Youth League Fullback Jordan Menz overcame a knee injury to score a try and help the Hawks hold on for their second draw of the season. Photo Barry Quinn.
The Harden Hawks have made it hard on themselves in their last two matches by letting the opposition post the early points. The Hawks were trailing the North Canberra Bears 18 nil on June 25 at McLean oval before storming back to claim the match 20-18 in a thriller. Saturday’s match against Braidwood wasn’t much different with Harden behind 12 nil after the opening exchanges. They managed to scrape their way back to 12 all by half time. The Hawks came out of the sheds ready to apply pressure to the Braidwood side, however that pressure was lost when their play maker in Matt McLay was sent from the field for ten minutes due to back chatting the ref. The Hawks were left with no option but to play with 12 men for the first part of the second half. This didn’t worry them too much and they kept at Braidwood and held them out for the remainder of the match. Harden clicked in to gear and piled on another 5 unanswered tries with Schofield slotting the conversions with ease and finishing up with seven from seven and two tries for his troubles. Harden’s second half white pointers went to Luke Brown (2), Rhett Foreman, Matt McClay and Andrew Jones Luke Snedden was again consistent at Lock in attack and defence. Once the Hawks evened up the players on the field it was clear they knew they could come home strong. The local men out enthused the Bears in the second half and showed too much class. The slow starts will need to be rectified in the remaining rounds so as not to apply too much pressure on the side.
Harden stalwart Luke Brown is vying for the position of top try scorer this season in the George Tooke competition having crossed the line 16 times so far in 2016. Andrew Jones is sitting in third place in the goal kicking stakes on 20 goals even though he has handed the duties over to Half back Nathan Schofield recently. The Hawks 42 to 12 win over The Braidwood Bears has now pushed them clear at the top of the ladder on 22 points. The Hawks are undefeated after 10 matches and a bye. The first grade side will have a bye this Saturday which will be a well earned rest. The North canberra Bears are awaiting the return of some of their players the Hawks need to keep their eye not only on them but the yearly dark horse The Bungendore Tigers. The Tigers don’t have much love for the Harden side and are notorious for coming good at the end of the season. They sit in third position on the ladder. The June 30 deadline has now passed with Bungedore finalising their squad, however, they will likely not show their full deck of cards until finals time. The bad blood between the Hawks and Bungendore goes back to 2009 when some spray painted messages were written on Mclean Oval purporting to have come from a Bungendore supporters. Although unable to prove who applied the artistry it was a ‘nice’ message to send the twin town men before the Hawks faced off with them in the 2009 Grand Final in which Harden ran out winners in extra time thanks to a Joel Blundell try.
The George Took competition can be broken in to two halves with Harden, North Canberra, Bungendore, Crookwell and Gunning in the hunt with six rounds to go. The other half of the comp includes Boomanulla, Braidwood Boorowa and ADFA. The latter are all sides which the Hawks have dominated over the season by large margins. Harden have a bye this weekend which is round 13. The following rounds are left: (14) Home to Gunning, (15) Away to Boomanulla. (16) Home to Bungendore, (17) Away to Crookwell (Sunday Game) (18) is home to ADFA. The Hawks have five matches to perfect their combinations before the finals season commences. The Hawks may have to play two matches in the same weekend to make up for the match lost due to poor weather at Bungendore in round 9. It may occur on July 30 when they take on Bungendore on the Saturday at Harden before heading to Bungendore to play them again on the Sunday. YOUTH LEAGUE The Harden Youth league side headed to the nation’s capital on Saturday to take on the Tuggeranong Bushrangers in the five team Youth League competiton. Like their older clubmen the young Hawks didn’t let missing players slow them down. With an empty bench and 13 willing players they took the match to the highly fancied Tuggeranong team who were assisted by a full contingent on their bench. The tone of the match soured when both Jack Quinn (rolled ankle) and Jordan Menz (knee injury) went down for the count.
Knowing they would be leaving their team mates with 11 on the field they continued on and helped hold on for an 18 all scorline, the second draw for the side this year. 8-6 at half time the match was there for the taking. Hamish Bradford had an unlucky day with the boot converting 1 from 4 whilst tries were scored by Joe Stewart, Zac Pirie, Jordan Menz and Nick Stevens. The side is performing very well with low numbers in the squad. Coach Nathan Schofield said ” Blokes just stand up to be counted each week, Chris Fredericks was great at Lock, Will Stanley was the same at Five Eight.” Schofield also mentioned Zac Pirie for his hard running and Joe Stewart for making valuable contributions whilst home from St Gregs College. Schofield said “If we had a full bench we would be very hard to beat, our numbers are low but all of our players are handy and try for each other each week.”
The Youthful Hawks will have the bye before taking on Crookwell on July 16 at Harden. Although they are the only Harden side not on top of their ladder they aren’t far off sitting in second place behind Tuggeranoing who sit 1 point clear on 19 points. The Young Hawks boast the best defence in the competition having only conceded 92 points against them in 7 matches. HAWKETTES The Harden Hawkettes had the unenviable task of taking on The Bungedore Tigerettes twice on Saturday. The rained out match meant that the Hawkettes needed to play the Tigerettes twice to make up for the missed game. The Hawkettes ran out winners in both matches. The first was and 18-12 game which went down to the wire. The second match proved to be a more dominant display by the local ladies when they accounted for the same side 22-0. The Hawkettes and the Tigerettes are quite evenly matched. Both teams have played 13 matches for eight wins, two losses and three byes. The Hawks for and against is 260-74 the Tigerteetes for and agisnt is 260-80. The Hawkettes have a bye this weekend before taking on Boomanulla in Canberra on July 23. Final results: 1st Grade 42-12. Youth League 18-18 Draw. Hawkettes 18-12 First Game. Hawkettes 22-0 Second game.
