The side finished third in their pool and fifth overall, but could have found themselves in medal contention had things fallen their way.

"It was a little bit frustrating actually. We had a draw with a team we should've beaten for game one which is usually a pretty standard thing to happen on game one of the tournament," coach Dolbel said.

"We got stuck with some training runs with the snow and the rain, which pushed preparation behind a little bit, but the boys performed really, really well.

"The top of the table was between Orange, Wagga and Nepean and we all had one draw. We beat Nepean but our loss to Wagga on the Saturday night hurt us and knocked us back.

"Everyone played well and we had two younger blokes in Connor Davis and Sam Guimelli. They've just come off the back of the under 18s carnival so they played really well and managed to hold their own on the field."

With no more rep events on the horizon, Dolbel is hoping the boys can use this experience in the rest of the Central West Premier League competition.

"It's been a bit of an interesting season coming off the back of COVID, just trying to get time on the field and with the local comps dwindling a little bit," he said.

"Most of the boys all play for the Wanderers hockey team in town so hopefully we can carry some of that form through to our weekly games."

The Orange women didn't fair any better at the state tournament either.

They finished fifth in their pool and drew 2-2 against Central Coast in the ninth place playoff game.

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