2024 Senior Grand Finals — Camberwell Hockey Club

What a season our seniors had in 2024. We entered 15 teams - 8 women’s and 7 men’s teams, with 13 of them making finals. After semis and preliminary finals, 7 contested the big dance with 3 of our teams coming away with Premierships. A huge congratulations to our Women’s Premier League Reserves, Women’s Pennant B and Men’s Pennant E on your wins. Well done also to our Men’s Premier League Reserves, Men’s Pennant A, Women’s Pennant A and Women’s Pennant C on making it to your Grand Final. Read on for match reports from the Grand Final matches…

2024 Premiers

Women’s Premier League Reserves

defeated Waverley 6-3

Goal scorers - Soph Sheahan x 2, Sarah Morley, Lucy Dunlop, Claire O'Brien and Summer Satterley

We woke to a pretty miserable day in Melbourne, but nothing was going to dampen the drive or belief to win. The team were coming off a great week of training and were all hyped to take it to Waverley. Entering the changerooms they were met with blue and tangerine streamers, their shirts hanging all lined up along the bench, and a large envelope awaiting them all. Each of the players were asked to write a few sentences about each of their fellow players earlier in the week, so they were all presented with these to read before the game...there may have been the odd tear or two. We found out Alice hadn't played in one, and Soph hadn't played in a senior Grand Final at all - 18 years of waiting for this day! We'd previously done a lot of video review work throughout the season, so this week was just about tweaking a few minor things, and being aware of the setup Waverley played. The message to the team was pretty simple - we know how to play hockey, we've been playing a wonderful brand of hockey, so we just need to trust our game and stick to our style of play and we'll get the result we deserved...and of course - have fun! Beth also reminded the team to shut out the 'noise' and just control the controllables.

Our expectations for the match:

Trust our game and the process
Work together as a unit
Communicate
Celebrate our wins

The initial warm up was done in hail - thanks Melbourne. Both teams took to the pitch ready to take it to each other. Waverley got the upper hand with a very nice tomma goal in the first quarter. We took stock and settled into our game, controlling the ball and moving it between lines. We had a few opportunities in the first quarter but came in 1-0 down at the break. Second quarter was ours, with us pushing Waverley and repelling anything that came at us. A free hit just inside our attacking 25 was taken by Soph who saw a direct line into the circle opening, and took off. She ended up in the 'red zone' but with only the goalie to beat, flicked it nicely into the goal. 1-1 at the half time break.

The third quarter had it all. A goal to each, and a break for more hail. Our goal was scored after Teagan delivered a ball from right half into SMorley who had posted up, turned and slotted it between the goalie and right post, with just over 3 minutes to go in the quarter. Unfortunately we let them in and they scored in the dying minute of the quarter. Final quarter our press really stepped up and we created turnover after turnover, however were unable to put the ball away. A short corner on the final whistle just saw the ball go wide sending us into a shootout.

Ask the coaches and at this point they said they knew we had it. Our 7 had been practicing over the past 6 weeks, and we were ready to go. With our 5 decided and with a win of the toss by Ruby, it was Lucy who stepped up first and calmly slotted it away. Up stepped Caitlin, closed down the Waverley player and won a free when they fell on her. Claire was next and her textbook drag to the right, back to the left and a calm backstick into the goal saw us 2-0 up. Caitlin then pushed the next Waverley player wide and their shot sailed wide and high over goal. Blink and you would have missed Summer's one on one, speedy as she was. Not even the Waverley GK tripping her as she was shooting could stop the goal. Waverley then scored a nice goal from their next taker before Teagan stepped up. A goal and it was all over. Dragging the GK to Teagan's right drew a foul from the keeper and a penalty stroke was called. Soph, who'd never been in a Grand Final before, calmly put it away (and didn't realise it meant we had won), and the team (and crowd) went wild. A very deserved win for an amazing season for the WPLR team. It was the first win since 2008 for our 2nds (back then they were our WPB team, with Caitlin playing in that team!).

As we've reiterated the past month, this team is the sum of its parts. No one person makes a team - together we combine to play an exciting game of hockey.

Our forwards - Ash, Chloe, Lucy, SMorley (Sarah) and Summer, a formidable front 5 whose speed, attack into the circle, and press, put countless pressure on the opposition time and again.

Our mids - Alice, Claire, Claudia and Lauren whose work rate you couldn't question, breaking through lines and finding our forwards time and again and shutting down the opposition's midfield

Our defence - Caitlin, Char, Ruby P, Ruby W, Soph and Teagan such a calm, smart defense allowing only 19 goals against the whole season, and delivering pin point passes time and again to our mids and forwards.

Also to the 17 other players who all played a part in winning this premiership - especially Katy and Emmy who played 17 games between them - thank you.

Also a huge thank you to Beth who answered the call I put out for an assistant coach pre season. You've brought another level to the coaching of WPLR this year, have pushed me, and together I think we've made a pretty good coaching team. Definitely not my assistant, but my co-coach. Couldn't have done it without you.

Well done WPLR - we bloody did it!

