{"id":68210,"date":"2020-06-05T12:57:05","date_gmt":"2020-06-05T02:57:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/afl.draftcentral.localhost\/?p=68210"},"modified":"2020-06-05T12:57:05","modified_gmt":"2020-06-05T02:57:05","slug":"qa-cooper-hamilton-bendigo-pioneers-vic-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/2020\/06\/05\/qa-cooper-hamilton-bendigo-pioneers-vic-country\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A: Cooper Hamilton (Bendigo Pioneers\/Vic Country)"},"content":{"rendered":"

AS the postponement of all seasons commenced over the last few weeks, we head back to the pre-season where we sat down with a number of athletes across the country. In a special Question and Answer (Q&A) feature, Draft Central<\/em>‘s Michael Alvaro<\/em><\/strong> chatted with Bendigo Pioneers’ Cooper Hamilton<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0at the NAB League Fitness Testing Day hosted by Rookie Me.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hamilton made his NAB League debut last year alongside twin brother, Hugh<\/strong><\/a> after earning All Australian honours at the Under 16 National Championships, representing Vic Country. The hard-at-it defender is also a very capable endurance runner, proving as much with his 21.3 score in the 2020 preseason yo-yo test. He is now also part of the Vic Country Academy hub, looking to earn a spot in the Under 18 side while turning out for the Pioneers across the next two seasons.<\/p>\n

>> CATCH UP ON OUR FEATURES<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Q&A:<\/strong><\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

MA: Cooper, how’s the day been for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

CH: “It’s been pretty good. There’s a couple of tests that get on my nerves but other than that, it’s fine.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Which are the ones that get on your nerves?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Probably the agility. I knocked over a pole so it wasn’t great.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Are you looking to improve in that kind of area?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Definitely. Just speed, I really want to improve on that.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Are there any tests which better showcase your skills?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Probably the yo-yo. I’m more of an endurance (runner) rather than a sprinter so hopefully I do alright in that.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Coming off an All Australian Under 16 campaign, it must’ve been a pretty fun week up in Queensland?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“I loved it. It was so much fun with all the boys together, just unreal.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It must’ve also helped having your twin brother (Hugh) up there as well?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Yes, it was really good.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What sets you two apart, what are the differences in your game?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“I’m more of a backman and he’s more a mid\/forward. He’s a lot stockier than I am, but I’ll hopefully grow a little taller than him.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Who came first?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“He did, by about a minute.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So he beat you there, but you’re going to be taller?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Hopefully, fingers crossed.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In terms of the Bendigo boys, are you excited to run out with the pretty talented group you have?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“I can’t wait, especially Round 1 against Geelong. It’ll be a hard contest but I reckon we’re pretty set for it.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Are there any guys you’re looking up to or feeding off at the moment?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Josh Treacy<\/strong><\/a> definitely. He’s a big boy, unreal. And probably Jack Ginnivan<\/strong><\/a>, Sam Conforti<\/strong><\/a>, Seamus Mitchell<\/strong><\/a>, those boys – they just go about it really well.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How has being around the Vic Country hub been for your development as a bottom-ager?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“It’s been really good. Everyone’s so welcoming, it’s unreal.”<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

>> READ UP ON THE BENDIGO PIONEERS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Q&A’s:\u00a0<\/strong>
\nSam Conforti<\/a>
\nJack Ginnivan<\/a>
\nJosh Treacy<\/a><\/p>\n

AFL Draft Watch:<\/strong>
\nJack Ginnivan<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AS the postponement of all seasons commenced over the last few weeks, we head back to the pre-season where we sat down with a number of athletes across the country. In a special Question and Answer (Q&A) feature, Draft Central‘s Michael Alvaro chatted with Bendigo Pioneers’ Cooper Hamilton\u00a0at the NAB League Fitness Testing Day hosted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":68211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11586,278,7949,8],"tags":[9118,11316,24,39,9122,2964,7032,11583,11827,1879,11810,11788],"class_list":["post-68210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bendigo-pioneers","category-feature-articles","category-nab-league","category-news","tag-2019-under-16-national-championships","tag-2020-under-18-national-championships","tag-afl-academy","tag-bendigo-pioneers","tag-cooper-hamilton","tag-feature","tag-hugh-hamilton","tag-qa","tag-qna","tag-vic-country","tag-vic-country-2020","tag-vic-country-hub"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}