Coach: Hawks didn’t deserve painful loss
THE message from Inverleigh coach Adam Donohue was clear.
The Hawks’ season will not be defined by the moments after the siren in yesterday’s sickening one-point semi-final loss to Werribee Centrals.
Centrals’ Josh Sutton might have knocked Inverleigh out of finals with his goal with the last kick of the game, but for the large part of yesterday’s contest the Hawks were clearly the better side.
They just did not get the rewards Donohue believes his side deserved.
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet. A few boys were tearing up, that’s how much it means to them,” Donohue said.
“We gave our all. I thought we were the better team on the day. I’m not sure what Werribee thought, but I thought we played a pretty good brand of footy.
“To come down to one mark and one kick (really hurts). Like I said in there, it doesn’t define us. All the pundits were probably writing us off, I thought we probably could have done some damage, I really believed in the group.”
The Hawks lost Billy Cations in the first quarter to a rib injury, robbing them of a rotation when the game was on the line.
It allowed Werribee to crank up its trademark running game from halfway through the third term.
Centrals then hit the front with two quick goals to start the final term, but Inverleigh stuck it out, eventually getting the goal to put them ahead through Ben Bouwman.
But it was Sutton who stole the show with his ice-cold composure in front of goal.
“To Werribee’s credit, when they get on a roll, they really do. They’re pretty hard to stop,” Donohue said.
“Into the wind in the last quarter they managed to get two goals early when really they had no right to because we had the wind. They just found a way.
“We knew it wasn’t over until the siren went. They just kept coming, they played on at all costs and it worked in their favour there.”
Donohue urged the Inverleigh playing group to stick with the club and push for finals again in 2020.
“It’s probably pretty easy for some of the guys to go, ‘S---, we’ve been bombed out in the semi-final, we’re not in the grand final, we might just sort of leave’,” he said.
“I hope the guys do stick around. I think we’ve got something pretty good.
“We’ll add a couple of players, we’ve lost a lot of experience, a lot of goal kickers (this year).
“I got told we’d finish anywhere between sixth and 10th, so to finish fourth and make a semi-final, I’m really happy, but obviously the result hurts.”