BLACKHAWKS PASS TEST OF CLUB DEPTH
SPORTMONDAY LIFTOUT
THE Townsville Blackhawks have passed a thorough mid- season examination of their playing depth with a 50- 6 thumping of Norths Devils, but it has come at a cost.
Second rower Rhyse Martin and fullback Jahrome Hughes will have scans to ankle injuries suffered during Saturday’s encounter at Jack Manski Oval, which keeps the Blackhawks on top of the ISC ladder ahead of tough away games against Easts Tigers and the PNG Hunters.
A barnstorming opening half featuring seven unanswered tries was tempered by a scrappy second stanza, but the Blackhawks were still impressive in defence.
Apart from going without first- choice halves Michael Parker- Walshe ( corked knee) and Robert Lui ( rest), the Blackhawks also played without Cowboys allocated forward Glenn Hall and star winger Jonathon Reuben.
But Tom Humble had another strong game at fiveeight to give Blackhawks coach Kristian Woolf further selection headaches, while the forwards again laid the platform for Townsville’s back five to shine with their game- changing razzle dazzle.
First- half doubles to Lenny Magey and Nathan Norford propelled the Blackhawks to a 38- 0 half- time lead, but 13th placed Norths managed to shut the floodgates in the second with committed defence.
“I sensed before the game it was probably a difficult one for the blokes to get up for, but I thought for 50- 60 minutes we did a really good job, and one goal I set them was to make sure we had a really strong defensive effort in us,” Woolf said.
“I thought we did that and we allowed one try, and even that was a bit of an error on the wing. But for the majority of the game we had them covered defensively.”
Magey opened the scoring by finishing off a wellworked edge play inside the first 10 minutes, setting a trend for the rest of the half that also featured tries to Kyle Feldt, Noel Underwood and Samsen O’Neill.
Humble got Townsville on the board again soon after half- time, before Norths scored their only try through Michael Lucas.