Orange Hawks recruit Alex Prout enjoys change after five years with Parkes

The former Parkes Spacemen captain-coach joined the two blues over the pre-season after a chat with Hawks assistant coach Bobby Wykamp.

Prout needed a change and Wykamp convinced the speedy hooker Hawks would provide that, as well as a chance at a title.

Hawks fell a step short of the 2018 grand final and on the back of a 5-1 start to this season Willie Heta's two blues seem destined to clear the final hurdle.

The only drama? Prout's been thrown into the middle of the field and holds the lock and key to one of the most important areas of the game - defence.

"Defensively, Group 10 is a lot different to Group 11. I'd say Group 11 is quicker but it's tougher defensively here," Prout said.

"I had a conversation with Bobby at the end of last season, the coaching beliefs he and Willie have here tie in with what I want from a club.

"I thought I'd get out of my comfort zone and try it out before the end of my career."

At 31, there's still a few very decent years left in Prout's career.

And so far the two blues are seeing one of those, with Prout's speed around the ruck causing plenty of problems for a number of Hawks' Group 10 rivals.

The two blues tackle a depleted St Pat's at Wade Park on Sunday and Prout says his side is determined to up the ante after an uncharacteristically poor showing in a 34-20 win over Blayney last week.

"I think we're disappointed with how we played against Blayney. We probably turned up with wrong attitude and we're keen to turn it around," Prout said, adding Hawks showed up to Wade Park last week expecting to win, and win well.

"That's the case, and you should never think like that and we made it tough for ourselves by doing that.

"I think our discipline in defence will be the big thing. We have to be better with out attitude there."

Prout isn't the only former Spacemen now in Hawks' squad, with prop Ethan McKellar also a product of the spaceship at Pioneer Oval.

Prout, an NRL development officer, said making the move to Hawks was made easier by knowing McKellar, following five years at Parkes and virtually all of his footy at Gilgandra prior to that.

He'll line-up at hooker on Sunday with half Matt Boss expected to return from a hamstring twing suffered in Hawks' last loss to Mudgee.

The Dragons emerged 24-point winners over the two blues in that round four fixture at Glen Willow but Prout says his team is better than that result - much better.

"I think we can beat any side in Group 10," he said.

"Against Mudgee we played poorly. We dropped a lot of ball and once we held it we gained some momentum there but it was too late."

He's hoping the club can continue to build on what is already a promising 2019 season.

"It's always the goal to win a premiership. I just wanted to come somewhere and enjoy my footy and and have a fresh approach," he added.

Hawks hosts St Pat's on Sunday, starting with under 18s league tag from 10am. Premier league is scheduled to start at 2.30pm.