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State of the art hockey
By CPL Kristen Pickering
Volume 49, No. 11, June 28, 2007 |
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MOROONS’ VICTORY: Queensland player FLTLT Alan Brown (right) puts a tackle on Victorian player LCPL Kent Moores in the grand final of the ADF combined Services tournament at Albury. Queensland won the decider 5-1.
Photo by CPL Kristen Pickering |
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Armed and dangerous, the bruised and bloodied hockey players fought out a week-long battle to make it to the grand final of the ADF combined Services tournament on June 8.
All had sights set on walking away with victory at the beginning of the competition in Albury on
June 2, but there were only going to be two winning teams.
The men’s final was set to be a tough match, considering the two sides had drawn in their encounter during the week.
FLTLT Alan Brown, who represented Queensland, had been competing with combined Services and ADF hockey since 1991. He said he was very happy to win against the Victorian side, who had given every team they played a real push.
“Victoria stood out all week with some great players on their team who all played very well together,” FLTLT Brown said.
Both sides were scoreless until the last five minutes of the first half when a Queensland goal was quickly responded to by a Victoria goal, taking the score to 1-all at half time. Queensland came out strong in the second half, scoring two goals early. Seven minutes remained on the clock and Victoria made a surprise change pulling their goalkeeper off. It was clear in the final stages of the game the tactic had backfired.
Queensland flooded forward, scoring again. Less than two minutes remained when FLGOFF Conlan Mallett swooped in for an easy goal shutting the Victorian side down and taking Queensland to a 5-1 victory.
“You don’t get many chances to win these so when you do, you have to grab it,” FLTLT Brown said.
“It was good hockey all week; the men’s competition was really close and they were hard games.
“It’s great to see we can get so many down here to play hockey. Thanks to all the organisers, tournament directors and players for coming down and making the week what it was.”
Victoria was dominant in the first half of the women’s final, with CPL Diane Casey opening the goal-scoring in the sixth minute to set the tone for the remainder of the first half. ACT came out fighting in the second half, when LTCOL Brenda Sharp scored to bring the game to a tie three minutes in.
With 18 minutes left on the clock, Victoria answered the ACT goal only to be answered right back to bring the score to 3-2 in ACT’s favour. The Victorian side fought hard but could not get back in the game before the final siren. ACT won 4-2.
CPL Casey – who has been playing hockey since she was 14 – had returned to the field after a four-year break. Her last competition was at the World Cup in Germany in 2003.
“I was happy with my individual performance [during the week], considering it’s been so long since I’ve played,” she said.
“On the whole, in every game the teams came out and played better and better, and you can’t ask for anything more than that.”
CPL Casey was among 13 Air Force members selected to represent the ADF following the Albury tournament.
The ADF team will play in a national level competition, which is just below the Australian hockey league. |
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