Luke Brown will continue to lead the Hawks during 2016 after thirteen years playing in first grade. A change in position from second row to hooker will take advantage of his experience.
The Harden Hawks will travel to Canberra this Sunday to take on the North Canberra Bears at Jamison Oval in Belconnen in the Hawks’ first match for the 2016 George Tooke season. Whilst the Hawks had the bye last weekend, their opponents ran in eight tries to give the Gunning Roos a 44 points to 14 hiding. The Hawks played Gunning in a trial match a fortnight ago at Roberts Park, coming away with a 36-20 win. “They won’t be easy. They have a few West Belconnen and Gungahlin players,” said Harden Hawks Coach, Michael Quinn. “It will be a good test for us.” “Everyone is all set,” he added. Michael has named an unchanged line-up from the trial match against Gunning, albeit with the exception of one injury earning a player a rest for this week.
In the other matches played over the weekend, the Boomanulla Raiders defeated the Australian Defence Force Academy 44 points to 34, the Bungendore Tigers won against the Braidwood Bears 36 to 18, and the Crookwell Green Devils gave the Boorowa Rovers a touch up with a 48 points to 12 victory. 30-year-old Hawks veteran Luke Brown (pictured) will play a key role this year as he moves from the back row to hooker. The father of three has been training hard for the last two months in preparation for the long premiership campaign. Luke has played more games than any other player in the side, and his experience will be essential to the Hawks’ chances at securing the George Tooke Shield in 2016. He is one of the handful of remaining players left in the side from the Hawks’ last premiership in 2009, when they beat Bungendore in extra time 16 points to 10. “It was pretty good,” said Luke, who added that it was the highlight of his career.
The Hawks roster for this season could give the side its best chance of recovering the premiership since 2009, with the addition of larger players to the forward pack seeing Luke move from his usual position in the back row to hooker. The Hawks will face their first test at 2:00pm at Jamison Oval in Macquarie, ACT when they take on the North Canberra Bears.
