THE Big River Hawks won a hard-fought contest against Wanderers Eagles when the teams squared off at TIO Stadium 2 on February 28.
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The Hawks travelled up on Friday and spent the evening and Saturday morning with Hawthorn Football Club stars Cyril Rioli and Brendan Whitecross.
The ongoing relationship between the two clubs contines to provide benefits to the Big River Hawks, both and off the field, and the club thanks Hawthorn Football club for its great support.
There was a swirly breeze blowing across the ground, slightly favouring the end the Hawks were kicking to in the first quarter.
The boys from Big River were able to limit the Eagles to two goals and themselves boot kick four majors to lead at the first break.
In the second quarter, the Hawks won the ball well out of the centre, with Devin Lines and Isaac Bell combining on numerous occasions to thrust the Sherrin forward.
Wanderers dug in in defence, much like the Hawks had in the first quarter and, with some tremendous run, carry and accurate use by foot and hand, the Eagles had the ball in their forward line for much of the second quarter.
It was only inaccurate kicks by the Eagles, admittedly in tough conditions, that enabled the Hawks to hold onto a lead of 13 points going into the major break.
Were it not for the hard leading and two-way running by Wewak Ross, Daniel Turner and Bell, and the extreme tackling and spoiling by Jess Buderick against boys almost twice his size, the score line could have read very differently at half-time.
After half-time, the game continued to be a tight contest as both sides’ midfields and halfbacks attacked, only to be repelled by the opposition on the half backline,with neither team gaining a clear ascendancy.
The Hawks won many of the contests around the ground, but struggled to get it deep in the forward line, with Wanderers again running the ball out of defence with pace and accuracy.
The quarter ended with the Hawks kicking another three goals to the Wanderers’ one.
Caleb Clyden again wove magic and added a couple more majors to his tally.
At the three-quarter-time sire, the Hawks camp was upbeat and knew that if it could reproduce the game style players had been showing off all day, there was a real chance of progressing further into the NTFL under-18 finals series.
Wanderers started off with some good attacking football, while the Hawks backline, led by Kurtly Silver, Lines, Patrick Kossack and Justin Cooper, and Alex Albert reading the play first and getting in ball-winning positions, fired.
The boys in brown and gold had a few shaky moments on the rebound, kicking to short targets in the backline on the edge of the square.
The Eagles scored from the turnovers but inaccuracy in front of the big sticks hurt the Darwin team once again, and the outfit could only manage four minors for the term.
The Hawks had Lyndon Gumbula and Daniel Turner deep in attack for the quarter, and Clyden up the ground a little.
The line-up steadied with some great play from Cooper and Bell, and many repeated hundred-metre leads by Ross and Turner, and the boys were prepared to run hard and create space for the betterment of the team.
Clyden then nearly did the mercurial deep-in-the-pocket, shaking off two defenders, sidestepping another and having a check-side shot, only to be touched on the line.
In the dying seconds of the clash, Ross showed him up with a goal any premier league player would be jealous of when he booted a major from 50 metres, on the boundary, into the breeze, with the siren sounding as the ball sailed between the big sticks.
On March 7, the Hawks will battle the Darwin Buffaloes in the preliminary final at TIO Stadium, with the winner to receive an invitation to the big dance on grand final day.
The first bounce is at 12.30pm.
BIG RIVER HAWKS 11.5 (71) defeated WANDERERS EAGLES 5.11 (41)
Goal kickers
Big River Hawks: C. Clyden 6, D. Turner 2, L. Gumbula 2, W. Ross 1
Wanderers Eagles: J. Burarrwanga 2, T. Tambling, G. Dhurrkay, R. Smith 1
Best players
Big River Hawks: C. Clyden, J. Buderick, I. Bell, J. Cooper, D. Turner, W. Ross
Wanderers Eagles: G. Dhurrkay, R. Smith, T. Fejo, M. Totham