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Geraldton men go undefeated en route to second Country Week title in as many weeks

Headshot of Jake Santa Maria
Jake Santa MariaGeraldton Guardian
Geraldton's young stars showed there's a bright future claiming the division 3 Country Week title.
Camera IconGeraldton's young stars showed there's a bright future claiming the division 3 Country Week title. Credit: Facebook

Another week brought another Country Week title for the Geraldton Hockey Association as the men’s division 3 side claimed the title with a 2-0 win over Esperance.

The moving of Country Week away from the long weekend left Geraldton short of their top players, resulting in only a division 3 side being sent to Perth over the weekend.

But the squad relied heavily on the youth within the association with hopes of building them into division one players, and they did not disappoint going undefeated through the tournament.

Unlike their women’s division 1 counterparts, the division 3 competition had no semi-finals, with Geraldton needing to win group B to qualify directly into the grand final against the winners of group A.

They made an inauspicious start as they conceded an early goal to Central Great Southern within the opening five minutes of their clash.

But they would go into the break level with Geraldton moving the ball up the wing and through Great Southern’s defence to tap in the equalizer in the final minutes of the first half.

Despite some close calls to start the second half, Geraldton would take the lead through with a moment of brilliance, threading the needle to beat the last two defenders and fire in a close-range shot to give them the win.

They’d make a perfect start to their clash against Eastern Districts working the ball in from a free hit at the 23m line to go 1-0 inside the opening five minutes.

They would score another shortly after on the way to an easy 3-0 win.

A tight 2-1 win over Margaret River, who also won their first two games, meant a draw against Upper Great Southern would be enough to qualify for the final.

There were some nervy moments by a 1-1 result but it was enough to set up a clash with Esperance for the title on Sunday.

Geraldton bossed the final from the outset with several close chances and short corners but Esperance were holding on grimly.

But on Geraldton’s fourth short corner in the opening half the Esperance keeper made an ill-fated move-out from goal to kill the ball but missed allowing Geraldton to sweep home 1-0.

They continued to put pressure on and with 11 minutes to go in the second half doubled their advantage with a perfectly executed short corner and effectively sealed the title in a lopsided grand final.

GHA president and player Warrick Sullivan was pleased with the weekend but hoped the tournament will be moved back to the long weekend to allow for more players.

“I’m very proud of the Geraldton team’s performance, the young team showed plenty of skill and good decision-making to get the wins on the board throughout the weekend,” he said.

“I’m hopeful this team can move into division 2 next year and progress into division 1 in future.”

“The tournament looked to be a success overall, however, there was a distinct lack of division 1 teams, showing again that moving the tournament away from the long weekend has had an impact on recruiting.”

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