Young-Gun Hawkette Josie Davis-Chard on the charge for Harden.
The Harden Hawkettes have maintained their perfect start to the 2023 George Tooke Shield with a classy 32- 10 win over the Crookwell She Devils at Crookwell Memorial Oval on Saturday. The Round Four contest was tight early, with Crookwell keeping pace with the reigning premiers, but according to Harden coach Jason Pollard, the Hawkette’s class shone through late in the game.
“It’s always good to go down to Crook well and get a win,” Pollard said. “It was a good game of footy; it was 14-4 at half time, and Crookwell got back to 14-10 and to the girl’s credit, they could kick away and score some good tries.”
Marylouise Minehan, Clare Smith, and Georgia Smith crossed for braces in the excellent win. Pollard was pleased with his side’s effort despite what can only be described as a disjointed preseason and opening four rounds. “Clare Smith was brilliant in defence all day, and Marylou Minehan was good in attack, and she scored a couple of good tries,” Pollard said. “It was an excellent all-round effort, and everyone played well. “We only had our first full ball run last week, and it’s been a funny start to the season, but they are starting to get it together.”
The Hawkettes have a bye this weekend due to representative fixtures, but they return on Saturday, May 20, with an away trip to Boorowa in Round Five. In other Round Four George Tooke Shield League-Tag games played on Saturday, Cootamundra took second place on the ladder following a dominant 40-4 win over the North Canberra Bears at Les Boyd Oval.
The UC Stars were also big winners, knocking over the Burrangong Bears 36-nil at Cranfield Oval. Bungendore and Boorowa had the bye. Ladder: Harden 8 (+58), Cootamundra 6 (+136), North Canberra 6 (+82), Boorowa 6 (+4), US 4 (-6), Crookwell 4 (-20), Bungendore 2 (-66), Burrangong 2 (-188).
