Sport
24 July, 2024
Country Round: Finals on the line for visiting sides
The Townsville Blackhawks will take on the Brisbane Tigers at Alec Inch Oval on Saturday.
Seasons are on the line when the Townsville Blackhawks and reigning Hostplus Cup premiers Brisbane Tigers do battle in Mount Isa on Saturday.
The Blackhawks are a point outside of the top-eight, while the Tigers are two points behind them with five rounds left in the season.
Crucially, the Townsville side has played two more games than their Brisbane rivals, meaning that there is everything to play for in the Country Round clash at Alec Inch Oval.
“Our season is definitely on a tightrope and Townsville got the better of us in our previous game so there is a fair bit to play for,” said Tigers coach Matt Church.
“We’ve had some challenges with injuries – we had 17 players unavailable – but there is still that belief within the squad that we can have an impact on the season.”
The Tigers won last year’s Hostplus Cup grand final 22-18 against the Burleigh Bears.
Church said winning against the Blackhawks would determine if they could sneak into the eight and earn the right to defend their title.
The Tigers coach said he was looking forward to visiting the North West city for the first time.
“My old man actually played for Townies one season,” he said of his father, David Church.
“He was a halfback and was up here in 1975 when Rob Orchard coached them to the premiership.
“Dad only played for about eight or 10 weeks that season while he was up there for work.”
Blackhawks footy operations manager Adrian Thomson said the Mount Isa match would determine if his team played footy in September.
“Our best has been very good this year but our worst has been poor. We’ve been able to match it with the best sides and then we have lowered our colours in games that we were expected to win,” he said.
Fullback Lennix Tovo could be one to watch for Townsville.
Formerly in the Brumbies system, the youngster made the trip to North Queensland to try his hand at rugby league.
NRL scouts have already identified him as a potential recruit for 2025 and beyond.
For the Tigers, Emerald bull Coby Williamson could be one to keep an eye on. Already in the Melbourne Storm system, the youngster “runs the ball extremely hard”.
The Hostplus Cup game will kick-off at 3.45pm on Saturday.