Lions give McCulloch every chance to play

CANTERBURY will give star Sam McCulloch until the last minute to declare himself fit as it seeks to defeat Derwent for a second time this Premier League season from 4,15pm on Saturday.

The Lions have regained goal scorer Jamie Hullick as well, the man who scored twice in their 3-1 upset of the Strikers last time out.

“Hullick coming back gives us a good selection headache after three field goals from our forwards last week, while Sam missed last week as a precaution due to soreness,” Canterbury’s Oli Lane said.

“With double headers coming up, he will be given right until game time to give us a call on his fitness to face Derwent.

“Playing the defending champions is never an easy task and Angus Boulton’s success with averaging two goals a game is super impressive. Keeping him contained will be key, but we showed last time that we can do it.”

Lane was playing with MCC Hockey Club in Victoria’s State League competition under former Kookaburras player Andrew Smith, before COVID-19 changed his plans.

“Within five minutes of the second lockdown in Victoria being called I had some of the Canterbury boys saying come home and play the season out down here,” Lane said.

“When I left a couple of years ago, I thought I may never get to play in a final with Canterbury, so the thought of playing finals with the Lions is driving me.”

Derwent coach Nathan Fitzpatrick has recalled midfielder Stuart Webb and labelled the loss to Canterbury in Round 3 as “the loss we needed to have”.

“The review was pretty open and honest. We had lots of players who were shifting away from the style and brand of hockey we are trying to develop, so we highlighted those areas and, to their credit, the guys have shown some strong improvement in those areas,” Fitzpatrick said.

North-West Graduates and University meet from 1.15pm, while OHA should be too strong for DiamondBacks from 2.45pm.