The Harden Hawks are continuing on their winning ways and have accounted for the North Canberra Bears in the nation’s capital with a 24-10 win. The Hawkettes led the way with a 34-8 win over the Bears and were never really troubled. The Smith name has dominated score sheets for more than a decade and nothing changed on Saturday with Georgia scoring a double and Clare bagging a try.
Taylah Wilson, Emma James and Jade Emms all crossed. Emma James booted 5 between the sticks.
The Hawks saw veteran Nathan Schofield jag a meat pie and the others chipped in with Casey Wall, Josh Fogg and Will Manwaring all getting over the white line while, Casey Wall kicked a conversion and Zakaia Lewis kicked 3.
Hawks Coach Nick Hall said, “We played North Canberra Bears, it was one verse two and it was a big game. It was physical, they are massive. They are a huge side.
“They are a big side and a good side. They’ve got some good footballers as well. They’re not just big physical ‘boofheads’, but they do have some skills and some touch and it was a very, very good win.
When it comes to the top two sides and there chances, Hall said,
“I think one and two are always confident, those sides, they’ve won a lot of games, North Canberra. We’ve won a lot of games.
So I think they left the game against us previously because it was a real tussle feeling that they gave as good as they got. They were unlucky. So I think that they thought they could fix it and would fix it.
“I think we just matched them and we just had more wins than them on the day, more moments.
“First half was great footy. It was set for set. I feel we had the better of the field position in the second half. We played that game better, but I’m worried of them that they’re going to go lick their wounds and learn again and come back and have a new plan.
“If we are to win that comp, we have got to beat those guys twice now, so twice more.
“We scored first and then they scored, it was a back and forth sort of game. Second half, we just pulled two away.
“They scored their two tries in the first half. I think it might have been 12-10 at halftime. And we scored twice more in the second half.
“Foggy started the game. He started the last two games in prop and he’s done pretty well.
He and Naku have sort of been sharing one of those leadership roles in the prop position when Naku was away, but those two have both been doing a good job and Foggy did a really good job on the weekend. He was tough, scored a good try.
“It was a real key performance. It was one of those ones where no one played so much better than the others. They all played well. I can’t find too many bad performers on the weekend.
“Our smaller forwards, Steve Anderson, Corey Lucas, Luke Brown, did well, bringing our line speed and our mongrel, and our big boys like Holmesy and Foggy did a great job. They were all outsized and they were all outmatched size wise. North Canberra, it’s the same blokes who won that comp a couple of years in a row, 5 or 6 years ago, those guys, they’re 120 plus kilos and athletic and they can move. They are a good side.
“This week is Boorowa for the local derby. They are in fifth on the ladder and playing bloody good footy in the last six weeks, I would suggest, we played them six weeks ago, maybe seven, and it was a physical game, they were winning all the way and we stole it in the last 10 minutes. I think we ran into them into form, typical Boorowa, get up to play Harden and since then they’ve been pretty competitive, winning a lot of games, playing good style of footy, putting lots of points on. They started the year very slowly, Boorowa, but semifinal time now, all they’ve got to do is slip into the five, playing good football and I’d suggest that’s what they’re doing, so they’ll be really setting themselves for a good game against us.
“They did it to us last year. We were one win away from minor premiership and they beat us one game and we went back to be fourth. So you don’t want to lose to them.
“The girls, that was first verses second as well, that was good for Harden on the day. First verse second in both grades.
“At this stage, we win this weekend we just about lock ourselves in in the men’s to the minor premiership, because we’ve got to win two games to lock it in and we’ll be doing our best to beat UC. We need one more win to lock in the minor premiership, then that’s week one of the semis off, home semi. Lots of good things happen. So there’s something for us to achieve this week.
“It would be nice to just have a home game. We’re all comfortable at McLean Oval. It doesn’t guarantee a victory, but it just guarantees a level of comfort and doing it for your friends and family, and, maybe there’s that threat from the others, it’s more about how it impacts your opposition, travelling there, what effect it can have on them.
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