Hawks sweat as Hutchinson feels the strain

INVERLEIGH star Blake Hutchinson was last night bidding to prove his fitness ahead of tomorrow’s crucial clash against North Geelong.

Hutchinson, who was ruled out of the Hawks’ 165-point thrashing of Corio last week with a hamstring strain, is only a 50-50 chance to return against the Magpies.

“I wouldn’t think we’d have too many changes,” Inverleigh coach Mark McDowell said.

“It just depends who we get back.

“We’ll lose Jye McEwan. He was concussed against Corio, so he’ll miss a week.

“And Blake Hutchinson will have a fitness test and I’m not sure if he’ll be available.

“It was only a slight hamstring, so we’ll hopeful he’ll come up but we won’t know until Friday.

“Will Hamer will be back, so that could be our only change.”

McEwan was hurt against the Devils and McDowell said the club would not risk further injury.

“He had some symptoms early in the week — drowsy and he had headaches — so we’ve already decided to rule him out,” he said.

“He’s only a young kid, so we don’t want to take a risk with him.”

McDowell revealed he had APOLLO BAY v SOUTH COLAC studied tapes of North Geelong, which bounced back from a disappointing loss to reigning premier Bell Post Hill with a solid win over Thomson last week.

“I’ve had a look at them,” McDowell said.

“I think they will be looking forward to this game, particularly after their bad loss to Bell Post Hill. They wouldn’t have been happy with that, so I’m expecting them to come with a bit of fire.

“We’ve had a good rivalry. We’ve both played off in grand finals against Bell Post Hill, and they’ve knocked us out a couple of times, so there’s been plenty on the line in recent years.”

Magpie spearhead Jamie Pitman shapes as a potential matchwinner and McDowell said pressure around the midfield was the key to stopping him. ALVIE v LORNE TEAM LADDERS % PTS