Tallon Smith
The Harden Hawks have continued their unbeaten run in the George Tooke Shield with a 40-10 victory over rivals Boorowa Rovers in their local derby meeting at the Boorowa Showground on Saturday.
Second rower Will Manwaring crossed for a double as the Hawks ran in eight tries to two to remain the only unbeaten side in country rugby league, holding a perfect 12-0 record with two rounds of the regular season remaining.
Despite the dominant nature of the scoreline, Harden coach Nick Hall said Saturday’s outing wasn’t really a textbook performance, with the Hawks playing the majority of the match with 12 men after Matt Holmes was sent off.
“It was a funny old day for the Hawks, we just had a disrupted setup, we had a poor warm-up, we had some people late,” he said.
“We went out there and we didn’t complete, I think we completed two out of seven, just some weird penalties [and] drops.
“Boorowa played a bit of a disruptive type of game and they got started on the front foot.
“They scored, we just didn’t handle it, and then Holmesy went out there and got a penalty.
“From that point on, we were brave, our defence has been good all year, and in the end, to keep them down to 10 was pretty good, considering we had 12 men for 60 minutes, and I still think we were winning the middle through that period.
“We knuckled on our completions, our kick chase and our pressure footy, and we just were a lot, even with 12 men.
“10 minutes into the second-half, they got a player sent off [and] once it went to 12 on 12, it was just a journey too far.”
A number of players performed strongly for the Hawks, with seven different players crossing the stripe as the side scored right on its season average of 40 points per game.
Among those tryscorers, three players in particular impressed Hall the most, with Corey Lucas, Casey Wall and Manwaring each making significant contributions to the victory.
“Corey Lucas was huge in the middle, I think he scored a try pushing up on someone, but [he] was having two runs every set, [he] was really huge,” Hall said.
“Casey Wall also was really big in the middle, his defence and his distribution were great at hooker.
“The other one, Will Manwaring, scored a couple of key tries that really just put the knife into Boorowa out wide.
“He and Corey split the playing awards, and I thought those two guys were great, but really everyone was very good.”
Meanwhile, with the side sitting two games clear on top of the table with two weeks to go, the Hawks are in the box seat to claim the minor premiership and a week off to begin the finals.
However, Harden’s regular season dominance has also given it the opportunity to rest key players leading into the playoffs, something that Hall said he has thought about, but will take a careful approach towards given the side is set to welcome several members back into its line-up, with each needing game time for combinations.
“If someone really needs a rest, we’ve earned the right to do that,” he said.
“We need one more win out of the two to secure the minor premiership [and] without disrespecting UC, that seems likely, but I would like to think if we’re undefeated to this point, we’re going to win one of the next two.
“There is an opportunity to rest some people, but I’ve also got some people coming back.
“We’ve got Tyson [Astill] coming back, we’ve got Jacob Lucas coming back next week, which is a big in.
“Riley Manwaring has come back today, we’ve got Naku [Simona] coming back in another week.
“My goal is to really start playing footy with those guys coming back in, they need some time for combinations, so I might rest a few guys strategically, but really I need the new faces to learn to play footy with everyone in the next few weeks, so they’ll get at least half a game each.”
Looking around the grounds, the Bungendore Tigers bounced back from their last start loss to Crookwell with a 62-6 victory over the UC Stars on Friday night, while in the other Saturday game, North Canberra returned to the winners’ circle with a 70-12 win over Snowy River in the Battle of the Bears.
The lone Sunday game saw Crookwell take a 26-4 victory over Googong at the Duncan Playing Fields.
The ladder is: Harden (24 points), North Canberra (20), Crookwell (18), Bungendore (14), Boorowa (10), Snowy River (4), UC Stars (4), Googong (2).
HARDEN 40 (William Manwaring 2, Jack Nicolls, Joshua Turnbull, Joie Whybrow, Casey Wall, Joshua Fogg, Corey Lucas tries; Zakaia Lewis 4 goals) BOOROWA 10 (Josh Noakes, Will Fahey tries; Cooper Cross goal) at Boorowa Showground, Saturday August 1.
