Gone are the days of Eddie Bone starring for the Canberra Strikers in the Australian Hockey League because now, following Hockey Australia's announcement of its new, revamped domestic competition she'll be gunning to freeze a few opponents out.
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Bone is the headliner for the Canberra Chill, the capital's new Hockey One outfit that will face the Adelaide Fire, Brisbane Blaze, NSW Pride, Perth Thundersticks, Tasmanian Tigers and HC Melbourne in the exciting new competition, that kicks off in September.
The competition brings together the state's men's and women's outfits under the same umbrella for the first time, in Canberra's case the former used to be the Lakers while the latter were the Strikers. The name Hockey One is reflective of that.
Hockey One shifts from the AHL's carnival format to a home-and-away system with new rule innovations set to be put in place too, attempting to pave the way for the sport's very own version of cricket's Big Bash League, in some ways.
Bone couldn't be more excited either.
"In terms of making our game more innovative and exciting I think Hockey One's going to be really great for Australian Hockey, and it's also going to be great for the Canberra Chill, being able to represent Canberra and the surrounding region. We're really looking forward to kicking off," Bone said.
"It's not just about Canberra either, or just the ACT. We've got Goulburn and Albury in our competition and obviously I'm from Orange, [the Chill] gives opportunity not just to the ACT but also the surrounding regions in the country."
Each of the franchise's will play three home games during the season and the competition will give fans unprecedented access to the sport at the domestic level, with all fixtures being live streamed.
One massive change the competition brings relates to the NSW franchise though, dubbed the Pride.
Parkes' Mariah Williams is the headliner for NSW's women's outfit, which along with the men will actually wear gold rather than the traditional sky blue of the state.
"I think it's really cool, of course you want to win gold so we want to where it. It's a little bit away from our normal colours but it's really exciting too, and the lion is on the NSW flag," she said, referring the franchise's new logo as well.
The schedule for the inaugural Hockey One season will be confirmed in due course along with information on rules, coach appointments and player signings.
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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.
