HAWTHORN is in an enviable position. Not only does it hold the premiership cup but also boosts the youngest list in the AFL. However, injuries will test the depth of the Hawks and all champions say staying at the top is even harder than getting there.

Assistant coach Chris Fagan gives afl.com.au an update on the players that are attempting to defend their 2008 premiership crown.

SENIOR LIST
Max Bailey
He had his knee reconstruction last year. His recovery is on schedule but he is not expected to play until June or July. He has done all the work in the gym and is starting his running program.

Chance Bateman
Chance hasn’t missed a beat. He is very fit and one of the elite runners at the club. His pre-season can’t be faulted.

Grant Birchall
Grant had a good pre-season, is in good shape and has really worked to improve his power and endurance.

Tim Boyle
Tim has just resumed skills training over the last couple of weeks. He was injured in round three last year and has spent a lot of time in rehab trying to get it right. He is just about right now and is looking to return in about round four.

Campbell Brown
Has had a really solid pre-season. Hurt his ankle against Carlton in the NAB Cup but will be right for the start of the season. We made a little adjustment for him because he was in the International Rules series. He is different to a lot of players because he does some work in the back half and some in the front half.

Robbie Campbell
Robbie is as fit as he’s ever been. He had surgery on his wrist after the grand final which meant he hasn’t been able to join in full ball work until about a month ago. Has done plenty of running and fitness work and is in very good shape.

Trent Croad
He is still in rehab from his foot injury from the grand final. There has been no date set on his return. It is just a matter of him going through the process and building up gradually. Not sure yet on a return date but he is running. It is hard to say how his foot is going to respond as he goes along.

Stuart Dew
Stuey has had a solid pre-season and is ready to go. He is in pretty good shape and has done all the work, which is a bit different from last year when he was on a modified program all the way through. He started this pre-season at a reasonable weight.

Beau Dowler
Has had his best pre-season since he’s been at the club. He has had a lot of injury problems throughout his career but this year he has been able to do about 90 per cent of the pre-season and is in good shape. He was well up the front in the time trials.

Xavier Ellis
He is back in to football training after his hip injury. He has completed a six to eight week running program and a couple of weeks ago he began his football program. He will be somewhere around the mark for round one. He has progressed as we all hoped he would. If he doesn’t play in round one he won’t be far away.

Lance Franklin
Has had a very good pre-season but has been restricted due to shoulder and thumb surgery. We’ve taken a no-risk approach with him. He will be raring to go come round one. I would say he is one of the best trainers I have ever seen. He is a fantastic trainer and really prepares himself well.

Stephen Gilham
Had a very good pre-season until the Carlton game where he hyper-extended his knee. He is progressing well. Not sure if he will be available for round one but he won’t be too far away after that.

Brent Guerra
He has had his usual modified pre-season. He has a few issues with his body that if he trains too hard he tends to break down. He is managed really carefully during the pre-season. Skinfold-wise he is probably in the best shape of his career.

Luke Hodge
Had surgery to his shoulder but is on schedule. While he has missed a fair bit of the football training, he has been able to do a lot of the running so he is aerobically fit and it is just a matter of getting that match practice into him now.

Josh Kennedy
Skin folds are at an all-time low. He has worked hard to improve his endurance and speed. He has left no stone unturned. He knows it is an important year for him and a lot depends on his form.

Rick Ladson
He had a bit of a knee problem and probably won’t play in the first couple of rounds. He is a little bit behind where he would like to be.

Jordan Lewis
Another one of the boys who has had shoulder surgery. He is on schedule to return in about round two or three. He has also been able to do a lot of running and do skills work without doing the competitive contact work.

Jordan Lisle
He is going along well. He is on a modified program because he is a first-year player. We don’t ask him to do everything the senior players would do. He hasn’t looked out of place on the training track. Hasn’t had a huge conditioning background so we’ve had to be careful with him.

Luke Lowden
He has played a couple of games and he is still doing year 12 at Caulfield Grammar so that is his priority. We don’t expect him to play any senior football this year. In fact we don’t expect him to play any more than six to 10 games at Box Hill because he will need to play with school.

Ben McGlynn
Ben has had a tremendous pre-season. If you were handing out awards for the best pre-season it would be Ben McGlynn. He had a wretched year last year with injuries. Since Crawford’s gone, Ben has been right up there with our time trials.

Sam Mitchell
He is a super professional. Sam is such a resilient character who never seems to miss a training session. He comes in to the season in great shape and leads the way for everyone else.

Jarryd Morton
He has had a focus on building up his body a bit and improving his power which he has done. He is one of the more dedicated young players around the club. He has real attention to detail and has given himself a great chance to have a very good season.

Tom Murphy
He had a breakthrough season last year and that was his best effort so far. He has had a really good pre-season. He is another one of those blokes who is very professional and does everything he can to be as good as he can be. I expect he will become more important for us this year.

Beau Muston
Beau is also in rehab from his knee reconstruction. He has had a couple of setbacks, not with his knee but achilles tendonitis. He will be available in round two or three. His rehabilitation has been fantastic.

Michael Osborne
He had a great pre-season last year and has followed it up well. He got a corkie in round one of the NAB Cup but will play in round one.

