No one expected the Strikers to be a force, let alone dominate a state competition the way the Hockey Albury Wodonga women did this year. With the exception of about four players the squad was made up of teens, most 16 to 18. But the blend of youth and experience was irresistible as they gained confidence and skill against mature bodies and wisened hockey heads. The grand final nerves disappeared inside 15 minutes and two goals to Nan Latta as they demolished Southern United 5-1.
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THE HSC student capped off his exams with the official announcement of being picked in a future stars squad by Australian Hockey that is seen by many as the treadmill to the Kookaburras. He started the year as the keeper for the Victorian under-18 team, two classic saves helping the state to its first national title in 14 years. Hooppell was then chosen as a keeper in the under-21 state team before the national call-up. The final accolade for Hooppell, who has just turned 18, was an email from Australia’s most capped Kookaburra, Jay Stacy, offering him a scholarship at the Victorian Institute of Sport for 2014.
IT’S a staggering fact that of the almost 5000 registered hockey players in country Victoria that the Border supplies almost a quarter. So it should come as no surprise that the junior rep teams, highlighted by the under 17 Strikers, dominated most carnivals.
Russell was dragged into the Strikers as keeper at the start of the season and proved a rock at the back all year. But at one stage a “mystery illness” threatened to derail her season. All was revealed after the state league side won the grand final with the announcement the Strikers were actually fielding an extra player with Russell, insisting to her coach and captain that she would play but they had to keep her pending motherhood a secret.
THE super-fit veteran striker set a new benchmark in the Victorian state league with 40+ goals and was then named as a co-captain of the Australian squad headed to Rotterdam next year in the over-40s World Cup. No stranger to national selection Latta was stunned by the honour of captaincy and as mentor to a largely teenage Hockey Albury Wodonga team in state league was looking forward to being the baby of the senior team. Latta will still be 39 when the team boards the plane for Europe next year.
IT’s hockey’s answer to Twenty20 cricket and its return this year again saw a healthy donation to the Albury cancer treatment accommodation centre. They added teams and sponsors, had the best of the best playing the truncated form of the game over three Friday nights in October and everyone involved gave it the thumbs up.
AFTER more than two decades Albury Wodonga will no longer be a part of the Victorian state league. The governing body demanded all teams playing at the elite level field a first and reserve grade team. But the cost, travel and sheer numbers meant the Strikers and Spitfires were never a realistic chance of being able to field a second 11 and there were no last minute pardons. Next year the men and women will head to Canberra where there are no double headers, a guarantee of an equal number of home and away matches and Saturday finals, rather than the Victorian’s insistence of Sunday deciders despite a clash with Border club hockey.
ANDREW Monte was the best player in Victorian hockey — again. Ten years after sharing the best and fairest in the Premier League with Kookaburra Travis Brooks, the Corowa gun won it on his own. And Brooks again had a hand in the win. The Athens gold medal winner lured the Spitfires coach to Premier League club Footscray in the off season on a deal that was “too good to refuse”. The competition’s top scorer between 2006 and 2009 slotted into a fullback role and chief organiser of the side’s attack and defence. He also had the aid of familiar faces with former Spitfires Justin Ellis and Sam McIntosh team-mates.
WOMBATS went into the grand final against an all-star United as rank outsiders — not even their mothers wanted to back them. They had been flogged 4-1 in the major semi two weeks earlier. But with Ben Hooppell in goal and a strength of character it was a very different game. Scores were locked 1-1 at half-time and it took until the 19-minute mark in the second stanza before Jacob Van Holten, the only player with socks rolled down and no shin pads, made it a double and broke the deadlock.
ANDREW Maggs was always going to be a hockey player. As a new-born, his godfather handed him a mini hockey stick as he lay in the crib at the hospital, his first instinct to grip it like a seasoned veteran. This year Maggs played his 250th game with Albury-Wodonga Spitfires, a record second only to club legend Ian Beath. Maggs also shouldered the responsibility for coaching the State League 1 side that fell just short of finals action.
