Hawks to fight hard in Manning's swansong

Finals may be out of reach, but that doesn’t mean North Wangaratta will just go through the motions for the next fortnight. After last weekend’s loss to Whorouly, the Hawks will be unable to bridge the three-game gap to the top six from their two remaining matches against King Valley and Goorambat. Senior co-coach Steve Manning said it had been a challenging year on the injury front, but his side had fought hard all season. “We’re disappointed to be missing finals this year - we felt like within the group and our standards and everything, we’d lifted again this year, we felt like we were shaping up a list that would be competitive,” he said. “We have been competitive with good teams at times, we’ve had good results losing narrowly to Bright and to Greta, but we haven’t been able to maintain our strength in our list at critical times during the season. “Our two big forward recruits, Corey Smith and Josh Kemp, they’ve only played two full games together for the year. “At the end of the day, when you see your recruits coming in and you can’t wait to see 14 or 15 games of them playing together, it hasn’t happened. “If we look back on that, it’s a big reason perhaps why we haven’t been able to get the results we needed.” Their match this Saturday against the 10th-placed King Valley is a chance for the Hawks to hold their heads high and take some reward from a gruelling season. “Last time we played King Valley it was a really competitive and tight game for three quarters when we were able to crack them in the last, and we expect no different this week,” he said. “We’re really committed to trying to finish on a high with a couple of good, strong performances. “We know within our club and in our group, we’re made strides and we’ve made improvements, we’re still really excited about our spine or core, who are all 21, 22 years of age. “With our future secure in that, with all boys recommitting for next year, it’s something the club’s really excited about.” It will be a bittersweet weekend, with Manning set to coach his final home game at North Wangaratta, after announcing he will not be at the club in 2026, leaving it in the capable hands of his co-coach this year, Corey Smith. Manning came to the Nest at the start of the 2023 season, and helped North Wangaratta to their first senior finals appearance in a decade. Off the field, he has been a vocal advocate for raising awareness of family violence and violence against women, working with the Centre Against Violence to spread the important message. “It’s exciting but sad as well, it’s my last home game coaching the group, so I’m looking forward to having supporters and families that have been supportive of me in my time on Saturday,” Manning said. “During that time we’ve improved standards around the club on and off the field. “Looking back on it now, I hope that I’ve laid some good foundations for the next phase – hopefully when the guys look back on it over the next few years, hopefully I’ve taught them a little bit about football and a little bit about life and how we need to be off the field.” In other matches, it’s going to be a fiery contest at the Whorouly Recreation Reserve when the Lions host the top of the table Bright. While the Mountain Men will enter hot favourites, having dispatched the Lions by 110 points back in round two, Whorouly has welcomed back a raft of players from injuries and will be eager to test themselves before finals. The onus will be on each team’s defenders, with two key forwards taking to either ends of the park in Cooper Thomason and Michael Newton. Elsewhere in round 19, Tarrawingee is at home against Moyhu, the Blues head down to Bonnie Doon, and Benalla All Blacks take on Goorambat at Friendlies Oval.

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