Hawks’ lucky break
Straight shot to grand final
IT WAS a case of fifth time lucky for Inverleigh coach Mark McDowell after the Hawks booked their spot in a second-straight grand final.
Their convincing 12.14 (86) to 7.12 (54) win over Bell Post Hill ensured McDowell’s men would finally bypass the preliminary final for the first time under his watch.
“When you finish on top you get the break, so once again we wanted to take advantage of that,” McDowell said. “Now we have two weeks to prepare for the grand final, so we’ll be sure to keep our intensity up at training and be mindful of the blokes who have only played a bit of footy in recent weeks.”
The Hawks will watch Saturday’s preliminary final before testing their bodies the following day in a solid training session.
“We’ll train at Deakin on Sunday and run 10 to 12km whereby we’re mimicking a game and hopefully the other sides can wear themselves out a bit — that would help too,” McDowell said.
Prolific ball-winner Michael Best remains the Hawks’ main injury concern after limping off with an inner-knee injury after quarter-time.
Although he returned to the field 15 minutes later, McDowell admits the Daryl Jones Medal winner will be monitored over the next fortnight.
“I was really concerned when he came off, but he went and got it checked out before passing the necessary test,” McDowell said.
Fresh from a week off, the Hawks showed little signs of rust on Saturday, forging an 18-point quarter-time lead.
Inverleigh stars Ryan Garrard, Simon Seddon and Michael Grozdanovski kicked the game’s opening three goals, while ruckman James Huybens justified his spot in the league’s Team of the Year with an impact around the ground.
The Hawks were nine goals clear by the end of the third quarter before easing off in the final term, allowing the Panthers to reel the margin back to 32 points.
McDowell voiced his disappointment at his side’s lacklustre final term.
“I’m not sure what really happened in that final quarter, whether we ran out of legs or just thought we were home,” he said. “But it’s great to have gone through.”
Although Seddon kicked four straight goals in the third term, the Hawks named midfielder Blake Hutchinson as their best for his ferocity around each contest.
“Blake Hutchinson was also exceptional through his endeavour each quarter and Toby Manganelli was very special doing both the hard stuff and the flashy stuff,” McDowell said. “Jack Fiolet did the job on Joel Page, he was exceptional, and Dalton Grundell and Michael Grozdanovski both played a physical brand of footy.
“Thursday night they trained the best they have ever trained, they were sharp and quick and really handling the ball well. We just have to be careful that we keep that intensity up now and that we don’t waste a session.”