The Harden Hawks head into this week’s game against the winless Googong Goannas with the lone goal of getting back in the winner’s circle after a close loss away to Bungendore a fortnight ago.
Googong is one of two newcomers to the George Tooke Shield, joining the competition alongside the Snowy River Bears this year. Unlike the Bears, the Goannas are yet to secure their first victory in the competition, though unlikely, they will be hopeful their trip to Harden can bear fruit.
Coach Nick Hall looks forward to seeing his side back out on the paddock, “I’m not sure how the game will go, although I think it’ll be a good day.”
“We haven’t played a game at home for a few weeks, plus we seem to be missing a game every second week, through weather and rep rounds and even scheduled byes.
“We keep getting a stop-start, which continues because we’ve got a bye next week. We’ll just be glad to have a game of footy.
“I don’t know much about Googong but welcome a new side in the comp. It’ll be good to have a good hit-out and we’ll all know much more about each other after Saturday.
“It keeps the competition fresh, integrating new sides, it’s can be frustrating, but that’s footy. It’s hard to please everyone. I don’t know the secret of success, but the secret of failure is trying to please everyone, so the benefit is having as many blokes playing footy in as many teams in the comp as possible. If that means we have to miss a week or the draw’s not perfect, then fine, I think it’s a good sacrifice to make to get sides like Snowy River and Googong in it.
“One or two of those having the week off have come out of that alright. One or two will probably still rest. We will get to training and have a better look at how everyone’s pulled up. In my discussions with blokes, I’m expecting most of them to be available. Maybe one or two I will force a rest on them, but, yeah, I’ll see how we go.
“The competitor in me never wants a loss, but the coach in me sees that it will help us a little bit. We had to refocus on some of the simple parts of the game that we looked at. It doesn’t hurt to get humble in the early stages and against a very good side like that, they’re the standard and have been for several years, so it’s not terrible for us, and a loss isn’t fatal at this time of year and we’ll take care our lessons. We will have some discussions and refocus.”
Kick-off 3:00 pm Saturday at McLean Oval.
George Tooke Shield Ladder.
1. Bungendore Tigers, 7pts, 70.
2. Boorowa Rovers, 6pts, 144.
3. Harden Hawks, 6pts, 96.
4. Binalong Brah-mans, 5pts, 24.
5. Snowy River Bears, 4pts, 0.
6. Crookwell Green Devils, 2pts, 14.
7. North Canberra Bears, 2pts, -36.
8. Googong Goan-nas, 0pts, -132.
9. UC Stars, 0pts, -180.
-Tully Potts
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