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I don't know where Wayne Smith has got the notion that Henjak has been "saddled with the blame for costing his team its first home win"?!
It certainly hasn't been a sentiment shared here with any weight.
He seems to laying the boot with flippers on, trying to stay matey but hanging him out to dry too.
A little AGENDA perhaps?
Henjak's period of grace over
By Wayne Smith, FoxSport
February 27, 2007
ONCE again, Western Force's Matt Henjak is back in his old familiar position. No, not halfback. Scapegoat.
It was a position he made his own after being sent home in disgrace from Australia's tour of South Africa in 2005 after a nightclub incident in Cape Town, a position he consolidated last year when he repeatedly overplayed his hand as the fledgling Perth side struggled to make its way in Super 14.
But 2007 had been shaping as a kinder season for him, thanks mainly to the revival of a partnership with Matt Giteau that began 15 years ago on the front lawns of their neighbouring homes in Queanbeyan.
It was obvious to all that having his old friend as his halves partner has settled Henjak down and is bringing out the best in his game.
That was evident for most Force's 25-24 loss to the Lions at Subiaco on Saturday night.
Just when it seemed Henjak and his teammates were about to lay to rest some particularly resilient demons by winning their first match at home, they reared up yet again and wrapped him in controversy.
The first serious hint that the seemingly auspicious night was turning sour for Force and its halfback came seven minutes into the second half when Henjak was penalised for illegally using his hands in the ruck and suddenly the lead was cut to two points.
Barely three minutes later, Lions halfback Jano Vermaak took a quick tap in front of the Force's goalposts and darted for the line. Henjak had a no-win choice to make, either get back onside, by which time his opposite number would surely have scored, or tackle him illegally.
"If I don't make the tackle, it's five points ... if I do, it's the sin-bin," Henjak said yesterday.
"I decided to make the tackle. Anyone in professional football would have done the same thing.
"If I was in the same position next week, I'd do exactly the same thing again."
Out came the yellow card and the Lions took the lead but from that point onwards fortunes fluctuated wildly, with Force regaining the lead, surrendering it again and then, three minutes from full-time, surging to the front before it was ultimately denied by a last-minute penalty goal to Andre Pretorius.
Desperate to pull the match out of the fire, Lions five-eighth Pretorius chip-kicked and regathered, only to be hit immediately by Henjak who, athletically stayed upright and ripped the ball free just as he was cleaned out by the South Africans.
"I'd stolen the ball, I thought I had full rights, the referee didn't think so," Henjak said.
Pretorius dusted himself off, squinted at the posts and then kicked the pressure, 80th-minute goal that broke the hearts of Perth's loyal Blue Crew and left Henjak saddled with the blame for costing his team its first home win. The critics might have abandoned him but, happily for Henjak, Force is still with him.
"I dealt with it pretty hard on the night but I've had the full support of the coaches," Henjak said. "I spoke to Mitch (head coach John Mitchell) and he told me not to dwell on it, to keep my head up and that he was happy with my game.
"And (backs coach) John Mulvihill told me the game shouldn't have come down to the final 30 seconds, that we should have had it wrapped up long before that. So he wasn't blaming me, either."
But that still leaves Henjak himself and he is the hardest marker of all. That makes him a man for the Waratahs to be wary of when Force makes its first appearance in Sydney on Friday.