Hillwood gun to play 50th as Sharks 'not making excuses' for big loss (2025)

There will be two reasons for Hillwood to be extra motivated against St Pats in the second round of NTFA's new-look NTFA division one.

The first is Hamish Leedham's 50^th club game, with the ruck having enjoyed a fruitful few years since arriving from Launceston.

"It's crazy to think he's only played 50 games, because he's been probably one of our best players over the time since he's been here," coach Jake Pearce said.

"He's super important for us, he's super competitive, and I'm looking forward to celebrating with him on the weekend."

The second comes from their first-round 49-point loss at Bracknell in which the Redlegs took an early sizable lead with the wind and never looked back.

"(Then) when we had the breeze (in the second quarter), they outscored us and outplayed us all over the ground, for them to kick five goals to one, it really put a bit of a dent in us," Pearce said.

"We know we're better than that, I'm not going to make any excuses.

"We've got to be better than that, and I'll learn from that and be better ... they taught us a lesson, and I think we'll definitely learn from that and move on."

Adding injury to insult was Zac Oldenhof's calf that forced him off early in the contest, with the defender already ruled out for Saturday.

Nash Digney is also "touch and go" and is waiting on a physio assessment to determine his fitness.

The Sharks will be at home for their 2pm contest against the Saints, who themselves are feeling confident after their scrappy win against traditional rivals Old Scotch.

While line-ups are still unknown ahead of the game, St Pats could again be lining up with two of the competition's best in Jobi Harper and Dylan Riley.

"It is a bit of an unknown, I've played against a couple of the guys they've brought in and they can easily put their hand up and say that they're probably in the best four or five players in the comp," Pearce said.

"I've never played against St Pats or anything like that, but we've got to go back to playing our brand of footy and hopefully we can bounce back before the Easter break, because we've got a tough run after that."

Elsewhere, game of the round appears to be at Rocherlea as the Tigers face a new rival in Lilydale.

Coach Luke Richards' men looked imperious against Bridgenorth despite missing a couple of key players, while the Demons took the league by storm in their season opener.

Led by gun recruit Jay Lockhart, Lilydale thrashed George Town by 83 points, but are set to face a sterner test against the league's premiership favourites.

But Demons coach Corey Lockett said his side would not be backing down from the challenge after their impressive win against the Saints.

"It shows that we well and truly belong in the comp, and now it probably gives us a bit of confidence going into next week against Rocherlea," he told The Examiner on Sunday.

Bridgenorth will remain at home for a second week as they entertain an Old Launcestonians outfit that is coming off an opening round bye.

One of the four promoted clubs, OLs have a number of fresh faces to deploy at Parrot Park, including former Bridgenorth player Jack Stedman.

The Parrots will be keen to move on quickly from their loss to Rocherlea, becoming the first team that failed to beat the Tigers in round one for seven years.

The other contest is between two clubs going through contrasting weeks following the weekend's results.

George Town host Bracknell and will hope for a reaction to their disappointing defeat in Lilydale, but the Redlegs appear to be tough opposition.

Thoroughly outplaying the Sharks, Bracknell's new recruits have taken no time at all to adjust to their new home with coach Josh Adams likely sensing an opportunity to head into the league-wide Easter bye with a perfect record and plenty of momentum.

Old Scotch have the bye.