The Perth Thundersticks will travel to Melbourne this weekend with a spring in their step off the back of two thrilling wins over the Adelaide Fire at the weekend.
The Thundersticks women’s team secured a 3-1 victory over the Fire after a slow start while the men came away with a 5-2 win after a nail-biting final quarter.
Meanwhile, HC Melbourne recorded a win in the women’s and a loss in the men’s at the weekend against the NSW Pride.
The Thundersticks will head into their first road trip of the tournament knowing getting points on the road is vital if they want to go the distance in season 2 of Hockey One.
Both Perth sides will be bolstered this week with massive returns of key personnel.
Hockeyroos star Penny Squibb will come back into the women’s side after missing the first match and will add class, experience and a penalty corner threat for Perth.
Meanwhile, 2022 Olympians Medallist and goal-scoring wonder Liam Flynn is expected to return for the men.
Men’s coach David Guest said Flynn missed last week’s match as he was recovering from illness but would be right to go for the Melbourne clash.
“He will be ready to go and will be selected for the Melbourne weekend,” Guest said before the Adelaide match.
“His record speaks for itself; I think he has scored something like 170 goals in the last six seasons.
“He scored 37 this year and was the Olympians Medal winner, he is just a goal-scoring machine and someone who will factor into our game plan very highly.”
The Perth women were on the ropes on Sunday with the scores locked at 1-1 in the women’s match, before South African Line Malan put away a classic tomahawk and then converted to see her side hold on and open their campaign with a 3-1 win.
Kookaburras and Thundersticks captain Aran Zalewski was then the hero for the men, scoring a hattrick to get Perth across the line 5-2 after they trailed 2-1 with just 10 minutes to play.
Perth will head east this weekend to play HC Melbourne who goes into the clash off the back of two hard-fought matches against the NSW Pride.
In the men’s match, Melbourne took it to the Pride and held an early lead before NSW stormed home to claim a 6-3 victory, while in the women’s match, Melbourne took home a 5-3 win.
The first match will begin at 3:30 pm AWST on Friday, October 7.
TEAMS
WOMEN’S TEAM
2 Kyra WHITE (C)
3 Candyce PEACOCK
5 Georgina DOWD
7 Penny SQUIBB
8 Georgia WILSON
9 Shanea TONKIN
10 Sarah BYRNES
11 Rachel FRUSHER (VC)
12 Line MALAN
13 Neasa FLYNN
16 Karri SOMERVILLE
17 Annie GIBBS
18 Renee ROCKLIFF
19 Aleisha POWER (GK)
25 Jolie SERTORIO
MEN’S TEAM
1 Chris BAUSOR
2 Will BATTISTESSA
3 Tim GEERS
4 Jake HARVIE
5 Bryn DE BES
6 James COLLINS
8 Brodee FOSTER
10 Tom WICKHAM
11 Tom HARVIE
12 Alistair MURRAY
13 Cam GEDDES
14 Liam FLYNN
17 Aran ZALEWSKI (C)
19 Ben RENNIE (GK)
24 Matt WILLIS