Nathan Schofield was a standout for the Hawks at Crookwell on Saturday.
The Harden Hawks have capped off their final trial matches with 3 solid wins against their Crookwell opposition at Crookwell on Saturday. The U18s held on to record a 22-20 win with Patrick Smith a standout and Will Stanley scoring a treble, whilst Jack Hinds was also very solid.
The ladies League Tag side again proved their dominance with a very healthy scoreline of 44-0. President Jason Pollard is happy with how the club is shaping up and is very happy with the League Tag side “It was probably their best performance yet” he said. The best for Harden were Clare and Georgia Smith and Emma James with Maddie Douglass scoring a nice try and showing that she will be very hard to contain in 2017. Marylou Minehan was another standout and showed plenty of promise.
The first Grade side managed a hard fought win running out victors 26-14. Matt McLay said “We have the team to win it this year but we got home off the back of individual brilliance. We were lucky to complete 40% of our sets on Saturday. A lot of blokes just need to get to know each other a bit better and form their combinations. Crookwell were terrible but they scored two tries off us dropping the ball 20 metres out from our own try line. Any team will do that. Everything that has gone wrong in our game is nothing that can’t be fixed. We have a few too many chiefs and not enough Indians at the moment.”
The best for Harden included long standing Hawk Daniel Drew as well as Nathan Schofield who had a blinder. New Front Rower Siope Neata was very damaging in his stint on the field as he comes back into more minutes after tearing a calf whilst Junior Puono was also effective.
McLay has a selection headache heading in to the Binalong match for round 1 with 20 spots up for grabs and plenty of players to choose from. It is very clear that McLay is not only an experienced footballer who will lead the Hawks in the right direction but also an analyst of the game. Accountability and commitment are high on his agenda.
Attention will now be drawn to April 22 with the home match against the Binlaong Brahmans, which will signal the start of the season. The Brahmans look to be a different side from 2016 and have recruited some experienced players. They have had two solid wins against Gunning and the UC Grizzlies and may be competition front runners yet.
In other news… Unfortunatley a couple of locals fell for the Twin Town Time’s April Fools Day prank with the following printed online on Saturday “The Harden Hawks have secured the services of former International Darryl Brohman, for their match against Crookwell at Crookwell this afternoon. Brohman has been drafted in to the side after a couple of niggling injuries got the best of the Hawks earlier today. Brohman has been given a ‘hall’ pass by 2GB, and will travel out from Sydney for the April 1 match set down for 2:30pm. He will come off the bench in the halves and the 60 year old said he will be good for between 6 and 8 minutes. Hawks Coach Matt McLay said “We’re happy to have a bloke with Darryl’s experience enter the squad last minute in preparation for our trial with Crookwell. Not real sure about the Meat Pie – KB warm up he’s talking about, but you don’t play for Australia like he did, if you don’t take some chances.” Brohman never made the appearance but had a few Hawks fans scratching their heads. We know who you are but you can remain nameless in the paper.
