LUKE Hodge has backed James Frawley to have a strong debut season with Hawthorn, saying the former Demon has bounced back from a poor first game in the brown and gold last month.
Frawley joined Hawthorn as a free agent last October and made his first club appearance in the round one NAB Challenge loss to Collingwood at Aurora Stadium in Launceston.
Playing in an undermanned Hawthorn defence that was missing premiership defenders Josh Gibson and Brian Lake, Frawley struggled as the Magpies continually peppered the ball inside their forward 50.
A day after the match, Hodge gave a blunt appraisal of Frawley's performance.
"Last night wasn't a great start for him and he'll be the first to say that," the Hawthorn skipper said.
But Hodge said at the AFL captains' day on Wednesday that Frawley's form in the Hawks' final two NAB Challenge games had set him up for a good year.
"You look at the first game. It wasn't an ideal start for him but the fact is he was playing out there with five young blokes that he'd never played with before," Hodge said.
"Throughout the pre-season he'd trained a lot with the older guys. If you saw how he played against North (Melbourne) he took a big jump forward and then if you saw how he played out here against St Kilda I thought he was outstanding.
"His one-on-one contested work was great (against St Kilda). He hardly got beaten all night and I think that shows that when you put a bloke in who's got a bit of experience and you've got other experienced people around him, it just helps them play with confidence.
"As far as how he's gone throughout the pre-season, he's been impressive. His endurance, his strength, he's a competitive person, so he should be good for us this year."
Young Hawks midfielder Jed Anderson was the third-most popular choice among the AFL captains to win this year's NAB AFL Rising Star award after bouncing back from an injury-plagued 2014 in the pre-season series.
Hodge praised Anderson's approach to his football.
"He only knows one way, it's hard at it," Hodge said.
"He's one of those kids who's come onto the scene and then had a few injuries, but as an older teammate you love playing with him because he's young, he listens to what you say, he listens to what the coaches say and he'll do anything to help the team get better.
"You can't fault a guy who puts his head over the ball as hard as he does."
Hodge said Anderson, former Giant Jonathan O'Rourke and 2014 draftees such as Daniel Howe and Jared Hardisty were among a raft of ambitious young Hawks that had the captain excited about the club's future.
"These young guys coming up, they're ready to play football," he said.
"What's exciting about it is every time they're competing against you they really want your spot.
