Orange’s Nic Milne and Michael Dillon inspired their NSW Country side to a fifth straight Australian Country Championship crown last week, while Confederates star Rach Hoey was instrumental in her women’s equivalent’s run to the silver medal.
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All three, on the back of those showings, were named in their respective Australian Country sides.
Dillon moves up after earning under 21s selection last year while Milne was expected to be named in the open side last year had he not ruled himself out. Hoey returns to the national set-up for the first time since 2015.
She was selected from the Western Australia side that year, before her move to Orange in 2017.
While all three of the Orange guns were superb, Dillon was particularly impressive in Townsville.
He won NSW Country’s players’ player for the tournament, finished in the top four for overall MVP and also finished as the equal leading goal-scorer.
He found the back of the net seven times across NSW’s almost-undefeated campaign, which culminated in a 3-1 decider victory over Queensland.
Dillon popped in his seventh and final goal of the tournament in the 13th minute of that game.
“Mick Dillon was fantastic,” NSW Country men’s coach Jaden Ekert, from Bathurst, said.
“He got our players’ player and he was in the top four for player of the tournament. He was phenomenal.”
Milne was also potent in front of goal, as was Hoey. Both scored two goals through their respective sides’ campaigns.
The trio will tour Singapore and Malaysia in April next year.
Outside the opening two fixtures of the tournament Milne and Dillon’s side was reasonably untroubled. NSW lost its first game 2-0 to Queensland despite enjoying the bulk of possession and then drew 4-4 with Australian Defence Force.
“We hit a bit of a speed bump in our first game … that was our first loss in five years,” Ekert said.
“The next game we drew 4-4, we were actually up 4-1 with seven minutes to go but they got three short corners and scored off all three.
“But from then on in, we just steamrolled through.”
In the next five games, including the final, NSW won by a combined margin of 25-4.
Hoey’s side started slow too, with a loss and two draws before its first win over Western Australia.
NSW pumped Victoria (7-1) and then ADF (5-1) in the semi-final, but met a formidable Queensland side in the decider, losing out 2-1 in a hard-fought final.
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.
