Essendon defender Cale Hooker has praised the impact the Bombers’ trio of big name recruits have made, saying the chemistry between the group is growing.
Jake Stringer, Adam Saad and Devon Smith have all been key contributors for John Worsfold’s team this season, especially in the recent purple patch of form the Dons have hit.
According to Hooker, the new players have blended with the current crop, a process that was always going to take time.
SEN Breakfast with Garry Lyon and Tim Watson can be heard Monday-Friday 6-9am, and you can subscribe to the podcast here.
“He has slotted into the group really well, Jakey,” he told SEN Breakfast.
“I sit next to him in the locker room and he is a great fella.
“He, along with Dev Smith and Saady, they’ve come in and had a huge impact on the footy club.
“I think it was always going to take a few weeks to get used to how they play, even for us to get used to how they play as much as them getting used to how we play.
“We seem to be starting to get that chemistry with all three of those guys.
“It’s great to play with them and they’re all very exciting players.”
Hooker also explained how a “big meeting” after Essendon’s early season loss to Carlton has helped them turn their form around.
“After we lost to Carlton about six weeks ago we were 2-6,” he said.
“We were pretty embarrassed actually and pretty frustrated.
“We had a big meeting and spoke about how we felt we were as a group and what we felt we needed to work on and just committed to working really hard on that during the week and that’s sort of been our mantra.”
Listen to Cale Hooker’s chat with Jack Heverin, Nick Dal Santo and Danny Frawley on SEN Breakfast in the player below