Family makes its play for titles
GRAND final day will be a family affair for Wests captains Emma and Ashley Mcculloch when they lead their respective teams against Commercials in tomorrow night’s Townsville hockey division one deciders.
Emma has returned to the field to lead the Wests women less than a year after having her youngest daughter Elise, who will be cheering from the sidelines along with sister Kaley, 4.
Ashley will
Wests men as captain the they look to make history with their seventh-straight title, while his son Lachlan chases his own grand final glory for Wests in reserve grade.
The Mccullochs have celebrated the premiership double as husband and wife in the past but they said it would be a special moment this year with the whole family there.
“They yell out for Mum and Dad so it’s pretty good,” Emma said.
“I didn’t play at all last year because I was pregnant, but I played the year before that. Physically it’s fine but babysitting’s a little bit more of an issue.
“It’s always been good whenever we have done the double with the men and women winning.
“It’ll be nice to have two kids here this time and the stepson as well, so to have three kids out there partying would be pretty nice.”
Ashley is also president of Wests Hockey Club and he believed that strong family connection was one of the most appealing aspects of the sport.
“I really enjoy seeing players in our club bring along their kids and this year I experienced personally when I played with my son for the first time in A-grade hockey,” he said. “It flows through and every club’s got that family atmosphere.”
Wests have made 23 consecutive men’s division one grand finals but Commercials took out the minor premiership this season and they’ll be confident they can finally end Wests’ dynasty.
The grand finalists played out a 3-3 draw in the semi-finals, with Commercials going through as the higher-ranked team, but Ashley believed Wests’ experience would be a huge advantage.
“Commercials have showed their dominance throughout the year so this’ll probably be our toughest year,” he said.
“Finals hockey is totally different so we take a lot of confidence knowing we’ve been in this arena a long time.”
Wests women face a huge challenge to knock over the unbeaten Commercials in the grand final but Emma said they were happy to embrace their underdog status.