First it was a split Fremantle and Hawthorn jumper, now Stephanie, the mother of Stephen and Bradley Hill is after a different sort of custom guernsey.
It was a suggestion from the younger sibling as the pair chatted to DockerTV.
“She’s already got an all-Freo jumper from before, “ Bradley said.
“But I’m sure she’ll get a new one for this year as well with both of our numbers on it.”
But time is running out to source a jumper sporting both Stephen’s number 32 and Bradley’s number nine, with the brothers on track for the start of the season.
“Obviously there’s a long way to go but I’m excited to be here,” Bradley said.
“Hopefully we can play round one with each other and I’m looking forward to that.”
Despite growing up together, Stephen highlighted that it’s rare to run out in the same team as his younger brother.
The last and potentially only occurrence came in early 2015 when the pair represented the Indigenous All-Stars in a pre-season clash against West Coast.
“It’s exciting and hopefully we’re both in the team for round one and we can have a good year of footy alongside each other,” Stephen said.
“That was probably the first time we played together in the same team. It was good fun, I enjoyed playing alongside him and I’m looking forward to this year as well.”
At the end of the Trade Period, afl.com.au predicted that the Hill brothers would feature on both sides of the wing. While Bradley loved the idea, he suggested that Stephen might have other plans.
“Yeah that’ll be awesome if that was to happen,” Bradley said.
“But Stephen recons he’s an inside player now so we’ll have to wait and see! But definitely would be good to be playing on the wing with him on the left side obviously and me on the right, that’ll be pretty awesome.”
“Otherwise, I’ll just be running past him for an easy handpass!”
Alongside new signings Cam McCarthy, Joel Hamling and Shane Kersten, Bradley Hill has injected new blood into the Fremantle lineup as it looks to bounce back from a difficult 2016.
Stephen Hill said he’s seen plenty of positives on the training track from existing players too, highlighting the performances of some of Freo’s youngsters.
“Watching Ed and Lachie Weller, those boys have come back looking pretty fit and running well,” Stephen said.
“Fyfey’s looking good as well. It’s good to see him out there early in the pre-season.
“Hopefully we don’t have too many injuries, and a lot of guys get a lot of work in the pre-season and they’re ready and fit to go in round one.”
