Geelong Advertiser | RYAN Hargrave will miss tomorrow’s Battle of the Bridge clash but Ocean Grove is confident the former Bulldog will return after the bye.
Hargrave picked up a knee injury during the Grubbers’ five-point loss to Drysdale last week, but the club expects it to be just a one-week injury.
Ocean Grove faces Torquay on May 2, after a bye over the Anzac Day weekend.
Last year’s runner-up is keen to open its account against archrival Barwon Heads tomorrow, as both sides continue to settle with new-look teams.
Ocean Grove captain Liam Rock said it may just be “teething problems” as senior players get used to their new teammates, but there were basic issues that were being addressed.
“I think we’re probably focusing on our skills, I think our skills have been letting us down in the last one going into the forward 50,” rock said.
“Competitive intensity has been there for the first couple of weeks but it’s probably just that finishing off we need to improve on.
“For us to get over them I think the key is to to start well in the centre square, we’ve got a new ruckman Andrew Jarvis who’s giving us first use, we need to capitalise on that and just get the footy going our way and finish off with that last kick into the forward 50, actually hit the targets.”
Barwon Heads captain Bobby Wallace said it’s also taking his side some time to come together, but that was no surprise.
“Internally I think we all knew we were going to take time to jell,” Wallace said.
“We hoped we would have snuck away with a couple of wins to start with but we haven’t.
Barwon Heads got its first win of the season last week, downing Queenscliff by seven points in a low-scoring affair after a two-point loss to Anglesea in a 19-goal apiece shootout in Round 1.
“Last week was the complete opposite of the first week. It was a lot more defensive and we’d worked on our defence,” Wallace said.
“But we’ve got a lot of new faces, a lot of new guys and it’s going to take us a while to actually start to jell properly.
“We can take some positives out of the first two weeks but hopefully we can start to really jell together this week.”
Ocean Grove has won seven of the past 10 Battle of Bridge clashes, which both captains concede is built up more by the club and supporters than the teams themselves.
“It always seems like it’s a bit more important than normal home and away matches,” Wallace said.
“It’s the Battle of the Bridge. It’s got a lot of history. There’s a lot of passion and it’s not just for the teams — it’s for the club, it’s for the community and there’s always a little more riding on the Battle of the Bridge.
“You see a lot of people not even involved in the footy club get around it and love it.
“They’ve got friends from over the bridge and they’ll have little bets together, so it’s a whole community thing, not just a footy club thing.”
Rock says his team keeps things pretty normal in the lead-up to such a game, but there’s no escaping it come game day.
“Other than a final, it’s probably the biggest game of the year for both sides.
“No matter where you are on the ladder, you get yourself up for it no matter what.”
