'They actually seated me next to Bevo' - Coaches show their lighter side at AFL Awards I Fox Footy

few coaches on the table here we might just um well the chicken or the beef I might interrupt did you have the chicken or the beef coach uh the beef Howe um or Rising Star coming up OE Dempsey he's been at the footy club for a few years uh he will be well and truly in the mix when did you first lay eyes on the young man and what were your impressions coach well he was um he was plucked almost from obscurity uh by Steven Wells who has a pension for that sort of thing um Olie came in as a sort of skinny young basketballer really um I didn't know much about him but you can see his talent as soon as he got on the track uh and he's just such a I mean hopefully we see him up on stage tonight he's just such a happy young man he he's an optimist and you know he helps us old grumpy people feel a bit better about themselves you're a man that cooks your steak in the plastic bag what's that called again is this up to standard this is excellent yeah well done set we'll leave you to it now another man that I know he wanted to speak to me tonight he was saying just come and speak to me how is the coach of the Hawks how are the Hawks going ladies and gentlemen Sam Mitchell Mitch nice to see you um Nick Watson the wizard when you first laid eyes on that young man what did you think because there's a 12-year-old at my house that loves him and a lot of footy fans whether they follow the Hawks or not um love this young man you've let loose in the forward line yeah the very first meeting he gave me plenty of cheek and I thought that's pretty pretty ambitious and I enjoyed it from the first time and it hasn't changed he uh he bumped into me he's wearing a nice black suit tonight and he bumped into me in the foyer so that's the kind of lad you get because because you were such a showman yourself on the field is it you the one that has encouraged these players to take the photos do the celebrations absolutely not um they continually try to encourage others to get in um but most of the oldtimers um we stay stay on the grumpy train and let them do their thing excited about next Friday night I think they announced today it's sold out your first game you coach in a final I am actually sometimes I find myself getting a bit too excited need to calm down and remind myself it's still a long way away um they actually seated me next to Bevo so I moved a couple of seats over so I move back that way um do he's not looking at you he's no eye contact he doesn't want to Bar you at the moment look at him this a bit it was a bit awkward but we we work through it good on you Mitch best of luck all right let's have a look at our first batch of rising star nominees Harley Reed gets to work and powering away with a couple of bounces Harley Reed on full show and believable obviously I think the way I play is I want to have fun and I want to I want to enjoy being an NL player and I think I've really just enjoyed expressing myself and going out there feeling pretty confident yeah I think my offense is probably one of my best weapons but I really nailed down on my defensive pressure and whole plan R for the team which is all that matters I'd like to think it was my pressure trying not to give the opponent time to think and kind of spending their face as much as possible and it's Logan Evans who matches in for pace and here great crab Logan Evans he's the other Big Win For theight he wouldn't have had time to be saw Jared no he played a few hours ago played in the reserves today he did 13 K he ran nks in the seniors so he's covered 22 km been a big uh couple months yeah just having so much fun out there kicking goal celebrating with the boys and then I've absolutely been loving it yeah the academy was so good for me and the other boys too gave us a step ahead the rest of the draft group one of my strengths I think is take hits and bounce back up as a younger player in the competition it's really special we got a really special young group going my dream when I was a kid it was wasn't to play AFL was to play for north and you know it was always like a second home for me a second family so yeah to do what I dreamt of now I just love it here's caddy on the angle never in out know I just go out there and try and win with fo jumping marks and couldn't have asked for a better job and couldn't have asked for a better place to do with that he find a chest he can he's r that in works it back works it back and gets it home the wizard the good thing about haon which I love is um they let you be yourself your own character there's no judgment there what about those Hawks uh this young man in his first year has been ROM nominated for an AFL Rising Star his name is Nick Watson Nick lovely to see you how's your first year been ination uh 05 early and now playing a final next Friday night yeah um it's been a pretty big roller coaster to be honest um yeah obviously starting pretty slow and then we still we still never lost belief to be honest between between the groups so um now started slow and now we're really um getting it going later on this year and yeah it's been a weird year but um no it's been really exciting I was saying to you just in the ad break that uh my young fellow like many young boys and girls around Victoria in Australia just love seeing you do what you do what's it like now when you get out of a car down Cafe Etc or at training and kids come up to you and want a selfie and want an autograph and want a little bit of piece of you n it's just normal it's just what footy gets are these days so um n it's all part of it and uh yeah just loving it the celebrations I talked to the coach about it and you said that the footy Club lets you celebrate and be yourself it's become a massive part the selfie afterwards the celebration and the total team Dedication that the Hawks seem to be showing yeah I think we got to get Sam one in one of the Selfies at one of the games uh I don't know when that would be but um n it's just yeah so one thing I said before was they just let you be yourself at Hawks so um that's the one thing I love and um yeah it's been good fun 've got your mom and dad here we've got uh Dave and lri how many you know you played at corfield how many early mornings for APS how many football trainings how many camps how manyate trips did laori and Dave take you to yeah Fair few um didn't really like the early mornings but um got used to it so no it took me a fair few but now I got my license now so got Take My Places Happy Days mate well you deserve your LIC and sit down finish the steak best of luck I'll take the mic off you mate well done Nick Watson