Sport
12 June, 2023
Hockey lovers honour Annie Anderson
By Simon King The members of the Wimmera Hockey Association joined colleagues across the state on Saturday in pausing to honour the memory of hockey personality Annie Anderson who passed away late last year. Before the senior matches, the Wimmer...
By Simon King
The members of the Wimmera Hockey Association joined colleagues across the state on Saturday in pausing to honour the memory of hockey personality Annie Anderson who passed away late last year.
Before the senior matches, the Wimmera Hockey Association hosted a brief ceremony where Association Life Member, and one of Annie’s former teammates, Launa Schilling, read a short piece highlighting Annie’s contribution to the sport locally and further afield.
Many players also wore a bandana, a regular part of Annie’s playing uniform, as a tribute.
- Open -
Once the action got underway on the pitch, the Yanac Tigers and the Warrack Hoops played out another tense encounter in the Open competition. After these two played out a scoreless draw earlier this year, this trend continued early in this match, with neither able to breach the defence of the other in the first half, and it was the Tigers who broke the deadlock with a goal early in the third quarter.
This proved to be the only score for the match, preserving the Tigers’ undefeated status this season while the Hoops remain comfortably in final’s contention in third place.
After a hiccup against the Tigers in the last round, where they suffered their first loss for the season, the Horsham Hurricanes bounced back to their early form with a four goal win against the Nhill Rangers, which keeps them clear in second place on the ladder.
The determined defence by the Rangers kept the scoreline much lower than it could have been, but the number of attacking options the Hurricanes’ forwards created soon overwhelmed the defenders.
- Women -
The Horsham Jets played out an even first quarter against the Nhill Thunderbirds but stamped their mark on the game with three goals in the second quarter. However, some solid defence by Nhill slowed the scoring, restricting the Jets to just one more goal in each of the last two quarters, giving a final result of five goals.
It was a similar story in the other Women’s match, where Yanac established an early lead with three goals in the first quarter, but Warracknabeal fought back and restricted their opponents to just two more successful scoring shots for the rest of the game.
Although enjoying a week off with the bye, Kaniva remains on top of the ladder, but with their win, Yanac is keeping the pressure on and are ready to pounce if the reigning premiers falter. The Jets lead the rest of the field in third place, with time remaining in the season for them to mount a challenge for the top two, while the Thunderbirds and Warracknbeal appear to be in a contest to claim fourth place in the finals.
- Under 16 -
The highlight in the Under 16 competition was a six-goal haul by Tom Batchelor, who scored all of the Horsham Bombers’ goals in their victory over the Nhill Leopards to remain undefeated, while the Yanac Warriors had three separate goal scorers when they finished ahead of the Warracknabeal Revengers.
Next weekend the whole competition has a bye for the Senior Country Championships that will be played in Melbourne, and although the Wimmera is not sending any team, several local players will take part representing other Associations.
The local competition will resume on June 17, with a full round of matches at Kaniva, with Yanac having the bye.
Round Six Results
- Open -
Horsham Hurricanes 4 (Goals - J Horsfall, T Batchelor, J Mills, R Duggan; Best - J Horsfall, P Mackereth, T Batchelor) defeated Nhill Rangers 0 (Best -S Bone, D Reichelt, D Schwarz)
Yanac Tigers 1 (Goal - T Alexander; Best - B Alexander, S Alexander, T Alexander) defeated Warracknabeal Hoops 0 (Best - S Schultz, R Bennett, T Jorgensen)
Ladder: Yanac Tigers 20, 24; Horsham Hurricanes 18, 10; Warrack Hoops 10, 5; Kaniva Cobras 10, -8; Nhill Rangers 2 , -31.
- Women -
Horsham Jets 5 (Goals - E Morrow 2, H Mackereth, A Heal, R Creek; Best - E Morrow, L Schilling, K Krahe) defeated Nhill Thunderbirds 0 (Best - N Kuhnell, K Clark, H Cannell)
Yanac Women 5 (Goals - R Dart 3, N Harding, M Mackely; Best - E Alexander, M Mackley, R Dart, S Hedt) defeated Warracknabeal Women 0 (Best - B McMaster, L Eilola, E Williamson)
Ladder: Kaniva Women 20, 15; Yanac Women 18, 18; Horsham Jets 10, -1; Nhill Thunderbirds 6, -12; Warrack Women 6, -20.
- Under 16 -
Horsham Bombers 6 (Goals - T Batchelor 6; Best - T Batchelor, H Mackereth, J Schwarz) defeated Nhill Leopards 1 (Goal - O Bone; Best - D Clark, O Bone, T Shue Bee)
Yanac Warriors 4 (Goals - Archie Zanker 2, C Zanker, S Pedie; Best - S Pedie, C Zanker, Asher Zanker) defeated Warracknabeal Revengers 0 (Best - Z O’Connor, E Williamson, N Eilola)
Ladder: Horsham Bombers 22, 20; Kaniva Raiders 16, 8; Yanac Warriors 12, 2; Nhill Leopards 8, -8; Warrack Revengers 2, -22.
- Under 12 Development Program -
Horsham Black Hawks 1 (Goal - C Claassen; Encouragement Award - L Hobbs) v. Kaniva Rampagers 1 (Goal - R Doyle; Encouragement Award - D Stimson)
Dimboola Kookaburras 0 (Encouragement Award - L Elliott, M Corbett) v. Yanac Lowan Stars 0 (Encouragement Award - T Rethus, M Dart)
Nhill Bandits 3 (Goals - D Bee, N Krelle, B Clark) v. Warracknabeal Avengers 3 (Goals - S Williamson 2, C Bentley)