Hawksley Eyes the Big League
Posted Jul 22, 2006 - 4:06 AM
James Hawksley is one of the many talented players to come out of the Peel region of late and is currently playing for the Peel colts side after having just returned from the under 18James is approximately 188cm tall, weighs just on 72 kilograms and plays most of his football off a half back flank.
A product of the strong peel region James has played most of his junior football at Safety Bay Junior Football Club up until u/13's. During his time at Safety Bay James won 3 best and fairest trophies before moving to Mandurah Centrals where he completed his junior football career and also won 2 best and fairest trophies and was runner up in another year. Not bad for a kid who was only at the club for three years.
Unbeknown to most James is also a talent when he turns his hand to cricket. However James sat down and worked out which sport was going to give him the most opportunities. James did the maths and worked out that while there were approximately six hundred and forty odd players in the AFL system, not including rookies, the number of cricketers at the highest level were a lost less particularly considering the number of state representatives at state level were the competition to represent his country. James thought he would concentrate on football making this his priority.
James has represented his state at both 16's and 18's level and was also selected in the AIS/AFL academy which he admits was an eye opener. James played against the Irish and was named in the best player list for Australia in the game at Fremantle oval which was a game that broke the dead lock and saw Australia take the title.
James stated that the AIS/AFL program offered him an opportunity to develop his football. James said that the academy training puts into perspective the level at which he has to be playing and training at in order to reach the highest level of football. He says "its not all just natural ability
