Hockey One Round 6: The Finals Race Gets Decided in Hobart and Brisbane, Not Just Melbourne

Friday night in Melbourne is the game everyone will be watching. It isn’t the only one that matters.

Round 6 is the penultimate round of the Hockey One regular season, and the finals race is tight enough that a result in Hobart on Saturday morning or Brisbane on Sunday could matter just as much as first against second at Parkville. Three of the four finals spots in each competition are still up for grabs, and this weekend hands out a few of them.

Hobart: the Cobras can make history in their first season

The Melbourne Cobras arrived in the league this year as the new club, and on Saturday they could leave Hobart with a finals spot. Their women sit fourth after a 2-0 win over Adelaide Fire last weekend, both goals from penalty corners, captain Claire Colwill and Delfina Thome Guastavino. A regulation win over the Tassie Tigers would book their place, as long as Canberra lose to Brisbane on Sunday.

That’s a big “as long as”, but it’s a real chance. No expansion side expects to be playing finals in year one. The Cobras women have earned the right to think about it.

The Tigers women are seventh and need the win just as badly. Captain Penny Squibb scored their only goal in last week’s 6-1 loss to HC Melbourne, her fourth of the season, and she’ll need support this time. Holly Pearson, Camila Raposo and Yvette Biekart are the ones to watch alongside her. For the Cobras, Colwill leads a group that includes Zara Geddis, Lahni Woodger and American Jenny Rizzo.

The men’s game has its own edge. The Tigers are fourth, level on points with Perth, and they can’t qualify this round. But a response after last week’s 5-1 loss to HC Melbourne would keep them right in the hunt with one round left. The Cobras men arrive full of confidence after their first win of the season, a 10-3 thrashing of Adelaide Fire in Bendigo. Peter Scott scored five that day and Jake Whetton got four. Scott’s a former Great Britain international who knows how to punish a side that gives him room, and the Tigers gave HC Melbourne plenty of it last Friday.

Ehren Hazell, Oliver Stebbings, Hayden Beltz and 42-year-old Tim Deavin lead the Tigers’ reply. For our money, the Cobras men have the momentum, but Hobart is a hard place to win when the home side has a point to prove.

Brisbane: Canberra’s men can book it, the women’s top four could be settled

Sunday’s double-header in Brisbane might be the most consequential of the round. A win would book Canberra’s men a finals spot. They’re third after taking NSW Pride to a shootout in Sydney last weekend, and Dylan Brick and Jake Staines have 13 goals between them this season, seven for Brick and six for Staines.

The Blaze men will want to bounce back after a 9-2 hammering in Perth. They beat the Chill 7-3 in Canberra last year, so there’s no fear factor here, just a side that needs to remember how to defend. Scott Boyde leads them, with Davis Atkin and Anand Gupte among the Chill’s key men alongside Brick and Staines.

The women’s game could settle the top four. Canberra are fifth, Brisbane sixth, one point apart. A Brisbane win would open the door for the Pride and the Cobras, and could lock in the four finalists with a round to spare. The Blaze women held Perth scoreless until Jolie Sertorio’s penalty corner in the 55th minute last week, which tells you how close they are to the best side in the league. The Chill lost 2-0 to the Pride. Rosie Malone, Steph Kershaw, Sara Strauss and Jordan Bliss are Brisbane’s danger players. Canberra answer with Lynn Krings, Mabel Brands, Valentina Costa Biondi and Alyssa Smith.

Last year these two split it in Canberra: the Chill women won 1-0, the Blaze men won 7-3. Don’t expect either game on Sunday to be comfortable.

And Friday night, briefly

None of this takes anything away from the opener. HC Melbourne’s men are still unbeaten, five from five, and they host second-placed NSW Pride at Parkville. Blake Govers has scored in all five Pride games, his 47th Hockey One goal coming in last week’s shootout win over the Chill. He goes for six from six against Nathan Ephraums, the league’s leading scorer on 13. Ephraums scored three against the Tigers last week, Cooper Burns got two to take him to eight for the season. A win, or even a shootout win, is all the Pride men need to join Melbourne in the finals.

The women are just as tight. Melbourne are second, the Pride third. Mihaylia Howell’s three goals against the Tigers took her level with Amalia Patterson and Courtney Schonell on five at the top of the women’s scoring. Melbourne qualify with anything but a regulation loss, and even that would be enough if the Chill lose on Sunday. The Pride women can book their place with a regulation win, provided Canberra lose too. Melbourne beat the Tigers 6-1 last week, Howell with three and Zali Ward with two, while the Pride beat the Chill 2-0. Grace Stewart and Amalia Patterson have nine goals between them this season.

Perth, meanwhile, host Adelaide Fire on Saturday, with the Thundersticks women chasing a sixth straight win and a perfect season. Their team news, including Jaeda Ritchie’s debut and Lexie Pickering’s return, is covered in our separate piece today.

Round 6 fixtures (all times PKT)

Friday 13 November, Parkville, Melbourne

• HC Melbourne v NSW Pride, women 12:30pm, men 2:15pm

Saturday 14 November, Hobart

• Tassie Tigers v Melbourne Cobras, men 7:00am, women 8:45am

Saturday 14 November, Perth

• Perth Thundersticks v Adelaide Fire, men 12:30pm, women 2:15pm

Sunday 15 November, Brisbane

• Brisbane Blaze v Canberra Chill, women 9:00am, men 10:45am

Every match streams live and free on 7plus in Australia and through the Hockey One Global Pass overseas. Finals are 5-6 December on the Gold Coast.

For our money, the Cobras women booking a finals spot in their first season would be the story of the weekend, even with Govers chasing six from six in Melbourne. And if Brisbane’s women beat Canberra on Sunday, the top four is basically set with a round to spare. Plenty to play for, everywhere.