Gunther’s injury big blow for Glenorchy

GLENORCHY’S TSL finals hopes copped a massive blow yesterday with coach Paul Kennedy revealing he had lost key defender Harrison Gunther for the rest of the season.

With three games left before the business end of the season, starting with the Tigers at KGV on Saturday, the Magpies are scrambling to find a replacement for their outstanding teenage defender.

Gunther’s aerial strength, rebound ability and onfield leadership — the 19-year-old stepped up as captain for two games earlier this season — will be missed by the Pies.

There was some good news for Glenorchy fans with Magpie favourite Jaye Bowden set to return from injury this week.

However, the loss of “H” with a knee injury left the Glenorchy camp stunned, especially after he had stepped up as the replacement for Daniel Joseph, who was lost for the season when he injured his knee in a marking contest in Glenorchy’s 41-point Round 2 win over North Hobart at KGV.

“We’ve had a lot of injuries this season and we’re used to dealing with that and ‘H’ is just another one,” Kennedy said.

“We don’t have time to wallow in it, not this time of year.

“We’ve got to reorganise things and move on.”

As Glenorchy’s backline general, Gunther has been able to limit the damage of most of the State League’s best key forwards this season.

“He’s had an unbelievable year,” Kennedy said.

“I was looking at the stats, and the amount of goals Col Garland [North Hobart] has kicked against other teams, and then against us, which is not many, and that pays tribute to how good a defender Harrison is.”

Kennedy had other for Gunther this season.

“He had hoped to play him quite a bit on the wing and give him some chances up forward, but with the amount of backmen we’ve had out meant we only got a few chances to do that,” he said.

“Certainly in the future he’s going to be a player who can play all over the ground.”

Bowden (ankle) missed Glenorchy’s win over Clarence two weeks ago and the extra week off for the bye has helped his recovery.

“We will also get Matt Dilger [foot] and Sam Rundle [knee] back over the next few weeks,” Kennedy said. plans