Pink Tigers reach for Sky
“SILK” only tells half the story of Shaun Burgoyne’s stellar AFL career.
On Saturday night, the fourtime premiership star will become only the 16th AFL/ VFL player to reach 350 games.
As usual, he will be a key player for Hawthorn in their must- win game against Adelaide at the MCG.
Silk is an appropriate nickname, given Burgoyne’s sublime skills, but it sells him short on his fierce attitude.
Burgoyne had played 157 games for Port Adelaide, including their 2004 premiership, when he arrived at Hawthorn in late 2009 on crutches. It took Burgoyne six months to recover properly from knee surgery and he has not looked back since, with 192 games for the Hawks and three more flags.
“He’s a ferocious competitor and Silk probably defies that a little bit,” said Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson.
“Everyone associates Silk with smoothness – he’s got that, for certain, in terms of the manner in which he plays.
“But he also has a great intensity about him in the competitive side of the game.” HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson says a return date for Cyril Rioli could not be more unclear after the four- time premiership forward returned to Darwin to spend time with family earlier this week.
The Hawks announced on Tuesday that Rioli had been granted personal leave after being close to returning from a knee injury that had sidelined him since Round 4.
Clarkson said he had not spoken to Rioli since he returned to Darwin but the club had been in contact and would give the 28- year- old the time and support he needed.
“( We’re) not sure if it’s going to be one week, one month, one year,” Clarkson said.
“We don’t know, but all we do know is we need to give whatever support we possibly can.
“All he needs to know is he’s got the support of the footy club and that support’s mainly been around giving him the time and space to deal with what he needs to deal with and we’ll just allow him to have that space.” THE Hermit Park Tigers will add a touch of pink to their playing strips in today’s AFL Townsville blockbuster against the Thuringowa Bulldogs in support of the club’s annual Ladies Day event.
Tigers players will wear pink socks at Neil French Oval to celebrate the female players and volunteers who support the club while also raising much- needed funds and awareness for the Sky Foundation and the Townsville Women’s Centre.
Tigers vice president Sarah Jones said the club saw Ladies Day as the perfect opportunity to support such an important cause.
“They’re just such a vital resource for our community. We need to have these services there to support the women and families that are suffering,” she said.
It will also be a massive day for the Tigers on the field against the unbeaten Bulldogs.
Hermit Park are the premiers, but Thuringowa claimed bragging rights earlier this season with an eight- point win and co- captain Declan Wode said his team would need to lift.
“They beat us pretty convincingly in the midfield, so we definitely need to work on running both ways from that standpoint,” Wode said.
AFL Townsville, Round 11: Today: Northern Beaches Suns v Curra Swans, 2pm at North Shore; Hermit Park Tigers v Thuringowa Bulldogs, 3pm at Neil French Oval.