THE last time Candice Falconer was involved with Souths in women’s Premier League Hockey, it looked like her tenure as coach would lead to a young squad breaking through for a grand final appearance.

A couple of years on,  as the experienced defender readies herself to return to the two blues’ colours as a player today, things haven’t quite unfolded that way.

Falconer hasn’t played regularly for her club since 2011, having taken up the role as coach in 2012. That year she helped steer the team to a preliminary final appearance.

In their two campaigns since then Souths have twice finished fourth, remaining within touching distance of the elite sides, but being unable to break the hold of teams like Lithgow Panthers and Bathurst City.

Today Souths start their quest to make that leap, beginning with a local derby against an unsettled St Pat’s side who are coming off a season in which they missed the finals altogether.

“The team hasn’t changed a whole lot in terms of new faces from when I was last involved, we don’t really have a lot of new players,” Falconer said.

“There are a number who have gone though that I was used to playing with like Millie [Mandy George], Steph Plunkett and Jess Watterson, so it is a bit of a change.

“I think the biggest difference from when I coached is the fact that we don’t have any underage players, there were three or four kids of 15-16 years who were there before, they’ve grown up and I think we have a good, solid squad.

“I definitely don’t think we should drop off too much, the goal should be to make the top three based on the core group that we have.”

Falconer hadn’t given a comeback a single thought until she was approached by new coach Mel Bestwick to assist in a very unofficial pre-season hit a few weeks ago.

In fact, she couldn’t have been more opposed to the idea of playing regularly. However, once Falconer hit the field again, that changed altogether.

“I really enjoyed it, so I put my hand up to play in a trial match to see how I went,” she said.

“I loved it, I didn’t expect to feel that way, but it really got me keen again.

“From my point of view I really don’t know how I’m going to go once things start properly, and as a team we haven’t had a particularly busy pre-season, so I think it will take a while for us to find our feet.”

Against a St Pat’s team who only have a temporary coach for the time being and who are missing a handful of vital experienced players, today’s game looms as the ideal way for Souths to ease their way into the competition.

Falconer agrees, and even went as far as to say the result won’t be of as much concern as the actual implementation of some of the new ideas brought in by Bestwick.

“We haven’t trained a whole lot together as a team yet, so even though it is a pretty obvious statement to make, we’re going to get a lot better as the season goes on than what we will be this weekend,” she said.

“A win would be great, for sure, but as long as we can get out there and work out a few combinations and so forth, I think we will be pretty happy.”

Souths and St Pat’s will clash at the Cooke Hockey Complex from 1.50pm today.