Brent Renouf
He has done more training than he has ever done before. He is in good physical shape. He missed the first two NAB Cup games because of a club suspension but returned against Adelaide and showed a lot of endeavour and we expect him to continue to develop this year.

Cyril Rioli
He amazed us last year with the amount of training he was able to do in his first year. He has done the same this year, he has one of those resilient bodies and loves his football training. He has continued on in the same manner he started last year. His endurance has improved and hopefully he will be able to spend more time in the midfield.

Jarryd Roughead
I think he was ready to play six weeks ago. He is in fantastic shape and in really good form. He has had an uninterrupted pre-season and works really hard on all the elements of his game. I expect he will improve on last year which was already pretty good.

Shane Savage
Shane had a setback with a shoulder injury in December. He had some surgery and he’s only a 17-year-old and fairly lightly framed. We will be patient with him and probably won’t bring him back until June.

Ryan Schoenmakers
He has had a solid pre-season. He has fitted in very well to the demands of training at an AFL club. He has played a couple of games and we’re expecting that he may well play a few senior AFL games this year depending on his form. From what he’s shown so far he looks like he is going to be a pretty good player for us.

Brad Sewell
Sewelly’s worked really hard this pre-season to improve his endurance. He is a terrific inside player but he wants to be able to be good at that as well as the running outside game as well so he can add another element to his performance.

Liam Shiels
He is a bit like Luke Lowden. He is doing year 12 this year at Aquinas College. We don’t see him all the time because he is still at school but he has made a real impression since he started. He is an elite aerobic athlete and is really up in our top group of runners already.

Simon Taylor
Missing out on the premiership team has been a real motivation for him. I don’t think he has missed a session and we’ve been really pleased with his form so far. He is doing everything he can to get back in the team and stay in the team.

Mitch Thorp
In his first year at the club he did one per cent of the pre-season, last year he managed about 30 per cent and this year he is up around 90 per cent. This is the first year he has had a chance to prepare properly and we’d hope he will reap the benefits of that and push up to be a bloke who can play in the senior team for us.

Travis Tuck
He is also in that category of blokes who just missed the grand final team. He struggled with a knee injury in the middle of last year but with Crawf leaving Tucky has realised there is a spot for him and he is doing everything he can to try and grab it. His form in the NAB Cup so far has been excellent.

Brendan Whitecross
We are very hopeful Brendan can step up to play AFL this year. He was a 17-year-old last year and played some really good games at Box Hill. His highs were high and his lows were low. He has worked on his consistency in everything he does. He played the first three NAB games and he has been very steady playing across half-back. We expect he will take a step up this year.

Mark Williams
He is one of the players we manage through because of his knee. He doesn’t do as much football as he does other conditioning things. Because he is a naturally skilled player he doesn’t need to do all the football sessions. He’s played a couple of pre-season games and he will be ready for round one.

Clinton Young
He took a long while to recover from the ankle he injured in the grand final. He didn’t join the football program until after Christmas but he was able to do a lot of running in straight lines. He and McGlynn are the blokes that dominate the beep tests.

ROOKIES
Luke Breust
He has done all the training since he arrived. He is a quick, agile small forward type. He has played a fair bit in the NAB Cup and NAB Challenge. He has a bit of work to do before he can become an AFL player but he has AFL pace and agility and a really great attitude to training.

Haydn Kiel
He’s in his third AFL season and has done about 98 per cent of training since he arrived. He played a couple of NAB games and will have to force his way through Box Hill. He will be monitored closely and looks like a good ball-winning midfielder.

Riley Milne
He has showed some signs that he could develop into an AFL defender. He is particularly good when he has the ball in his hands, he will take the game on and kicks nicely. There is a bit to work there with him. He will be a project player who will be well worth the effort.

Garry Moss
He has been on the senior list for two years and injuries killed those years. He has moved really well since Christmas and has completed the best two or three month training block he has been able to do since he has been at the club.

Carl Peterson
He’s been struggling a bit with a knee injury since coming to the club. He has been on a modified rehab program and is at the stage now where he is doing more football work. We are mindful that he hasn’t done a lot of training in the last 12 months.

Will Sierakowski
It has been a huge step for Will. He is our first NSW rookie. It is a massive step from a young lad from NSW to come and play with an AFL team. He hasn’t missed a beat. He got a run against Adelaide and while he didn’t get heaps of the ball he always did something constructive with it. We’ll be happy if he can break his way into the Box Hill team.

Cameron Stokes
He’s our nominated rookie and can play seniors from the word go. He has built on his pre-season from last year. He is great mates with Cyril and they are alike in so many ways. One of those similarities is their training ethic. He is a very disciplined player and we are hopeful he can play a role for us.

Matt Suckling
Matt is in his third year on our rookie list. He has got a fantastic ability to kick the ball. He’s done about 85 per cent of the pre-season load which is well up on his previous two years. He needs to get a bit more physically strong but he is a real talent and might surprise.

Tim Walsh
It is his second year on the rookie list and had a late start last year because of a knee problem. He showed some good form for Box Hill towards the end of last year. He has had a good pre-season but has had a bit of soreness lately. He is a developing ruckman and works hard at his game. I think he will improve this year.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL.