Brodin dons green and gold
The green and gold uniform is no stranger to Haylee Brodin but the Cairns hockey star knows her upcoming opportunity needs a whole new level. The Brothers midfielder will take her place in the Australian Country open women’s team for a tour of Southeast Asia in April and after graduating from the under-21s, she has done the work to make sure she can handle it. “It will be a lot more physical ... so it will be intense,” she said.
THE green and gold uniform is no stranger to Haylee Brodin but the Cairns hockey star knows her upcoming opportunity needs a whole new level.
The Brothers midfielder will take her place in the Australian Country open women’s team for a tour of Southeast Asia in April and after graduating from the under-21s, she has done the work to make sure she can handle it.
“It’s obviously a lot more competition because it’s not limited to an age group. It will be a lot more physical in regards to a lot of older players and more hockey maturity, so it will be intense,” Brodin said.
“I’ve been focusing a lot on fitness ... and then I’m obviously making sure my first touches and stick-on-ball skills are as good as they can be.”
The two-week tour includes matches against Singapore and Malaysia, but before that the focus is getting Brothers off to a flying start in Round 1 of the Cairns Hockey A-grade competition this weekend.
Brodin said it was exciting to have such a strong international flavour throughout most of the clubs this season, which she expected to boost standards around the region. But she felt there was less pressure on Brothers to perform in 2018.
“We’re just taking it as there’s no expectations on us this year. No one’s putting the pressure on us and we just get to go out there and play the game we love,” Brodin said.
Daniel Ginnaw and Peter Sceresini will line up for the Australian Country men’s team as they did last year.
I’M OBVIOUSLY MAKING SURE MY FIRST TOUCHES AND STICK-ONBALL SKILLS ARE AS GOOD AS THEY CAN BE HAYLEE BRODIN
TOMORROW: Short Corner with Dave McNeil SATURDAY: Cairns Hockey launches into Round 1