Roos set to throw caution to the wind in search of finals berth

Roos set to throw caution to the wind in search of finals berth

7th July 2022

HAMILTON Kangaroos skipper Brady Hicks admits his side has slightly lost control of its season’s destiny but remains adamant they still have time to make a late charge towards finals.

The Roos suffered a nail-biting one point loss to Warrnambool in the round before last weekend’s bye, with the result dropping the former four points and percentage behind the fifth-placed Blues with seven rounds to play.

“We knew coming into that game that it was a match we had to win to still be in control of our season and we still are to a certain point,” Hicks said.

“We went into that game and gave it everything we had and just unfortunately we didn’t have our kicking boots on that day.

“I think we kicked 8.18 for the day and 1.7 in the last (quarter) so it was on us at the end of the day. To lose by a point, the feeling wasn’t too crash hot in the rooms afterwards as you could expect.”

With some bumper clashes ahead starting with Portland at Hanlon Park this Saturday, Hicks said every game was now almost like a mini-final for his club.

“We just take it week-by-week now and know we literally have nothing to lose so we’ll be throwing everything at it and giving ourselves the best shot of getting into the finals for our senior side’s first time,”

“The feeling is still good around the club and we’re certainly not out of it (finals contention) I know, but coming up against Portland we always have good games against them except for Anzac Day last year.

“On Anzac Day this year it was all pretty similar stats-wise and I think they might have beaten us by 23 points at home but we’ve got a chance to return the favour to them in Portland on Saturday and like I said we’ll throw everything at it and see how we end up after the game.

“We know what their strengths are and know what ours are but we’ll just go head-to-head and hopefully come away with the four points and give ourselves the best shot of playing finals.”

Meanwhile, North Warrnambool will host Warrnambool at Bushfield Recreation Reserve in the Hampden League Live Match of the Round.

The fourth-placed Eagles are coming off a 33 point loss to Koroit and need to win to remain in touch with the top three, while the Blues are looking to consolidate their position in the five.

In other matches this weekend, arch-rivals Cobden and Camperdown square off at Cobden Community Bank Recreation Reserve, Terang Mortlake hosts Koroit at Ridley Recreation Reserve and South Warrnambool welcomes Port Fairy to Friendly Societies Park.

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