Wangaratta Rovers will be hoping three premiership reunions will serve as motivation as the club chases its last realistic chance of victory this year.
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The Hawks are set to claim just the second wooden spoon in their 68-year history.
The club snared its only bottom finish in the inaugural season of 1950.
The home club will celebrate the 1958, 1978 and 1988 flags.
“It should be a great day,” Hawks’ secretary Rick Marklew said.
And in a nice touch, one of the premiership players from that final flag in Scott Williamson will have his son, Ky, debuting.
“Scott is the assistant coach of the under 18s, so it will be great to have Ky’s first game,” Marklew said.
“We were going to play him against North Albury (on June 30), but he was as crook as a dog in bed.”
The 1988 flag signalled the start of the Hawks’ last golden era.
It featured a stack of youngsters who would form the nucleus of the team for more than a decade, including five-time Morris medallist Rob Walker and the Wilson brothers, Joe, Mick and Andrew.
The Hawks won four flags over a six-year period.
It’s a world away from the current team, which hosts Myrtleford on Saturday.
The Saints have just the three wins and given the Hawks then face the top five teams, it’s last chance saloon.
But the Saints have added some firepower in VFL players Brady Sharp (Werribee) and Elijah Wales (Footscray), as well as the dangerous Lachie Dale.
It will take a mighty effort from the Hawks to snare an upset, but the prospect of a winless season could be just the incentive in front of former premiership players.
