Hawks plot title charge
AUSSIE RULES:
Goondiwindi’s Allied Pickfords Cup flag defence will take a unique form this year.
With just eight regular season games before the finals, the Hawks know they need to get off to a flyer if they want to go back-to-back.
Player-coach David O’Toole said a hot-start was vital as they look to fly the flag for the border town on the Downs.
“It (the shortened season) makes starting so important,” O’Toole said.
“It puts a lot of focus on every game and each one becomes important.
“We’re very determined to start well and maintain a high intensity level that we can hopefully take into the finals.
“It is great to have footy back.
“Although it has been a bit of a wait, we’re very excited, and to have that ahead is exciting for the town.”
As it stands, Goondiwindi is in a trickier position than most other clubs in the competition, with the Queensland-New South Wales border still closed.
O’Toole said that would impact the ability of interstate based players to take to the field, but hoped it would be resolved by round one, as they again look to their depth to drive them to success.
“We have a couple across the border and are still a bit nervous about what will happen there,” he said.
“It’s looking fairly likely that by the time we get to our games, something will be able to happen.
“All along we’ve just been preparing and hoping that everything will fall into place and doing the best we can in the meantime.
“We’ve always been a bit of a smaller club in terms of numbers with the smaller population base.
“But we’ve been very lucky to have good quality players, and depth was a big part of our success last year.
“We’re confident that it will be an asset for us this year as well.”
sean.teuma@thechronicle.com.au