Hawks face heavy burden over points
INVERLEIGH coach Adam Donohue will be forced to drop a star for finals as the points cap noose tightens around the Hawks’ neck.
The top-five club played with the full 40-point allotment in Saturday’s big loss to Werribee Centrals, but Donohue knows something has to give for the fina;s. ard won the toss, the Dragons had the aid of the breeze in the first quarter, but the Hurricanes started the better.
The Hurricanes were able to make the most of their opportunities — and if it wasn’t for Paul Barnard, Kyle Galley and Leon Watts, the Dragons would have been further behind at the quarter break.
“Unfortunately we are one point over — there is nothing we can do about it. So we just have to sit down in match committee and work that out,” he said.
“Our top end players are all worth points, unfortunately. It’s not going to be a pleasant conversation, put it that way.
“It’s something I didn’t want to do, coming from Ammos where we were points over.”
In the second, the Dragons managed to control patches of the game through the efforts of Bryce Burt, Paul Wernicke and Luke Trethowan in the midfield.
But it was the Hurricanes that continued to apply scoreboard pressure.
Coming into halftime, the Dragons needed a spark but
A shoulder injury to Jakeb Templeton has added further complications with the star a two-point player for the Hawks.
Donohue said he hoped whoever was dropped for the first final would respond on the track and push for a recall.
But the consolation to the situation is that Inverleigh’s reserves are also in finals, giving players a chance to earn a recall. who was the player that was going to provide it?
The coaches, Matt and James, provided plenty of reinforcement to the group and then it was the Jakes who provided that spark to begin the second half. Jacob Blakeley won plenty of possessions while Jake Baker Brooks kicked a great soccer goal to regis
“Hopefully whoever misses the first week of finals (responds), they’re not just going down and that’s the decision we’ve made,” Donohue said.
He said selection would be based solely on match-ups and form.
“So hopefully they go down with the right attitude,” he said.
Donohue said that there were “eight or nine” players in ter the Dragons’ first for the game.
With the Hurricanes leading by a comfortable margin, the Dragons needed a huge effort in the final quarter.
Sam Moorfoot, Raymond Scott and Cooper Anic continued to provide options up forward while Jess Blakeley, Harley Murrihy Altmann and Inverleigh’s best team with big points attached to their heads.
“Some guys are clearly not in the conversation (to be dropped) and some guys are,” he said.
“I’ve probably only spoken to them about it briefly, but they probably know they are in danger.
“Hopefully they have a really good week on the track, because I might have to make the decision this week.”