Blackhawks wary
Leaders on alert as Magpies’ great celebrates milestone
THE Townsville Blackhawks are preparing for a finals- like atmosphere at Davies Park tomorrow afternoon as Souths Logan captain Phil Dennis rewrites the Queensland Cup record books.
Dennis – a Burdekin Roosters junior – will play his 271st game against the Blackhawks to eclipse Redcliffe Dolphins great Troy Lindsay as the competition’s most capped player.
Dennis’s milestone will be the highlight of a massive afternoon for the Magpies as they also celebrate Old Boys Day and bring up the club’s 500th Cup game.
Souths Logan have found themselves in a worrying form slump, having lost six of their past seven games, but Blackhawks coach Kristian Woolf expected them to lift on such a big occasion.
“It’s going to be a very emotional day for them and they’re going to be right up for the occasion,” Woolf said.
“They’ve named the strongest side that they’ve played for a number of weeks and I think they’re as strong as they can possibly get.
“That’s exactly what you want at this time of year. We want a real challenge.
“We want to be playing September footy with that kind of atmosphere and they’re certainly going to bring that out of us. We’re really looking forward to it.”
The Blackhawks have surged into top spot on the ladder following last weekend’s 50- point thumping of Tweed Heads, but Woolf has made a point of ensuring his side doesn’t get complacent.
“Teams can have a tendency to not mark themselves as hard or just to drop a little bit after a win like that, but we’ve addressed that this week,” he said.
“The really important thing is that we’re conscious of that and we don’t allow it to happen.
“At this time of the year, our task is about finding improvement and finding consistency and that’s what we need to make sure we do this week.”
The Blackhawks will be without centre Levi Dodd ( hamstring) while prolific winger Jonathon Reuben ( ankle) faces a late fitness test that will determine if Carlin Anderson keeps the fullback role from Zac Santo for another week.
“At some stage we’re obviously going to have to settle on what’s our best back three, but it’s great to have that sort of depth there at the moment,” Woolf said.