![East Wagga-Kooringal will be looking for a quick turnaround after a shock loss to North Wagga last Saturday. Picture by Matt Malone East Wagga-Kooringal will be looking for a quick turnaround after a shock loss to North Wagga last Saturday. Picture by Matt Malone](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/8tYDWUpBiaA8SfdG6xkddz/2136c2b7-94f6-4c40-9610-de3d0ce38a99.JPG/r184_133_4589_2713_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
EAST Wagga-Kooringal assistant coach Luke Gerhard believes a shock loss to North Wagga was the 'wake up call' the Hawks needed.
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The Hawks slipped to third place on the Farrer League ladder with a 21-point loss to the seventh-placed Saints at McPherson Oval on Saturday.
It wasn't the preparation EWK were hoping for heading into the highly-anticipated showdown with undefeated ladder leaders The Rock-Yerong Creek at Gumly Oval this Saturday.
Gerhard said the Hawks were simply 'flat' coming off the bye and hoped it was the wake up call the playing group needed.
"I think it's just a typical game straight after the bye," Gerhard said.
"You come out and you're feeling fresh and think you've done enough but we were just flat. To put it straight, we were flat. The energy was low. You could hear a pin drop after we kicked a goal.
"We got a little bit of a roll on there in the fourth quarter and we were up and about but they kicked a goal and we were back to square one again.
"I think personally as a coach it was a wake up call for us. It's come at the right time when we've got our biggest challenge for this year this week in The Rock."
Gerhard has already seen a reaction from the Hawks and believes it is a good time for the battle with the Magpies.
"Definitely. Even last week at training we were still a little bit flat but just turning up to training (Tuesday) night you could see everyone was pretty well pissed off and know that we need to turn it around quick," he said.
"There's no better way than to go up against The Rock and give it a red hot crack."
Making the task harder will be the unavailability of key defender Nick Curran. That comes on top of experienced defender Trent Garner being out indefinitely with hamstring problems.
Riley Flint is also out for an extended period with a back injury.
Jackson Hughes is doubtful of a return due to a shoulder injury, but Brocke Argus should be back.
Gerhard believes the Hawks are capable of taking it up to TRYC.
"I think so. In every game this season we've probably played a quarter and a half of our best footy. And that was against CSU in the second half, we showed some glimpses of the footy we're trying to play and when we play that style of footy, I think we can match it with them," Gerhard said.
"They're obviously a quality side and have some quality players coming back into their team so we've got to be at our best but I think we can do that."