Over the last 10 years no side in the men’s Premier League Hockey competition has come from third place to win the grand final, but this Saturday Bathurst Souths plans on changing that.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Having survived two weeks of sudden death hockey, Souths has earned a spot in the 2017 decider alongside Lithgow Panthers in Lithgow.
Those two victories – a 6-3 result against Lithgow Zig Zag and 6-1 victory over minor premiers St Pat’s – has seen Souths not only build momentum, but confidence too.
Souths’ coach Ray Winwood-Smith has the utmost faith his squad, which has been buoyed immeasurably by the inclusion of former Orange Wanderers player-coaches Keiran Gentles and Matt Johnson this year.
“I’ve always had the belief we could win the comp, there was no problem with that,” he said.
”Over the last two weeks, I’ve been extremely happy with how we’ve played. We’ve been executing well and the guys understand what we have been trying to achieve.
“I want [Panthers] to be worried about us, we are not worried about them. It might sound a bit arrogant, but I definitely believe we have the team to challenge them strongly and win the grand final.”
Souths will have a full strength side at its disposal for the decider, with NSW Waratahs representative Nick McEwen confirming he is available.
He adds to the attacking prowess of the two blues, who will be looking to beat Panthers for the first time this year. Souths lost the regular season meetings 8-2 and 7-1.
Orange’s Pete Shea and Andrew Reddan will umpire the men’s grand final, which kicks off at 3pm in Lithgow.
Panthers are also gunning for the women’s title, they’ll face Bathurst City in a rematch of the major semi-final and last year’s decider. Panthers won both those games, 2-1 and 4-2 respectively.
“How do you get on top of Panthers? That’s the miracle question,” Bathurst City coach Lisa Quinn said.
“The fact they are so versatile and they change their game up, it makes them hard to beat.
“If I did know the answer we’d be beating them each and every game, so we’ve got to stick to our game plan and hopefully that will be enough.” The women’s game starts at 1.30pm.