Confederates guns Pip Mannix, Eva Reith-Snare and Heidi Townsend, along with Kinross multi-sport star Phoebe Litchfield, have all had plenty of experience wearing the sky blue of their state in recent years.
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Even so, none of the quartet really expected to be named in NSW sides for this year’s Hockey Australia Championships.
Moving up from the under 15s Reith-Snare – who is still only 15 – has been named in NSW’s under-18 Blues side.
“Not at all,” Reith-Snare smiled, when asked if she’d considered herself a chance of being selected.
“I just want to play my best, see how I go. I’ve got plenty of years left to play under 18s, so I’ll get a look at what this level is like.”
Mannix made the cut in NSW’s under-15 state side, while Townsend and Litchfield will line up in the under-15 Blues.
“It’s [Heidi, Phoebe and I’s] first year in under 15s, we played in the under-13 NSW side two years ago,” Mannix said.
In each age group Blues units are often considered development, second-string sides, but they just as often push their higher rated counterparts to the brink of defeat.
Although, Mannix, Litchfield and Townsend won’t have the worry about that this year. During the group stage anyway.
“We don’t, unless we play each other in a final. We’re in different pools,” Litchfield said.
“It’d be a bit scary if we were to play a final, because [the top side would] be expected to win” Mannix laughed.
“It’d be awesome though, in under 13s we drew and it was sort of like, ‘whoops, that wasn’t supposed to happen’,” Litchfield laughed.
“I hate those NSW versus NSW games, they’re pretty nerve-wracking,” Reith-Snare laughed.
All four nominated Queensland and potentially Victoria as the sides expected to be the toughest.
The under 15s national championship is at Moorebank on April 5-13, the 18s titles are in Tasmania on April 19-29.
The NSW under 15s start their campaign against South Australia, the Blues open up against ACT. Reith-Snare’s under-18 Blues play Queensland first up.
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
