Hockey One Round 3: Four Perfect Men’s Teams, and Melbourne Finally Gets Its Derby
Two rounds into Hockey One and the men’s table has split clean in half. Four teams have won everything. Four teams have won nothing. Round 3 is where that stops being a coincidence.
Friday night in Hobart is the game of the round
Tassie Tigers v Canberra Chill, Friday in Hobart — women at 7:45 pm AEDT, men at 6:00 pm. Both men’s sides are two from two with identical records, 13 goals scored and three conceded each. Canberra put nine past Adelaide in round one and won in Melbourne last weekend. Tassie just went to Adelaide and won 9-1, with Ehren Hazell scoring twice and converting both of his one-on-one chances.
Something has to give. Hazell and Canberra’s Jake Staines are joint top scorers in the men’s league with five each, so this is also a straight shoot-out between the two hottest sticks in the competition. For our money, home turf in Hobart is worth a goal in this league, and Tassie need it more: their women lost at home to Perth in round one, and the club won’t want a second flat Friday night.
The women’s game is tighter than the table suggests. Canberra’s women are third, Tassie’s fifth, both on three points, and Canberra’s Lynn Krings has three goals already.
Saturday: somebody in Sydney and Brisbane gets off zero
NSW Pride v Perth Thundersticks in Sydney (women 2:45 pm AEDT, men 1:00 pm) is a top-four men’s clash — both unbeaten — while in the women’s, Perth are the only side with a perfect record and the league’s meanest defence, one goal conceded in two games. NSW’s Grace Stewart is the women’s top scorer with four goals, all of them in one wild game against the Cobras. Perth’s plan will be simple: don’t let her have that game again.
Brisbane Blaze v Adelaide Fire in Brisbane (women 5:45 pm AEST, men 4:00 pm) is the opposite end of the story. Both clubs are pointless in both competitions. Adelaide’s men have conceded 18 goals in two games, which in a league with conversion goals is a genuine crisis, not a bad week. Whoever loses twice in Brisbane on Saturday is in real trouble with four rounds left.
Sunday: the derby Melbourne has been waiting for
Melbourne Cobras v HC Melbourne, Sunday at the State Sport Centres — women 3:30 pm AEDT, men 5:15 pm. The first Melbourne derby in Hockey One history, and it’s landed perfectly.
The Cobras’ women are second, unbeaten, with Zara Geddis on three goals and Claire Colwill running games from the back. HC Melbourne’s women have been patchy. In the men’s, it’s flipped: HC Melbourne are unbeaten and look like champions do, while the Cobras have lost both games but scored in bursts and pushed NSW all the way in round one.
New franchises usually take a season to matter. The Cobras’ women already matter, and a derby win on Sunday would make the whole league sit up. HC Melbourne, back-to-back men’s champions in recent years and playing in their own building, will have something to say about that.
Round 3 fixtures (all double-headers): Fri 23 Oct — Tassie Tigers v Canberra Chill, Hobart. Sat 24 Oct — NSW Pride v Perth Thundersticks, Sydney Olympic Park; Brisbane Blaze v Adelaide Fire, Brisbane. Sun 25 Oct — Melbourne Cobras v HC Melbourne, Melbourne. Every match streams live and free on 7plus in Australia.
