A SEASON-ENDING injury to Collingullie-Glenfield Park key position player Matt Hobbs has soured the Demons' trial victory over Marrar.
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The Demons made their return to the field for the first time in 12 months with a convincing win over the Bombers at Crossroads Oval on Saturday evening.
The game was held up for an hour early in the second quarter when Hobbs went down with a badly broken leg.
Hobbs broke his leg in two places and underwent surgery on Sunday.
"That will put him out for the season, which is disappointing for him and obviously for us," Collingullie-GP coach Brett Somerville said.
"He's a good sized young fella and goes about his footy in the right way."
Hobbs had spent the opening of the trial at full-forward for the Demons, after playing his previous season at the club at full-back.
"That was something we wanted to try. He's more of a natural backman and we know he can play there so it was more to see if we could make a full-forward out of him, and he wasn't too bad until he went down."
The Demons were winners by about 80 points, a sharp turnaround from the trial game between the two clubs 12 months ago.
Somerville was pleased with what he saw.
"It was surprising to see how clean we were and it got better as the game went on, even though the conditions got worse," he said.
"We moved the footy the way we wanted to and executed for the most part, which was great to see. One of the key points was our tackling pressure, which was great to see. It's part of our game we need to be working on every week."
Jayden Klemke made a successful return to the field and was a standout for the Demons, while Harry Radley also impressed in his first game since returning from Wagga Tigers.
Somerville was also impressed with Dusty Rogers, Jack Thompson-Gardener and Chad Fuller.
The Demons expect to welcome back Nick Perryman, Daniel Frawley, Blake Harper, Jimmy Kennedy and Zac Billingham for their second trial game against Brocklesby-Burrumbuttock on Saturday.
"They will be a stronger side, so it will be a good test for us," he said.
Meantime, Marrar forward Rory Block will face a race against time to be fit for round one after injuring his groin in the opening minutes of the trial loss.
The Bombers will take on Griffith in a second trial game on Saturday, after Leeton-Whitton withdrew.
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