Loss of stars taking its toll
THE firepower missing from Labrador’s Brisbane Hockey League side is beginning to take its toll after Easts became the second premiership heavyweight in as many weeks to dispose of the 2017 grand finalists.
With big names Corey Weyer (Perth), Luke Tyne (England), Jason Wilson (retired) and Adam Imer (family) notable absentees from last season’s squad, Labrador were on Saturday handed another lesson in a 4-2 loss to the Tigers in the grand final rematch at Keith Hunt Park.
Desperate to bounce back from a 5-1 defeat against ladder-leading Commercial in Round 5, the Tigerstix trailed 4-0 in their first home game of the season before adding respectability to the scoreline with second-half goals from brothers Blake and Dylan Wotherspoon.
While Kookaburras striker Dylan admitted the loss of some of the 2017 core had hurt Labrador in their quest for a maiden BHL title, he is confident it is not all doom and gloom for Darren Fowler’s side.
“Those guys are missed but there’s nothing we can do about that. Other teams are missing players so we can’t keep thinking that,” the Commonwealth Games gold medallist said.
“We’ve picked up some pretty good players from (the NSW) far north coast so if we start pulling our heads in we should be OK.
“We didn’t play well last
week at all against Commercial and we didn’t start well against Easts but by the end of it I thought for sure we are semi final potential.
“They scored early on and then it was pretty even. A bit of a lapse that cost us a few goals within a few minutes of each other but the game was a lot closer than the score.
“We had some good opportunities, not just standard opportunities but goal shot opportunities, so if we’d capitalised it could’ve been a completely different game.
“Easts are probably the top team in the competition. We just need a full, 60minute performance.”
Wotherspoon said Labrador’s disrupted training routine, owing to the Gold Coast Games, had also played a part in their inconsistency.
“If you have a new group you have to start building connections and we haven’t had the training facilities and training has been disjointed. Hopefully now there’s no excuses like that and we can start moving forward.”
The Tigerstix tackle Pine Rivers St Andrews in Round 7 at Chermside at 4.30pm on Saturday.