Mavoko to miss round 8 clash against Blackhawks

The National Sports

By PARKER TAMBUA
SP Hunter Jamie Mavoko will miss tomorrow’s Hostplus Cup clash with hosts Townsville Blackhawks due to concussion, with utility Kingstimer Paraia replacing him at halfback for the first time.
Hunters coach Matthew Church told The National yesterday that he had only named three bench players and was yet to decide who would fill in at utility for the round-eight fixture at Jack Manski Oval (7pm kick-off).
“Jamie left the field last weekend in the game against Norths Devils with a HIA (head injury assessment) and didn’t return,” he said.
“Due to the HIA protocols and the six-day turnaround, he is unavailable for selection for Friday’s game against the Blackhawks.”
Church said his men had shown improvement in their 24-28 loss to the reigning champions.
But he said the South Pacific Brewery-sponsored side still needed to improve their defence and attack.
“We were too sideways against Burleigh Bears the previous weekend and also the first 20 minutes against North Devils,” Church said of his 12th-placed Hunters. Once we corrected that, we caused Norths some trouble with our attack.
“For this weekend, we need to show more intent in attack and defence.
“I feel that we have dropped off in this area of our game.
“I challenged the playing group at halftime around this last week, they responded well and put ourselves into the contest with a winning chance.
“We will have to do this for 80 minutes against the Blackhawks to get the result.”
Meanwhile, the Blackhawks have named playmaker Kyle Laybutt as a bench utility while fellow Papua New Guinea Kumul Edene Gebbie is their 18th man. Gebbie is yet to make his Blackhawks debut after joining the side from National Rugby League side Wests Tigers during a mid-season transfer last year.
Hunters: Matthew Jesse, Terry Wapi, Brandon Nima, Roderick Tai, Solo Wane, Mark Tony, Kingstimer Paraia, Dilbert Isaac, Wartovo Puara, Sylvester Namo, Sherwin Tanabi, Keven Appo, Junior Rop; Interchange – Emmanuel Waine, Kitron Laka, Samuel Yegip.