Without doubt the tab supports are there for a very good reason. specifically the one you've suggested, but if that's the only use they serve its a bit of overkill in my opinion and with a small amount of movement further towards the transom they would have been a far more sensible item to leave in, this way they could have doubled as a hull stiffener aswell as a deck stiffener specifically around the hatch hole.

Shy had these aswell and they went long ago, but I didn't just leave it as a bare unsupported hull side either, I added a piece of 40gsm mat to the area just so my boof foot doesn't find its way through the hull on that screaming broard reach

Al also has a foot strap in that area so it will need to be bulked up anyway for the strap fixing aswell as the load from that misplaced hoof !
As to how that happens at this stage is up to Phill because he'll be the one re-fitting the foot strap once the decks are done.