Tweed get Hazard back at the right time
CHRISTIAN Hazard’s return from a hamstring injury could not have come at a better time.
Tweed are in a battle to cling on to their spot inside the Intrust Super Cup’s top eight and their Round 20 meeting with the Jets tomorrow in Ipswich will have major ramifications.
Victory will all but secure the Seagulls’ finals berth, putting them three games clear of Ipswich with three rounds remaining.
Defeat, however, will leave them teetering on the brink, just one game ahead – not a comfortable position for a team that have lost six of their past seven.
Seagulls players were given time off to regroup during their recent bye round and since they’ve returned have turned their attention to repelling Ipswich’s unique style of play.
“Short kick-offs every kickoff, they chip and chase, spread the ball; you have just got to be prepared for everything,” Hazard said.
“You have got to stay up in the line and that sort of stuff with what they do, they play a really exciting type of footy so defensively we are going to have to be switched on and try to limit them in the way they play.
“Hopefully we can stop all of their momentum and get into a grinding game with them.”
Hazard – who was named at halfback but could switch to hooker pending what the Titans do with Ash Taylor – is glad to be off the sidelines. “It sucks watching,” he said. “I can’t really watch the boys play, it just does my head in. It’s definitely good to be back.”
Burleigh will look to snap a two-game losing streak when they play Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby tomorrow afternoon.