Fresh from being rewarded with his maiden All Australian blazer, Hawthorn defender Josh Battle has opened up on the honour ahead of Saturday’s Elimination Final against GWS.

While the 27-year-old admitted he wasn’t expecting the selection, he told media this week that he was delighted all the same. 

Battle also spoke about his connection with the other Hawks defenders, as well as this weekend’s big clash.

On his All Australian selection 

“It’s good, it’s probably something I wasn’t expecting going into the year, my first year at the club here. I just wanted to earn the respect from the players and coaching staff and everyone in the organisation here at the Hawks. I’m definitely rapt to be alongside those amazing players.”

On his connection with the backline

“It was always going to take time to get that synergy. We’re definitely starting to get that synergy and it’s one of our strengths as a team. Sis (James Sicily) has been really good for my development, he’s a super player of the competition and he’s someone that I’ve always admired from afar. You can even throw in TB (Tom Barrass), to come across with TB, I think as the year’s gone on, we’ve gotten better as a collective and as a whole backline group. To work alongside those guys who have been tremendous for the game, it’s been really good.”

On playing the GIANTS in Sydney

“We know the Giants have got some firepower up forward. We’ll assess match-ups later in the week, but we’re really looking forward to playing them. I think it’s always tough playing away from home but yeah, we’re really looking forward to this week. We hope our fans come along for the journey.”

On his improvement 

“I’ve definitely learned a lot. The two teams (Hawthorn at St Kilda) play a different brand of footy so when I came in, it was challenging at the start to even work alongside different players and a different system, but I think I’ve definitely grown as a player. I sort of play a different position in a sense.” 

Watch Battle’s full press conference below