ADF hockey gets tough
Volume 11, No. 55, November 02, 2006

On target: Capt Tanya Goddard, 4CER, sets Cpl Sam Spry, APA Darwin, for a shot at the goal. Photo by Leut Stuart Cayzer

SIG Steve Brennan and Pte Tristan Hunt were Army’s standout male players, while Cpl Sam Spry and Pte Leesa Purcell shone for the women when the ADF men’s and women’s teams contested the recent Australian Country Hockey Championships in Bendigo.

The teams gathered in Melbourne for a week before the titles and were based at Watsonia Barracks to prepare, train and play practice matches.

The men’s team, which has been rebuilding for the past few years after the retirement of several key players, produced some strong results against the best the country had to offer.

It now has a core of players such as Cpl Adam Spry (1CER), Leut Stuart Cayzer (HMAS Kuttabul) and LAC Nelson Parlett (RAAF Richmond) who led the team into the championships.

After two days of training, the men were edged 2-3 in a practice match against one of Melbourne’s top State League One teams, Doncaster, with strong passages of play and against strong, well-trained and drilled opposition.

“The training camp was essential to meld the teams before taking on some of Australia’s best regional hockey players,” head coach Leut Andrew Bewick said.

The draws against regular competition cellar-dwellers SA (2-2), host Vic (1-1) and traditional rival and tournament favourite Qld (1-1) were not beyond the scope of ADF winning.

The team was unlucky not to capitalise on opportunities to put games away and allowed mistakes that permitted late goals to draw matches.

Losses to WA and NSW prevented the team from making the semi-finals and taking some strong performances into the weekend.

In the play-off for fifth, the team played SA and produced the performance that they had been waiting for all week – an impressive 7-2 win.

Sgt Phil Southern won the players’ player award for his outstanding effort during the week and stepped into the role of mentor for many young players.

Cpl Adam Spry won the best and fairest award after another strong tournament, proving himself the strongest player in the ADF after winning the best and fairest at the ADF Hockey Championships earlier in the year.

“Australian Country selectors and Hockey Australia personnel commented on several occasions that this was the toughest team that the ADF had brought to the championship in years,” ADF Hockey public relations manager Leut Stuart Cayzer said.

“They said ADF just did not get decisions going their way in key sections of matches that would have assured the team a semi-finals berth.”

The women’s team produced a mixed week of performances in some close results and tough matches that proved the strength of ADF women’s hockey.

The team included Capt Anna Reinhardt (2HSB), Cpl Di Casey (RAAF Williamtown) and Smn Jenssa Schonrock (HMAS Kuttabul) who played crucial roles.

They lost their practice game to a strong Doncaster women’s Pennant A team despite creating many chances and being unlucky not to convert more opportunities.

The tournament-opener, a 3-4 loss to SA, set the tone of the week. A 1-1 draw with WA, followed by narrow losses to Vic (1-0), NSW (2-0) and eventual tournament champion Qld (3-1) made it even harder to make the finals.

In a play-off for fifth and sixth places against SA, a tense scoreless draw relegated ADF women to sixth, based on other results from the week.

Capt Anna Reinhardt (Gallipoli Barracks) was the women’s best and fairest.