No easy bets in hockey deciders
BROTHERS might be the defending champions, but captain Nicole Arthy knows that won’t make things any easier when they take on Commercials in today’s Townsville Hockey women’s grand final.
The Brethren broke a 23- year drought last season as they claimed the division one women’s title and they’ve enjoyed another stellar campaign this year after finishing as minor premiers.
Brothers have managed to keep their premiership squad intact along with a couple of new additions, but Arthy said that just meant there were greater expectations on them to defend their crown.
“We’re probably a little more nervous this year to be honest,” she said.
“We’ve had the same group together for a few years and we’ve had a pretty strong season. We finished as minor premiers for the first time in a very long time.
“The whole team knows the excitement and how great it is to win so we’re feeling the pressure to perform again.”
Brothers had to take the long road to the decider after losing to Commercials in the semi- finals, but Arthy was confident they can turn things around with the premiership trophy up for grabs.
“That was one of our poorer performances for the year,” she said.
“We’re hoping we learnt a bit from that so we won’t make the same mistakes again. We’re lucky in that we know their strengths well so we’ve focused on lot at training on how we can stop them.”
Meanwhile, Wests will be looking to cement their powerhouse status in the division one men’s grand final when they come up against Commercials.
Wests proved too strong for Commercials in last year’s decider as they claimed a fourth consecutive title and the arch rivals are set to battle it out again today.
The grand final action at the Townsville Hockey Complex starts from 9am with the juniors followed by the seniors from 2pm, with the division one women on at 6.15pm and the men’s decider at 7.45pm. HOCKEY FIELDS AT MURRAY SPORTING COMPLEX