By Kate Allman
Icons of Australian hockey will take the pitch this Thursday night as Hockey Club Melbourne go on the road to take on Canberra Chill in this season’s first double header in the nation’s capital.
Both men’s teams are chasing their first wins in Round 3 of the Sultana Bran Hockey One League.
Tickets are available through Ticketek.
Catch all the action LIVE on Kayo and FOX Sports.
Fans are in for a treat as Glenn Turner, a Kookaburras veteran and Olympic silver medallist, Commonwealth Games gold medallist and two-time World Champion, makes his season debut for the Chill. Turner scored 96 goals for Australia in his 136 international appearances.
He faces off against former teammate and fellow Olympian Russell Ford, who played 158 games for Australia, returning to play after a week off for Hockey Club Melbourne. The 39-year-old Ford has one year on Turner and is the most senior player in the league but showed no signs of slowing down in Melbourne’s first-round match.
The veterans line up alongside newer faces including rising star striker Nathan Ephraums (HC Melbourne) who has rapidly asserted his dominance on Hockey One in 2022. His minutes on field offer plenty of highlights including one of the goals of the league so far – a stunning baseline tomahawk from an impossible angle in Round 2.
HC Melbourne will be hungry for the win after a bruising start to the season with two losses at home. The Chill, having had one bye and one loss, presents a potentially easier target.
However, the fresh-faced Canberra side has potential to burn, with a handful of under 21s and national development squad players in Anand Gupte, Ben Staines, Jay McDonald and Connor Tuddenham.
In the women’s game, two young, quick, counter-attacking sides who are equal on ladder points will wrestle for dominance.
HC Melbourne women will look to rebound from a disappointing loss to Perth Thundersticks last week, with coach Phil Burrows lamenting too many basic skill errors in his post-match press conference.
The team will need to pull its socks up to topple Canberra Chill, who stunned former competition favourites Brisbane Blaze with elegant defence and quick-fire counter attacks in a 4-2 win last Thursday night.
Young powerhouse Amy Lawton (HC Melbourne), who dominated in the first two rounds of the league, will battle for possession in the midfield against former Hockeyroos Kalindi Commerford and Naomi Evans (Chill).
Canberra presents a chilling spine in New Zealand internationals Katie Doar (Player of the Match in Round 2) and Madison Doar, plus Japanese national player Shihori Oikawa, season one’s MVP.
Last time the women’s teams met in the finals of season one, the match was a 0-0 arm wrestle with HC Melbourne narrowly coming out on top in a 1-0 penalty shootout. In the men’s league, Melbourne defeated Canberra 10-5 in the highest scoring match in the league’s short history.
Tickets for every fixture are available through Ticketek.
Canberra Chill v HC Melbourne
Thursday 13 October 2022
National Hockey Centre (ACT)
Match Start: Men’s 6:30pm local (6:30pm AEDT), Women’s 8:00pm local (8:00pm AEDT)
Broadcast: LIVE and exclusive on Kayo and FOX Sports #CCHvHCM #HockeyOne
Umpires: Stirling Sharpe & Zeke Newman (Men’s), Emily Carroll & Kristy Newman (Women’s)
Canberra Chill Men’s team: 2.Ben Staines, 3.Anand Gupte, 4.James Day, 6.Connor Tuddenham, 7.Ben Craig (c), 8.Sean Baker, 9.Jamie Hawke, 10.Owen Chivers, 12.Jake Staines, 14.Glenn Turner, 15.Hayden Dillon, 17.Aidan Dooley, 22.Jay Macdonald, 24.Davis Atkin, 30.Andrew Charter (gk)
In: 14.Glenn Turner
Out: 11.Garry Backhus
HC Melbourne Men’s team: 1.Craig Marais, 2.Max Hendry, 3.Jonathan Bretherton, 4.Liam Henderson, 6.Damon Steffens, 7.Nathan Ephraums, 8.Lachlan Steinfort, 10.Russell Ford, 11.Cooper Burns, 12.Connar Otterbach, 13.Jayshaan Randhawa, 15.Josh Simmonds (c), 18.Johan Durst (gk), 20.Josh Bretherton, 21.Jake Sherren
In: 2.Max Hendry, 10.Russell Ford
Out: 9.Trent Symss, 17.Kiran Arunasalam
Canberra Chill Women’s team: 1.Mikayla Evans, 4.Madison Doar, 6.Katie Doar, 7.Naomi Evans, 8.Laura Reid, 11.Sophie Gaughan, 14.Emily Robson, 16.Shihori Oikawa, 18.Olivia Martin, 19.Riley Smith, 21.Mikaela Patterson, 23.Kalindi Commerford, 24.Sarah White, 28.Catriona Bailey-Price, 32.Rene Hunter (gk)
In: 19.Riley Smith
Out: 2.Isabelle Lovel
HC Melbourne Women’s team: 2.Aisling Utri, 3.Nicola Hammond, 4.Amy Lawton, 5.Krissy Bates, 6.Josie Lawton, 8.Hannah Cotter, 9.Carly James, 10.Rosario Villagra, 11.Joanne Peeters, 12.Emily Hamilton-Smith, 13.Megan Alakus, 14.Anna Moore, 15.Olivia Downes, 25.Hannah Gravenall (c), 27.Rachael Lynch (gk)
In: 12.Emily Hamilton-Smith
Out: 7.Ciara Utri