At Fareham, they are very fortunate to have a solid elite level goalkeeper in George Harris. Much like Simon Mason is the rock upon which the team is built at Guildford (currently struggle as a result of a loss of key players), Fareham are able to push further up the league for honours because of his abilities. Providing an aura of calm and consistency, as every coach wants from their goalkeeper, Harris is arguably one of the best goalkeepers around the league.
Whilst this may be a step down from the level he is used to, as I firmly believe he is still capable of playing for a Premier league side, he is the back bone of this squad and is still capable of athletic double saves and such despite his age. This level of experience cannot be bought or gained through short cuts and having fought his way to the top via a stint at Old Loughtonians, he has that battling mindset against adversity that sets him apart from the competition. On Potton's return from Loughborough Students, Harris was phased out of his involvement with the team, in spite of providing them with the ability to up his game and push them further on in the Euro Hockey League, something Potton has really struggled with, from both sides of the argument.
Kit wise, gone are the days when Harris was wearing a helmet/cage "combo" at Old Louts, having moved to an Obo mask, but is still in ice hockey elbow pads. He has made the significant switch from Obo to Mercian for foam (kickers, pads and gloves), but also gone for the new style Mercian rhp. Interestingly, he was using the thinner profile rhp design (Obo hi control) for quite some time previous, only making the not-so-recent-now (!) switch to the larger blocking profile style rhp (Obo hi rebound) in the season that Potton joined.
But much like Rooke, Fareham will struggle without a goalkeeper of his quality, when he does finally have to make the decision of stepping away from the game at this level of competition.
No comments:
Post a Comment