Eaglehawk to regain key position player for Golden Square clash

One star player likely to be sidelined, one star player likely to return. There's mixed injury news for Eaglehawk in the lead up to arguably its biggest home and away game of the BFNL season against Golden Square. The third-placed Hawks need to defeat Golden Square this week or ladder leader Sandhurst the following Saturday to seal the double-chance for the finals. Classy midfielder Kal Geary (hamstring tightness) appears likely to miss the clash with the Bulldogs at Canterbury Park, but key defender Clayton Holmes looks set to return from a hamstring injury. "It's nothing major, but given his history we'll be pretty cautious,'' Matheson said of Geary's injury. "He's running, but at this time of year we won't be taking any risks with him. "Unless he's 110 per cent at training (on Thursday night) it's probably more likely that he'll play the week after (against Sandhurst). "He might train well, get through training and we pick him (to play Golden Square). "He had a similar injury earlier in the year where he missed one week and was right the week after that." READ MORE: Stats what I'm talkin' about - BFNL round 16 Holmes hasn't played since round 11 because of a nagging hamstring complaint. "Clayton got through training (on Tuesday night) and he'll be right to play this week,'' Matheson said of Holmes. "There was a fair level of temptation to play him last week (against Kyneton) and he put his hand up to play, but we decided to err on the side of caution. "He hurt himself against Maryborough, but he jogged off the ground and the next day he was walking around with no troubles. "He just hadn't been able to shake the pain. There was no damage to his hamstring, we think it could have been some scar tissue or something like that. READ MORE: Four BDCA players named in VCCL Team of the Year READ MORE: Bendigo junior footy scores, goals and best players "The good news is we have him back for the right time of the year and, hopefully, we keep him on the park." The Hawks are in third place despite Holmes only playing six games for the season. The key defender/backup ruckman is arguably their most important player. "You go back through the games of footy we've lost, not just this year but the last few years, they've been the games that he wasn't out there for,'' Matheson said of Holmes. "The moments where we've had big wins, more often than not he's been a big part of those games." The Hawks will be without their two key forwards this weekend. Darcy Richards will serve week two of a three-week suspension, while Cam McGlashan is still recovering from a medial ligament strain suffered against Castlemaine in round 13. "He's a chance to be back for the Sandhurst game, but more than likely it's a first week of the finals scenario,'' Matheson said of McGlashan. "It was between a medium and high-grade injury, which they say is a four-to-six week injury and next week marks five weeks. "He's back running at training and doing some straight line stuff. "The side we'll have on the park will be very similar to the last couple of times we came up against Golden Square and Sandhurst. "From our perspective there'll be no excuses. When we get those guys back it will be a bonus." RANKING POINTS DISPOSALS CONTESTED POSSESSIONS MARKS CONTESTED MARKS INTERCEPT MARKS CLEARANCES INSIDE 50s SPOILS TACKLES HIT OUTS Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: