All Australian and two-time AFLW premiership midfielder Anne Hatchard says her teammates are raring to go ahead of the new season.

But there’s one youngster from the Club’s newest recruits who is really impressing Hatchard - Brooke Tonon.

Tonon was recruited at this year’s AFLW draft after enjoying a successful season in the SANFLW with Glenelg, which included winning the flag and earning selection in the Team of the Year as a defender.

“They’re all quite impressive but Brooke Tonon (especially), her silky skills and she’s very elite with the ball,” Hatchard said.

“I’m excited to see what she can bring.”

Hatchard, who was recruited with pick No. 87 at the inaugural draft in 2016, will enter her sixth AFLW season when the campaign kicks off in January. 

The 23-year-old transformed herself at the end of the 2018 season to become one of the competition’s elite midfielders.

She finished as the runner-up in Adelaide’s 2021 AFLW best and fairest after recording an average of 20.5 disposals, 10.5 contested possessions, 2.5 clearances and four goals.

That followed taking home the Club’s highest individual honour in 2020.

But the hard-working on-baller is determined to get even better.

“You can always improve and my skills are what I am working on,” Hatchard said.

“I want to work on my kick and my aerial marking to try and take that to the next level so hopefully I can be a bit more versatile around the ground.

“I also always want to keep improving on my fitness but that’s at a pretty high level at the moment so I will definitely have more of a focus on skills this year.

“But I don’t want to drop off with my fitness, so I’m still pushing harder and harder.”

Hatchard said the players’ mindset was positive despite a disappointing end to the 2021 season, having lost the Grand Final to Brisbane.

She said it had made the team stronger and fuelled the hunger to succeed in 2022.

“I think the group that we’ve got this year is really exciting and the young girls coming through have a lot of talent,” Hatchard said.

“To be able to see what we can bring this year really excites me.

“We’ve built such a good culture here and it just shows with the amount of girls who have stuck around with each year going on.

“With the strong off-field connection we have, I think we’ll have a really good season on-field.”