Boom Bulldog recruit Tom Boyd won’t have to look too far for familiar faces when he arrives for training on November 5, with a host of past junior teammates already calling the Kennel home.
Mitch Honeychurch was a TAC Cup premiership teammate of Boyd at the Eastern Ranges in 2013, while Boyd was a member of the AIS-AFL Academy squad with Marcus Bontempelli in the same year.
The 19-year-old also played alongside Jack Macrae, Nathan Hrovat and Lachie Hunter in his bottom age year for Vic Metro in the 2012 NAB AFL U18 Championships.
Boyd says he’ll be looking forward to renewing the friendships formed in the junior years when he arrives for the first day of pre-season in less than two weeks.
“It will be good to have some familiar faces to ease in to it at the start of pre-season, at least I’m not guessing everyone’s name and I’ll have a few people to turn to and ask for any help I need,” Boyd said.
Under no illusions of the work that lies ahead this pre-season, Boyd says the best way to integrate into the playing group, and to quell the external pressures that came with his high-profile signing, will be to put his head down from day one.
“We as AFL players put a lot of pressure on ourselves to perform, and the best way to deal with any kind of expectations is to get fit and get ready for a big 2015, which is exactly what I’m planning to do.”
