After having a month away from home, Hanwood will finally retake their home field this weekend when they face off in a top of the table clash against Young on Sunday.
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The stint at home will be short for now with another two away games on the horizon, but Hanwood coach Brian Bertolin said the return home is welcome.
"We are looking forward to being at home, that's for sure," he said.
"It's good that we have the third-grade boys at home as well, so it will be good to have all three senior men's sides in action on the same day."
Training this week has seen the squad put through their paces once again by Andy Gamble, who works as a personal trainer, and Bertolin says having his expertise is invaluable.
"It makes a huge difference, although I'm not sure the players enjoy it," he joked.
"He is very professional in what he does in that regard, and that part of the training is in very good hands with Andy.
"All of the boys are in pretty good shape, and we should be nearly at full strength with the only one that I think we will be missing is Jordan Austin."
The benefit of the work put in by Gamble is clear to see in the early stages of the season, according to the Hanwood coach.
"The sign is that we have been running out games really well," he said.
"I wasn't there for the Lake Albert game, but they said in the second half we were able to finish with a bit of running, and that has been the same of most of the games we have been in.
"At the moment, it has probably been a little bit of an advantage. There is no doubt as the season wears on, the other teams tend to catch up to you just from a match fitness point of view."
This weekend will see the Hanwood side take on a Lions outfit who have often been the thorn in the side of Hanwood.
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Because of this, Bertolin is expecting another tough hitout this weekend and is glad they have this game straight off the long weekend bye.
"I don't think we had beaten them until the semi-finals last year, and that was the first time we had beaten them since we came back," he said.
"They have a very good set-up, they tend to sit back and play a counter-attack which they do very well, and no doubt we will have to be on our game."
As the table stands, Hanwood is currently six points ahead of Henwood Park and Young, who are level on 15 points while second to fifth are separated by two points which shows the strong start to the season Hanwood have been able to make.
The action at Hanwood Oval will get underway with the third-grade clash at 11.05 before the Pascoe Cup clash kicks off at around 3.20pm.
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