Hockey One Round 6 Sunday: Canberra’s Men Can Book the Finals in Brisbane as the Women’s Top Four Hangs in the Balance
Round 6 ends in Brisbane on Sunday, and it ends with a double-header that could settle more than any other game this weekend.
Canberra’s men can book a finals spot with a win. They’re third after taking NSW Pride to a shootout in Sydney last week, and their attack is the sharpest in the league outside Melbourne. Dylan Brick has seven goals, Jake Staines has six, and 13 goals between two players tells you everything about how the Chill play. They go at teams, and they don’t stop.
Brisbane will want to bounce back after a 9-2 loss in Perth, and they have history on their side. They beat the Chill 7-3 in Canberra last year. The Blaze men sit seventh, so there’s nothing to lose and a home crowd behind them. But Canberra know what’s at stake, and teams that know a win books a finals spot don’t usually leave it to chance.
The women’s game might matter even more. The Chill are fifth, the Blaze sixth, one point apart. A Brisbane win opens the door for the Pride and the Cobras, and on the league’s numbers it could lock in the four finalists. That’s the kind of game where one penalty corner changes the whole shape of the season.
Brisbane’s women have already shown they can live with the best. They held Perth scoreless until Jolie Sertorio’s penalty corner in the 55th minute last week, and Perth are the only unbeaten side in the competition. The Blaze have Hockeyroos all over the side: Rosie Malone, Steph Kershaw, Morgan Mathison, and German international Sara Strauss. That’s not a sixth-placed side on paper. That’s a side that hasn’t clicked yet.
The Chill lost 2-0 to the Pride last week, and they’ll have watched Friday night closely. The Pride’s shootout win over HC Melbourne in the women’s game means the finals race is tighter than ever, and Canberra can’t afford to let Brisbane past them. Their internationals will have to stand up: Lynn Krings from Germany, Mabel Brands from the Netherlands, Valentina Costa Biondi from Argentina. This is exactly the kind of game they’re here for.
It’s also the last game of Pride Round, a weekend the whole league has dressed up for. Rainbow socks on the home sides, the Pride Pledge read out before push-back, and a theme, Play Your Part, that Hockey Australia has backed with Gold in the 2026 Pride in Sport Index. Brisbane is a fitting place to close it out.
For our money, Canberra’s men get the job done. They’ve been the most consistent side outside Melbourne, and Brick and Staines are in the kind of form that wins finals spots. The women’s game is a coin toss, and that’s what makes it the one to watch. If Brisbane win, the top four could be settled before Round 7 even starts. If Canberra win, the race goes to the last round, and nobody in the top four will be sleeping easy.
Sunday 15 November fixtures (all times PKT)
Brisbane, Queensland State Hockey Centre
- 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. Round 7 is the last of the regular season, and the finals are 5-6 December on the Gold Coast.
