Turmoil to fire Warriors

South Hobart wary of challenge after rival coach departs

SOUTH Hobart’s Kobe Kemp believes his side may be facing a fired-up Olympia Warriors on Saturday after news the club had parted ways with coach Andrew Brown.

After a 3-3 draw with Kingborough Lions last week, Olympia announced 2019 NPL coach Rob Clarke would take over the role of senior coach for the remainder of the season.

“There’s always a reaction when you lose a coach and sometimes it’s really positive,” Kemp said.

“Olympia have a lot of talent in their team, they just haven’t quite jelled this year, but it’s only a matter of time.

“It’s always a feisty game against Olympia. [There’s] a lot of feeling in it, but it’s all in good faith. [This game is] a big one, we obviously need the win to keep in touch with Devonport and Glenorchy, so we’ll be going out there for the win and obviously Olympia will want to start getting back on the right track.”

The Warriors dropped another bombshell midweek when they announced that league-leading goalscorer Jack Ryan would be playing his final game on Saturday.

Ryan will travel back home to the UK due to family reasons after arriving at the club in the start of 2019.

Meanwhile, South Hobart is expected to welcome Andy Brennan back into the squad after missing last week’s victory over Riverside due to injury.

In other fixtures, the Kingborough Lions will be looking to reinforce their position in the top-four when they play host to the undefeated Devonport

Strikers. Lions coach Jes Kenth said he felt there would be an expectation for points on Saturday in order to prevent the Strikers from obtaining a runaway lead at the top of the table.

“I think everyone will be expecting us to get something out of the game purely just to keep the league more interesting,” Kenth said. “Devonport, at the moment, seem to be running away with it.

“I’m pretty sure if they get a win this weekend, they’ll be pretty hard to stop.

“But I think it being a home game is going to make a big difference.”

The Glenorchy Knights will be hoping Kingborough can do them a favour, but will have to overcome Launceston City who earned their first point of the season last week. Up north, Clarence Zebras will face Riverside Olympic.