By Joe McConnell
From 2010 to 2012, the Goondiwindi Hawks men’s division one team totalled just nine wins.
In 2013 alone, the squad equalled that win total to finish fifth on the ladder in the Allied Pickford’s Cup competition and qualify for the finals.
And though this season the Hawk’s record may stand at one win and three losses, they have proven to the rest of the competition that they are a force to be reckoned with.
Goondiwindi club president and men’s division one player David O’Toole acknowledges there have been a number of factors that have been key to the side’s transformation.
From the behind the scenes work done by the organisation, to a more intense training mentality; it has all payed dividends.
“We’ve got a lot more organised off the field, so that helps,” Mr O’Toole said.
“I think Brenton Jardine as our coach has also been a big factor in our improvement. He’s been the coach from the start of last year and he’s moved up from Victoria and brought us quite a bit of experience and knowledge with him,” he said.
“And I think we’ve just realised that we’ve had to train a lot harder and work a lot harder if we wanted to perform better. We’ve sort of built up a level of difficulty that we train at and that’s rolling over into our games.”
And it certainly showed in week one of the Allied Pickford’s Cup.
Goondiwindi dismantled the Lockyer Valley by 147 points, before dropping two tough matchups against University and Coolaroo.
Showing no signs of self pity, the Hawks rallied themselves heading into a round five clash against their rivals and top of the ladder Warwick Redbacks.
As heavy underdogs playing on undefeated Warwick’s home ground, Goondiwindi pushed the Redbacks to their absolute limits and even led at halftime.
While Warwick recovered in the second half to survive with a 15.6 (96) to 14.5 (89) win, it was the closest they have been to tasting defeat all season.
This weekend Goondiwindi will face Warwick again, but will be looking to finish the game off with a win this time around.
Mr O’Toole said that the team is reasonably happy with how they have performed up to this point of the season and that their first meeting with Warwick has instilled confidence in the players.
“We’re not too upset with how we’re going. We’d like to be better than one and three but we’ve had a pretty tough draw,” Mr O’Toole said.
“We’re encouraged by how we went against (Warwick) last time at their home ground. And we’ve learned a couple things and we’re hoping we can have another close game with them this week,” he said.
“But ideally obviously, we’d like to get ahead of them and get the win.”
Goondiwindi certainly doesn’t lack to the talent to knock off Warwick either.
The Hawks had four of their players selected to represent Country this past weekend in the annual City verse Country clash.
With Country picking up the win, Goondiwindi’s Jeremy Leahy starred for the boys from the bush grabbing the best on grounds medal.
Despite the positives from the Goondiwindi camp, it will be an uphill battle to duplicate their memorable 2013 season.
With only four teams able to qualify for the finals this year, the Hawks will have to string several wins together in order to have a shot of finishing among the best in the pack.
Though it will take a concerted team effort from the rising Goondiwindi squad, David O’Toole said their expectations for the year have not changed.
“We finished pretty strong last year and made it into the finals and that is our big goal again for the year is to back that up and make the finals again,” he said.
“We’ve got some pretty important games against the other teams sort of in the middle of the ladder that are coming up. Like against South (Toowoomba) and against Highfields, those sorts of games will obviously be very important.”
The Goondiwindi Hawks will play the Warwick Redbacks Sunday May 18 at 2:30pm on Bridgman Oval.
For the full round fixture of the Allied Pickford's Cup, click here.
Last Modified on 23/05/2014 14:51
