Season ending injury to No. 1 ruck a blow but Lauderdale has adequate back-up for flag push
Lauderdale won’t have to look too far to find a suitable replacement for first choice big man Haydn Smith after his season ending ankle injury against Glenorchy.
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LAUDERDALE has a ready made replacement to fill the void left by ruckman Haydn Smith after the star Bomber suffered a season-ending injury on the eve of the TSL finals.
The Bombers, beaten grand finalists for the past three years, booked their 2020 finals ticket with a 53-point victory against Glenorchy at KGV on Wednesday night.
However the win came at a huge cost with Smith dislocating his ankle in the second quarter and heading to hospital after the match.
Robbie McManus’ season is also in doubt after he was also sent to hospital for scans after suffering a shoulder or AC joint injury.
• ALL THE STATS FROM LAUDERDALE’S WIN AGAINST GLENORCHY
Smith has been a pillar for the Bombers in the past three years, and polled 14 votes in last year’s Alastair Lynch medal count to finish fourth.
And while his absence will be a big blow, coach Darren Winter won’t need to look too far to fill the position.
Utility Sam Siggins — who finished runner-up for the Lynch medal in 2017 as a mobile ruckman for Clarence — stepped up in the second half against the Pies and looks set to convert from a pinch hit option to taking the No. 1 mantle.
“He can go anywhere, back, forward, through the midfield,” Winter said of Siggins’ versatility.
“When he is running around as a ruckman he can actually run around like a midfielder as soon as it hits the ground.
“While that [Smith’s injury] was really disappointing, certainly ‘Siggo’ came to the fore and changed the shape of the game a bit.”
Siggins finished the match against the Pies with match highs in disposals (26), contested possessions (16), and clearances (seven).
The result guarantees Lauderdale will feature in one of the two semi-finals with one game of the roster season remaining, and Winter said there is plenty of room for improvement after the scrappy showing.
“We knew we had to win another game and we wanted to get that out of the way so we can have a bit of control over where we go in the next couple of weeks.
“It was a really important game for us, we haven’t won out here for a while.
“We got a few things incorrect, and we didn’t get a chance to review the game against North Launceston.
“Now we get that opportunity to spend a lot of time on reviewing and tweaking little things we need to get better going forward.”
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