The defending premiers of the Leonard Cup shocked all their rivals with a decisive 7-1 loss in round two.
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However, Henwood Park Hawks’ coach Peter Adams isn’t spitting chips just yet.
“I wouldn’t put too much weight on results at this stage,” he said.
“I’m quite willing to sacrifice results if it means I get to give a player the opportunity to try a new position.
“After the first 10 rounds, then I’ll start worrying about consistency.”
The loss to Tolland came after a strong 10-1 win over Cootamundra.
“Coota literally had a couple of players sign up the day before, we weren’t as strong as the result indicated there, and we weren’t as bad as the result indicated against Tolland,” he said.
Fatigue compounded the loss; four Hawks players were forced to play two full games due to injured team mates.
“Tolland are probably the benchmark team,” he said.
“You can’t expect to play a good second half against a quality team after 120 minutes on the field.”
The team’s comprised mainly of girls under the age of 18, and Adams understands HSC studies are the priority. He’s in the first phase of a two-year plan to make the Hawks a competitive force again.
He believes skills and fitness will improve in time, and his greatest challenge will be teaching them tactics required to win each game.
Henwood Park plays South Wagga at Rawlings Park on Sunday at 11am.