Hawks lift intensity despite key injury
LOSING arguably your most influential player with the game in the balance in an elimination final is a sign of impending disaster.
However, for Manunda, in their semi-final against City Lions on Saturday at Cazalys, it was the calming influence and breather they needed.
Up against a rampant Lions side, backed by a vocal crowd, who were in their first final for almost two decades, Manunda trailed at the final change beYOU fore an Ezekiel Frank goal straight after the restart gave them a three-point advantage.
Not long after, the brown and gold lost one of their trump cards in flyer Corey Flint, following a heavy collision inside the Hawks forward 50.
The long-haired Flint was not having his best night at the office but he was still as dangerous as ever for the Lions defence.
At first it looked like a bad head knock for Flint, but he later left the ground in an ambulance with a shoulder complaint. After Flint went down, the Hawks goaled immediately from the stoppage in play, Frank’s sixth to gain a 10-point advantage, which would prove enough to hold on.
Manunda coach Marc Harbrow felt the delay in proceedings while Flint was being attended to by medical staff helped pull back the momentum in their direction.
“The boys got together in their huddle and could hear Cameron Gauci and Jarryd Flint, Corey’s older brother, calm everyone down and tell them they needed to step it up,” Harbrow said.
“From there, they lifted another notch.”
The second of the two semifinals on Saturday was a genuine cracking contest as the ball pinged from end to end with speed and when the footy was on the inside, neither club took a backward step.
Lions playing-coach Aaron Davey said he was proud of the way his side conducted themselves when back in September action.