Sport
19 September, 2023
Injured Hinkley to miss GF
COBDEN open coach Sophie Hinkley will miss this weekend’s grand final after injuring her calf during last Saturday’s preliminary final.
COBDEN open coach Sophie Hinkley will miss this weekend’s grand final after injuring her calf during last Saturday’s preliminary final.
Speaking with the Cobden Timboon Coast Times on Monday morning, Hinkley said she believed she had torn her calf and was awaiting scans the following day (yesterday) to confirm.
But despite her injury, which will leave her coaching from the sidelines this Saturday, Hinkley was “absolutely stoked” for her side to have earnt its place on grand final day.
“While, personally, I’m devasted not to be able to be on court this Saturday I’m absolutely thrilled we will be there,” Hinkley said.
The Bombers put on a great show of skill and versatility last weekend to defeat Koroit, 56-26.
Best for the side were Remeny McCann, Emily Finch and Alicia Blain.
“To win a prelim by 30 goals is great. While, personally, I am disappointed to be injured at this time of year it’s grand final week and we’ll be there Saturday so it’s a good week.
“Hindsight is a wonderful thing and while my injury occurred in the last three minutes of the game I hadn’t expressed any tightness or anything at all during the game so I wouldn’t have done anything differently.”
Going into the third quarter, and confident they had “done enough” to earn a grand final spot, the Bombers were able to look at different options on the court.
“Knowing we would be playing the following week gave me the chance to look at different things in the third quarter,” Hinkley said.
“The girls are all really positive and I have total faith in our eight in the team that they can get the job done against South (Warrnambool) this weekend.
“It’s really exciting for the club and our squad to have both our open and division one, along with our 17 and under reserves all in their respective grand finals.”
The Bombers’ open team will face South Warrnambool on Saturday, while division one will play Koroit (who they defeated in the semi-final) and the 17 and under reserves will play South Warrnambool.
“Grace Taylor won the division one best and fairest on Sunday so that’s super exciting for her and our club and I congratulate her on a stellar season,” Hinkley said.
“Division one has an impressive side and that will also be an exciting game to watch.”
Cobden’s 17 and under reserves last weekend defeated Warrnambool in the preliminary final, 35-15.
Best for the Bombers were Shelby Cameron, Charlotte Bennett and Julia Walsh.