is a big part of Essendon's new forward structure.
Joe Daniher competed hard against the Roos and kicked two goals, midfielders Jobe Watson and Brendon Goddard rested down there with success, Kyle Hardingham offered some spark, while Ambrose contested well.
Chapman said it was a work in progress.
"It didn't really work too well during the pre-season but we've been working hard on it at training and it seemed to work well tonight," Chapman said.
"It needs to get better but I think we can take a lot of confidence out of tonight. It ticks a lot of boxes as to when we do work for one another we do kick a winning score and that's a good thing.
Having recruited Chapman to the club, after leading him to two premierships at Geelong, coach Mark Thompson praised the 32-year-old's influence.
"He's pretty well liked by the playing group, the coach obviously likes him, other staff do. He used the ball well. He's pretty good to have around the club," Thompson said.
"I like his leadership here, I think he's liking it too. The players are trying to get some of his knowledge and experience out of him.
"He didn’t really offer that much at the Cats. He didn’t have to, he was playing with guys who knew what they were doing. I think he's enjoying that element of the new club."
