Changing-of-the-guard
Brothers are still claiming underdog status in the battle with Souths despite a looming changing-of-the-guard in the Cairns Hockey A-grade competition. Both men’s and women’s sides celebrated 3-1 wins over Stingers on Saturday, setting up two epic showdowns with the defending premiers in the next decisive round. Brothers had to dig deep into their reserves for the A-grade Men as they missed the presence of several young stars on representative duty.
BROTHERS are still claiming underdog status in the battle with Souths despite a looming changing-of-the-guard in the Cairns Hockey A-grade competition.
Both men’s and women’s sides celebrated 3-1 wins over Stingers on Saturday night, setting up two epic showdowns with the defending premiers in the next decisive round.
Brothers had to dig deep into their reserves for the Agrade Men as they missed the presence of several young stars on representative duty and coach Greg Mill said he was fortunate to have such talent to draw on.
“It was a good result despite being undermanned. We played a really good game of hockey,” he said.
“We went down 1-0 early but I think we dominated the game pretty much after that and we scored three goals but with a bit more luck we could have had more.”
Mill said he hoped to keep Brothers “renaissance” going with what shapes as a blockbuster against Souths next weekend.
The Brethren have beaten Souths in three of their four meetings in 2017, but Mill was staying humble about his side’s chances in what he expects to be a defensive-oriented game.
“We go in with underdog status, but it’s going to be an interesting last seven weeks to the season,” he said.
“We’ll have pretty much a full-strength side, so it should be a pretty close game, but we’ve beaten them the last couple of games.”
While much of the focus has been on the contribution of the club’s overseas talent this season, Mill heaped praise on the strong depth throughout the grades for helping the turnaround of the past 12 months.
Goalkeeper Mitchell Pyle has also not missed a beat after coming in to replace Michael Shaw, who suffered a serious knee injury in reserves earlier in the season.
Brothers’ A-grade women might find it hard to consider themselves underdogs after their win put them ahead of Souths on goal difference.
It came on the back of Souths women, who had a number of players out on under-18 duty, drawing 1-1 against Saints, keeping them well in the hunt for top spot.