Wests, Commercials claim hockey glory
WESTS have claimed their fifth straight Townsville Hockey men’s premiership in devastating fashion with a 5- 0 grand final win over Commercials.
Wests had only lost one game all season and they came out firing in Saturday’s decider when Daniel Mathieson scored a sensational goal inside the first minute.
Striker Damen Fagg was outstanding with two goals while Brett Reid and Haig Deere also found the back of the net, but it was goalkeeper David Rogers who was named best on ground.
Commercials fought hard in the final 15 minutes, but Rogers, along with fullbacks Ashley McCulloch and Gareth Sim, repelled their attacking raids to seal a brilliant grand final victory.
Wests are the powerhouse of men’s hockey in Townsville, having made 21 grand finals in a row, and coach Mark Cruickshank said it was a spe- cial moment to claim fifth consecutive title.
“It’s a sensational sustained effort by the boys to get that five in a row,” he said.
“We had one of the best starts we’ve ever had, scoring in the first minute of the game. We just came out of the blocks firing and it sent us on the way for a pretty good result.
“This year was probably one of our better years. We only lost the one game all year.
“It was ours to lose in some of those games, so it’s a pretty big relief that we actually got their the result we’ve worked hard for all year.
“When you score in the first minute it puts you on the right track, but Commercials, to their credit, threw everything at us.
“As soon as we got that goal, we had some pretty good efforts by some of the boys to keep them scoreless and then just keep us ticking over with a few goals.”
Commercials were crowned women’s premiers after a hard- fought 2- 1 grand final victory over Brothers.
Brothers were looking to go back- to- back after breaking a 23- year drought last season, but Commercials edged them out thanks to goals from Chloe Johnson and captain Rebecca Church.
The women’s competition has been close all season and Church said it took a strong team effort for Commercials to stop Brothers in the decider.
“It was quite a close game and very nerve- racking. We never really felt like we were safe,” she said. “Everyone just had a really good game and did their jobs right and it paid off in the end.”