Tanunda embraces Hawthorn as the AFL prepares to set up a hub in the Barossa Valley
Tanunda is set to become the temporary hub of the Hawthorn Football Club, and the Barossa-based Magpies are embracing the Hawks’ presence in the region.
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Tanunda Football Club will be the training home of Hawthorn for the remainder of the season as the AFL sets up a hub in the Barossa Valley.
The Hawks will be based at the Novotel Resort, which was the same location the Adelaide Crows were in before the season restart.
Tanunda president Danny Westhoff said his club won’t have much to do with the Hawks during their stay.
“With all the COVID stuff, obviously Hawthorn is in lockdown,” he said.
“I would think they’d just be coming in and out and using our oval and that’s it.
“We wouldn’t have too much to do with them I would’ve thought.”
Yet, Mr Westhoff said the Hawks’ stay in the Barossa is huge for the region.
“It’s not only about the club but the Novotel who’ve secured the boys to stay there, the Rex as well,” he said.
“It’s a good opportunity for the community to hopefully get a few more things like this down the track.
“It’d be even better if we could see some people, obviously we won’t this time because of the lock down, but it opens up for a few of the other clubs to see what we’ve got.
“We’d love to have a few more teams in the competition into the state so we could watch them play footy.”
The Hawks will use the Magpies’ home ground in the heart of the Barossa, and Mr Westhoff is expecting they’ll be there during the day.
“So it won’t affect us at all, they won’t be training at night,” he said.
“It’ll be minimal for us at all, I assume they’d rock up in the bus all ready to go and get out there and have a kick and a catch on the oval, then pack up and go.
“There’ll be cleaning, they’ll have to come in there depending on what they want to use.
“The AFL will be pretty well onto that and they’ll get their people in there and clean what they have to.
“They wouldn’t want any of their players to catch something up this way.”
Mr Westhoff is the father of Port Adelaide veteran Justin, and he said it’s been a strange year not being able to see his son.
“We haven’t caught up with Justin for quite a while, they go and train and then goes straight home,” he said.
“He can’t have people around, so that’d be bloody hard on them.
“We’re probably lucky that Port has gone back to being in South Australia, and he’s got a family he won’t see if he goes back up to Queensland.”