South Hobart should retain the Steve Hudson Cup

South Hobart meet Northern Rangers in today’s Steve Hudson Cup final in Launceston.

South Hobart, the holders, had a comfortable 3-0 away win over University yesterday in the Forestry Tasmania Premier League.

But, they lost captain Bart Beecroft to a serious injury and he will miss the final.

Beecroft was involved in a collision with an opponent and may have suffered a broken jaw.

Sam Kruijver will retain his place in goal at the expense of Mark Moncur.

Daniel Brown played against University and should also retain his place. He initially played in attack against the Students before moving back into defence.

Northern Rangers coach Roslan Saad used this tournament to assess his players and getting to the final was a bonus.

“We have used around 31 players to get us to the final,” Saad said.

“I’m very happy with that because all the boys that have played in the Steve Hudson Cup have done very well.

“Our aim for this tournament was not to win the cup, but to use it to expose the players and to try the team system.

“The boys are beginning to believe in the system and their ability.

“We will still go into the match as a pre-season match and will be using some players that have yet to be selected for the senior team to show their ability.

“I have a lot of respect for South Hobart as a club and also their coach, Ken.

“As I said it previously, it will be good for us to be able to play South Hobart twice.

“It is like a dream come true now for the club and we just ‘did it’ the first time we met.

“Now I hope we can ‘do it better’.”

The match for third and fourth places featured Taroona against the Tasmanian Institute of Sport.

Taroona lost on Saturday in a penalty shoot-out to New Town Eagles in the semi-finals of the Division One section of the southern Summer Cup competition.

The sides were locked at 1-1 after normal time (only one hour in this tournament) and Eagles won the penalty shoot-out 4-3.

The TIS, in the guise of University’s under-19s, beat South Hobart 4-0.

This match, therefore, should be a close affair.


“We want to finish the tournament with a good performance,” said Taroona’s assistant coach, Ben Horgan.

“It has been a great experience for our boys and playing the full 90 minutes each week has given us a solid preparation for the league.

“We’ll keep the same squad but give some of the guys who haven’t had a lot of game time more of a run.

“Hugo Luttmer couldn’t shake off his hamstring injury in time for last week’s game, but, hopefully, he will be right for this weekend so he can play against his son Eli.

“I might stick him out on the left wing to make sure the two are matched up against one another.”