Skipper gets the thumbs up
IT was the most emphatic way to put his thumb up for senior selection.
South Barwon skipper
Darcy Hansen left the coaching staff something to think about when he slotted a goal from the boundary after the siren to win the match for the Swans in his first game this season.
Hansen had planned to miss the first half of the season after undergoing two surgeries on his thumb but he made an early return in the reserves at the weekend.
While the forward joked that “it was my only kick of the day” Swans coach Dave Farrell was more positive.
The issue for Hansen is the South Barwon seniors’ forward line was at its best with Andrew Boseley (three goals), James Syddall (two), stand-in skipper Matt Caldow (one) and Ollie Lee (one) all targets in the win over Newtown & Chilwell.
“(Hansen) is certainly always going to be there and
thereabouts, it is a difficult forward line to break into at the moment but I think he had four shots at goal including one after the siren,” Farrell said.
“His influence on the group is always going to be enormous and he is eight weeks ahead in his recovery from where we thought he
would be, so we don’t need to fast track that.”
Despite an array of injuries, South Barwon finds itself on an even ledger after the first month of the season, with flag contender St Mary’s up next.
Kelly O’Neill is on the verge of a return from knee tendinitis while Jonty Broughton
remains a couple weeks off as he nurses a hamstring.
After a 31-point quartertime lead vanished against Newtown & Chilwell, South Barwon steadied in the fivepoint thriller. Farrell said his side was working to iron out its consistency issues.
“You are always going to get that at this level … I don’t think anyone is going to control 120 minutes,” he said.
“We were just probably disappointed with how much we allowed (Newtown & Chilwell) to control the game and we didn’t execute anywhere near what we did in the first quarter.”