Steele Rudd (Left) and Joie Whybrow (Right) faced off against their Under 19s teammate Cooper Cross (Middle) in Saturday’s George Tooke Shield clash between Harden and Boorowa.
The Harden Hawks are building towards the finals well with a 40-4 win over the Boorowa Rovers on Saturday at Boorowa Showground.
Hawks President Jason Pollard said the team performed very well.
“We did have a lot of players missing out of our squad due to injury and other commitments but the team played very well.”
The 40-4 scoreline didn’t reflect how tight the game was with Jason saying there wasn’t a lot in the first half that separated the two sides.
“In the second half we came out with the right attitude, played some good footy and ran away with it.”
Jason believes that this is one of the teams better performances of the year as Boorowa are always a challenge.
“They proved that they were a challenge when we played them in round 9 at home. But we stepped up to the mark with the injuries that we had and the boys done a good job.”
With a number of players out of the squad on the day, some of the younger players stepped up to fill in.
Under 19’s players Joie Whybrow and Steele Rudd made their first grade debuts for the Hawks.
“They were both excellent for us and played very well. It’s handy to have them there and know that we can call on them.”
The two didn’t look out of place with Steele making a break and running close to 70 metres.
“They really enjoyed the day and stepping up for the team.” Second rower Drew Arabin played well on the day alongside Tyson Astill and Zac Allen with Zac scoring two tries.
Veteran forward Jonny Hill re-turned to the field and made a comeback scoring two tries in the win.
“He was pretty stoked with that.”
Front Rower Tyson Ings continued his good form earning himself the man of the match award.
Tries were scored on the day by Michael West, Will Manwaring, Tyson Ings and Paddy Smith all crossing for one along with Zac Allen and Jonny Hill bagging doubles.
Paddy Smith converted four goals from 8 attempts.
This weekend the Hawks will have the bye with Jason saying it will do them well coming into the finals.
“We still have a few out with injury so the bye will give them an extra week to recover.”
With finals just around the corner Jason believes that the Hawks are shaping up well.
“I think we are building nicely, we have had a couple of good wins over Coota and have beaten Bungendore who are both above us on the ladder.”
North Canberra Bears are still the benchmark of the competition in Jason’s book.
“They will be our biggest threat but between the top four or five sides anyone can win the competition.”
“If we can stay injury free we will be in with a chance.”
Will Manwaring is one player that Jason thinks people should keep an eye out for coming into the finals.
“Will has stepped into the five-eighth role over the last couple of weeks and has been fantastic.”
Players such as forwards Tyson Ings and Matt Holmes will also be two to watch playing
some of their best footy this season along with captain-coach Luke Brown.
The Hawks will have an extra game to play against UC Stars in Canberra on Wednesday August 18 after their round 6 match was postponed due to ground conditions.
“It is important that we play that game because it can deter-mine where we finish on the ladder going into finals.”
This game will be played at Raiders Belconnen with kick off at 7:45pm.
Tahlia Crane
