Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson expects the club to blood as many as three debutants for their Round 1 clash with Essendon.
Jacob Koschitzke, Tyler Brockman and Connor Downie were the three youngsters who impressed most in the AAMI Community Series win over North Melbourne.
The first two combined for nine goals, while Downie picked up 17 disposals.
“I’d expect there to be two or three. Young Koschitzke and Brockman had 15 scoring shots between them against North Melbourne two weeks ago,” Clarkson told SEN Breakfast.
“They’re going to be right in the mix to play and for our supporters it’s really exciting because supporters haven’t seen anything of Brockman because he hasn’t been on our list and Koschitzke’s had an up and down couple of years on our list with injuries and whatnot.”
Clarkson believes both the league and the Hawthorn Football Club are entering a new era in 2021.
“That’s going to be exciting for our footy club. I think it’s a little bit of a new frontier both for our club and the competition,” he said.
“The competition has been stripped back, it’s as lean as it’s ever been in the professional era in terms of the soft cap and how efficient football departments need to run now and that’ll have an impact both positively and negatively in terms of the way that it’s managed.
“The new rule changes will be a new frontier in terms of the way the game is played and then our new frontier in terms of Hawthorn is we’ve had five guys either retire or go to other clubs over the summer and we’ve got a new wave of players coming in who are trying to forge their path and find the next piece of silverware for Hawthorn.
“That’s a really exciting time for our club and we’re looking forward to seeing what this season brings for us because anything can happen in a season of footy.”
The Bombers and Hawks face off on Saturday night at Marvel Stadium.
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