Bathurst Goldminers are down on guard options for this Saturday’s Waratah Youth League men’s division two away clash against Illawarra Hawks Red.
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The weekend’s fixture has coincided with the Western Junior League finals at Bathurst and first choice guard Will Cranston-Lown is also unavailable.
Shane David-Weelathgamuwa, Ben Matthews, Kobe Mansell and Tom Pottinger are all absent due to their finals bid with the Goldminers under 18s.
Goldminers coach Andrew Osborn expects a tough contest against the second-string Illawarra outfit given their position on the ladder, just one win behind the Bathurst men.
“Looking at the guys they’ve got there’s a few of them who were in that top side last year but a lot of them will be an unknown quantity,” he said.
“Even with the group I’ve got away, at this stage it’s looking like I’ll still have eight to nine players available for the weekend.”
The absentees definitely rob the Goldminers of their star talent at both point and shooting guard, but the club’s more than capable of finding suitable replacements.
“I’ve got Nathan Germech, who can definitely play in the two, or the one if needed. Nick Smith will be better for his game last week. He can play in those positions, as can Blake [Hadjipetros],” Osborn said.
“The advantage we have going into the game is that we will still have a lot of height. We have Matt [Gray] and Anai [Mathiang] both playing. James Gogala and Andrew Parish can help in those roles as well.”