Blood in the water
SOUTH Coast veteran Renee Ashton believes the Sharks can build a Queensland Super League dynasty of their own after ending Brisbane’s reign at the State Hockey Centre.
Runners-up to Brisbane for the 2016 and 2017 crowns, South Coast finally broke through for a maiden QSL title with a comprehensive 4-1 triumph over the three-time champions in the final on Monday.
Ashton, whose career CV includes Brisbane and Gold Coast division 1 premierships and national titles in Australia and New Zealand, opened the scoring in the fifth minute, before Brisbane hit back in the second quarter through Rhyleigh Brown.
But it was all one-way traffic from then on, with thirdquarter goals from Emily Hetherington and Sarah Gasmier and a last-minute strike from Hetherington sealing an unbeaten tournament for the Sharks.
“The girls were so happy and even more so because we’d played Brisbane in the final twice already,” said the 35-year-old, who hasn’t missed a tournament for the Sharks since the launch of the QSL in 2012.
“To have a win and not just a win, we beat them convincingly, it was a great feeling for everyone to get that one.
“Everyone loves to beat Brisbane and because they’ve been dominant for so long, even the crowd in Brisbane were cheering for us because we’ve been the underdogs for so long.
“We’ve got so much depth and we can see it coming through in this tournament.
“The team is so experienced but the juniors that are coming through are showing so much promise.
“We’ve been knocking on the door for so many years but this year we were able to show we’ll be a competitive team, not just for this year, but for many years to come. It was fantastic. to see.”
The South Coast men finished fourth at the three-day, six-team competition.