Ruckman to have role as a mentor at HBL

Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault coach Derek Hall believes the recruitment of former Claremont ruckman Mitchell Andrews will help to develop his team’s young ruck brigade.

The 129-game WAFL veteran has joined former Fremantle Docker Jesse Crichton as a big name recruit for the club and Hall believes he will have an impact on and off the field.

“We think we have some great up-and-coming ruckmen at the club and having Mitch around them will benefit their development and in tandem they can work well together,” he said.

“Whatever Mitch does these guys will watch and surely that is going to have a beneficial impact.”

“It will fast track the ruckman of our ruckman.”

Hall said it could mean young players such as Jack Strand spent less time in the ruck, but they would still be key parts of the team.

“Mitch has more strings in his bow than just playing in the ruck,” he said.

Hall said Kristin Thornton had re-committed to the club.

“We have had a couple of new blokes rock up as well,” he said.

“We are really happy with where we sit at the moment. We have a stack of young blokes coming to training.

“I really want to focus on youth. We are lucky at our club to have a good population pool to pull from.

“If those guys train, then we are keen to give them every opportunity to show what they can do.”