East Wagga-Kooringal will again put their depth to the test against Temora on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In-form midfielder Luke Cuthbert and wingman Ize Collins joined the club's long injury list during Saturday's 40-point loss to Marrar at Gumly Oval.
Curthbert will miss a couple of weeks with a hamstring, while Collins is yet to learn the full extent of his back injury after coming off in the opening minutes of last Saturday's game.
The Hawks face Temora at Nixon Park on Saturday before enjoying their second club bye.
EWK coach Matt Hard expects to regain Cuthbert after the club bye.
"Hopefully after the bye he'll be right. It's a two or three weeker, so we'll see how he goes," Hard said.
"Ize will miss this week. We don't know the full extent yet, we're still waiting on a prognosis."
MORE SPORT NEWS
With another two players going down, Hard does not expect to get any players back from injury for the trip to Temora.
Hayden Nelson and Nico Sedgwick remain sidelined, Dan McCarthy has another week of suspension to serve, while star forward Jarrad Boumann was named to play Marrar but is also expected to be given until after the bye.
"He's still injured. We'll probably wait until after the bye I reckon," he said.
The Hawks will also be without Max Tiernan for the remainder of the season with the young defender having a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) confirmed last week.
Tiernan suffered the injury against Northern Jets a fortnight ago and had the injury confirmed with scans last week.
Is is Tiernan's second ACL tear, on separate knees, by the age of just 20 and Hard said the club was devastated to lose him.
"Maxy's a young kid with enormous potential and he's had a really good year for us," Hard said.
"It hurts us."
As for the loss to the Bombers on Saturday, Hard said there were plenty of positives to take from the loss.
"We had (Collins) come off in the first two minutes with his back and then Cuthy come off with a hammy. So I was pretty happy we were as close as we were for three quarters," Hard said.
The Hawks kicked four unanswered goals during the middle part of the game against Marrar and led by two points at half-time.
The Bombers eventually overran the undermanned Hawks with a six-goal final term helping Marrar to a 40-point lead.
EWK remain in second spot, just a game and percentage behind the Bombers. They are also a game and percentage ahead of the third-placed The Rock-Yerong Creek.
Temora will be fresh for the Hawks clash after back-to-back byes. The Kangaroos also had a lengthy injury list for their last clash against Marrar but have since enjoyed the general bye followed by their club bye.
Among those expected to return for Temora are Sam Jensen, Jack Cullen, Rob Grant, Colby Poole, Tim Shea and Justin Galloway.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Download our app from the Apple Store or Google Play
- Bookmark dailyadvertiser.com.au
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters