Hawks add McIlroy to BPL15 roster
The Gold Coast Hawks have been quick to find a replacement for Aron Sherriff, acquiring the services of New Zealand Blackjack and BPL05 MVP Shannon McIlroy for BPL15 at Club Pine Rivers in May.
McIlroy, a former winner of the event at APL03, has not played at the tournament since the Blackjacks franchise exited the competition at the end of BPL09.
The 35-year-old said he was extremely excited to rejoin the competition and humbled at the opportunity to join such an elite group of bowlers playing in the made-for-television event.
“I’m very excited, very fortunate to be given an opportunity considering there are so many amazing players that play in Australia,” McIlroy said.
“The Gold Coast side could have picked someone else but they have seen value in me and I owe it to them to try my best and see what we can come up with.”
The New Zealand international, who is seen as a likely candidate for the nation’s singles position at the upcoming Commonwealth Games, will team up with Right at Home Jackaroo Kelsey Cottrell and former Australian representative Nathan Rice, who both donned the Hawks outfit on the Murray just a fortnight ago.
McIlroy has known both players for a number of years, and is optimistic about the number of tactical possibilities that the team will possess.
“They’re people I’ve known for a long time, I’ve known Kelsey since before a lot of the players in Australia probably knew her, her uncle stayed with us when I was a kid, so I’ve known her since she was around 10,” he said.
“With Nathan, I’ve played many games against him over the years especially when it’s New Zealand against Australia and also at invitationals as well, so to team up an play alongside him is going to be really good.
“It will be interesting to see how we play tactically, I think I can play a bit of a swingman role as skip and lead so it opens things up.”
Cottrell, who was a member of the inaugural BPL All Star team, echoes McIlroy’s sentiments about team versatility, and hopes that it can be the factor that propels the Hawks into the finals after falling agonisingly short in Moama.
The Commonwealth Games gold medallist also looks forward to seeing Club Helensvale’s members in the stands at Pine Rivers with bus loads tipped to venture up the highway.
“I’m really thrilled that Club Helensvale approached Shannon, he’s a great recruit for us and we’re very versatile in our lineup and by the initial talks he can skip or lead which is perfect, I think that’s really important in BPL,” Cottrell said.
“We were very happy with the way we performed at Moama, we all played well but we just couldn’t get over the line in some of those tie-breaks and it was just a bowl here or there and we could have gone from seventh to fourth.
“We will have buses coming up from the club each day full of keen Hawks supporters and we can’t wait to see them in the stands.”
BPL15 will run from May 23-27, 2022, at Club Pine Rivers in Brisbane, with live broadcast from 4pm-10pm AEST from Tuesday to Friday.
