Perth Thundersticks & HC Melbourne defend Hockey One Titles

It was a case of rinse and repeat on Hockey One Grand Final day as both men's and women's Hockey One premiers defended their premierships. On a day in Melbourne that had a little bit of everything weather-wise, the Hockey One season came to a close in Parkville, in front of a strong crowd.

The Grand Finals were not only conclusion to the two-month long season but also a huge weekend of finals. The semi-finals, bronze medal and gold medal matches for the Hockey One were played across the last couples of days in November. Semi-final Saturday saw both minor premiers bundled out of premiership contention. In the men's competition, Brisbane Blaze and Tassie Tigers played a thrilling 6-6 contest over the sixty minutes. This required a shootout to separate the two of them. Tigers won 2-1 to enter the Grand Final. In the other men's match from start to finish, it was another HC Melbourne masterclass. Going up 6-0 by three quarter time even some late brilliance from Blake Govers didn't get the NSW Pride particularly close. HC Melbourne's 9-3 win set up a match-up against the Tigers.

Perth Thundersticks women lifting the trophy

In the women's league, NSW Pride, like the men would also go down with the Perth Thundersticks who got into the finals by one point scoring six goals and conceding none. Meantime, HC Melbourne advanced after a 4-2 win over Adelaide Fire. Field hockey has a weird obsession with classification matches, as shown by the re-vamped World Cup format, so there were bronze medal matches played before the Grand Finals. Sunday began with NSW Pride defeating Adelaide Fire 3-2 in the women's and in a high-scoring match the Pride men's team beat Brisbane Blaze 10-4. After battling through a significant downpour of rain during the presentations, all was set for the big matches of the weekend. Both Grand Finals saw 3rd take on 4th.

The women's Hockey One Grand Final was played first. The game started slowly with green cards being handed out to Melbourne's Hannah Gravenall and Perth's Jolie Sertorio. In the second quarter, Madi Ratcliffe goaled from short range and converted in the 20th minute to put Perth in the lead. After Line Malan, received a green card in the 29th minute, Melbourne had a series of three penalty corners but was unable to convert at the end of the half. The last of thee saw Gravenall miss a chance to The same number of penalty corner chances in quick succession was there for Perth at the start of the third, but they also didn't convert. The first three quarters were tough defensive struggles, with Perth leading the penalty corner stat 6-4 and the game 2-0. HC Melbourne were doing all they could to find the break through. Then after winning a corner with 5:45 to go, Ash Utri scores and converts to level the gold medal match. Melbourne had been pressing all match but just when the Melbourne crowd thought their team had wrestled it all back, disaster struck. A lucky bouncing ball pushed into the circle was put home by Malan to give Perth the lead again. That would be enough as Perth defend the premiership they won last year.

In the game that followed, the men's Grand Final saw HC Melbourne take on Tassie Tigers. HC Melbourne playing in their white alternative shirts, had a couple of penalty corner chances early in a fast paced game that didn't result in a score. The first goal of the game came from the Tigers, who scored from a penalty corner through Samuel McCullough. They probably were not the best team in the first quarter but they lead 1-0. A pair of penalty corners went begging for HC Melbourne in the second minute of the second quarter. A minute later, Ky Williot received a ball from Otterbach who made a great tackle to win HC Melbourne the ball back behind half-way. Williot's reverse shot from the left corner scored in amazing style. He converted that goal, to put Melbourne in front again. Despite not adding to the score by half-time, Melbourne were definitely the better team. In the 33rd minute, Tassie Tigers were denied a goal they were confident should have counted, but the striker was outside the circle, so a long corner was correctly awarded. Despite a 42nd minute, five minute yellow being awarded to Nye Roberts, HC Melbourne extended their lead through Nathan Ephramus. It was once again a turnover that cost the Tigers as Ephramus dribbled the ball from the left wing to the right wing before hitting the ball in the bottom left corner.

HC Melbourne Men claimed back-to-back titles in front of a home crowd

The game ended in an odd fashion. A HC Melbourne player went down with one second left. Like a test cricket match where there is less balls remaining than wickets to take with the batting side well away from reaching the target score the game ended in ackewloding handshakes. With that, HC Melbourne in the men just like the Perth Thunderstick women had done it again.

It was a season with some quite a few standout players and performances. Highlights of HC Melbourne's 13-1 win over Adelaide Fire has quickly become on the most watched videos on Hockey One's YouTube channel and rightly so. The season ended on a bit of a whimper. Hockey One has had the same format since it's first season in 2019. Perhaps, it is time for something different. Expansion was hinted at a while ago but nothing has come since. Are the conversions really that much of a draw card? Could we get games from 7plus and onto one of 7's free-to-air networks. The right thing to do is try something. Hockey One is no doubt an improvement on the old state league, but it can still be even better.