- Narelle Richardson

Women’s Pennant B

v MCC 1-0

Goal Scorer: Milly Bell

After our encounter with MCC in the first round of finals, there was no doubt in our mind that we’d be seeing them again in the grand final. A week later and their 4-1 preliminary final victory saw the stage set and two weeks of preparation were about to come to fruition. Little did we know that this was a season concluding game that even Hollywood script writers couldn’t have concocted. But we’ll get to that later. As the puddles on the field from a consistent morning of rain out at Doncaster dried, MCC came out expectedly hard, going for a knockout punch early. Having faced this early pressure previously the team wasn’t rattled as we batted away an early short corner attempt. Which it is worth noting that this would be the closest Jules came to touching the ball all game. After an enduring first 10 minutes we found some dangerous attack but neither team really managed to capitalise in what was primarily a battle of the midfields early. Communication was key for the remainder of the game and it was easy to tell which of the two was most connected through to the final whistle. With each tick of the clock our momentum grew and MCCs reticence to take offensive risks diminished. It became clear that they had one goal, stop us getting them.

Defensively Alarna, Amy, Siena and Annabel with the key organising presence and communication of Jules strangled any MCC offense before it could get dangerously over the half line. Not only did they stifle attack, but countered dangerously which forced MCC forwards to remain ever accountable. Our mids, Jenny, Kate, Adele and Lucy had arguably the most difficult job in remaining active in through a stingy MCC press as well as working back to assist in dangerous breakaway attempts. The forward line in Milly, Lucia, Char and Jac and their excellent off ball movement and quick movement to set up the press enabled quick decision making and room to breathe for the defenders and midfielders.

As previously mentioned we built momentum as the game progressed but were unable to break through leaving both teams locked at 0-0 heading into the final term. A feat which only one team had achieved against us this year, MCC in round 5, and we were keen to rectify that today. Some dubious decisions from the players in pink saw us receive our first yellow card of the season towards the end of the third and another after play had resumed in the fourth. Despite playing with 10 on the field for a lengthy period of time our field domination did not cease and as soon as we were back to full strength MCC felt the full force of our determination. With 10 minutes to go the spine of our team, Ness and Brodie, who went on to record the grand final BOG, went into facilitatory overdrive, dishing out passes to players in dangerous positions and providing opportunities that fell agonisingly short.

MCC seldom found possession of the ball outside their 25, backs against the wall they had no choice to defend. As time wound down and penalties seemed inevitable, the team was treated to the fairytale ending that it deserved. When asked for a retelling, coach Sam Balson had the following to say “I’d love to tell you what happened at the end but I blacked out”. After another desperate MCC clear, with 10 seconds to go the ball found its way back to our spine and Kate Forbes received it on the dotted line in front of the Camberwell supporters. The echoes of those wearing tangerine screaming for the ball to be sent into the D can still be heard around Doncaster today. Kate’s ball passed threaded through the initial wall of MCC defenders to Milly Bell who sprinted from the weak side to meet it right in front of the MCC goalie. Milly’s touch was flawless as it altered the trajectory just enough to slide past the keeper and into the goals with an estimated 2 seconds remaining. Before the team had time to gather and celebrate the final whistle blew and Pennant Bs undefeated season was realised.

In an effort to name names, it is worth mentioning Ruby who was a massive contributing factor to the teams success all year who was unable to make the game as well as Chloe who came down early for her grand final to be assist if need be in goals.

- Ollie Bell

Men’s Pennant E

defeated KBH Brumbies 4-2

Goal Scorers: Charlie Faulks, Carl Fleay, David Pratt and Harrison Wallace

Report to come

2024 Runners-Up

Men’s Premier League Reserves

defeated by MCC 4-3

Goals: James Dean, Tynan Whight, Tom Winter

With the dust having settled on the MPLR Grand Final, we have all had time to let the stinging disappointment of a loss wash over us. We spoke last week of the reward that we worked hard to earn throughout this year, the first was to play finals, then play in a prelim and after last weekend we had the opportunity to earn the ultimate reward. A premiership. They are never easy and with a side of the quality of MCC standing in our way we knew it would be a fight to the very end.

Spurred on by watching our fantastic coach Ruby take home the WPLR flag we wanted to make it a double for CHC. Bill gave us a measured set of instructions, centering around execution as it normally does. At this point of the year, we have all the information and Bill left it to us a playing group to go into the finer details. We acknowledged the strengths of our opposition and then really turn our attention to ourselves. If we play the way we know we can, it would probably be enough. And if it wasn’t then we would have to live with that.

We didn’t get off to the best of starts though, probably not exactly how any of us had imagined in the days leading in. It all happened in a bit of a blur but we found ourselves behind quickly. Now, I know what most would be thinking but I take a different view. If you’re 1-0 inside 15 seconds, you’ve got the whole game to get it back and on top of that you have to play to win. It gave us a good chance to play our style and force the issue a bit. And we bounced back well, we controlled the ball for periods and looked really dangerous going forward. Before the first break James Dean had done his thing as usual and we were back. 1-1. Another important moment in the first was a huge save from Oskar Wallace, stopping a goal shot that came from point blank range. He kept us in it with that one.

We new going into the game that MCC had a dangerous short corner battery so we wanted to limit the opportunities we gave them. Early on in the second quarter though they earned a PC and duly finished, behind again. This time it was our turn to throw a big counter punch. After Declan Kerr-Lawley forced a turn over he attacked the circle and delivered a pin point cross to the back post and within 30 seconds of going behind the scores were level. Half time 2-2, this was going to be a tense one. They were playing well and we hadn’t fully found our feet yet but we were still in the contest. The change rooms were calm, Ruby and Bill setting out the things that we would need to do to get the game going our way. Once we were back on the field we got to work, maybe our best period of the game culminating in a Tynan Whight goal and giving us the lead for the first time. Unfortunately as had been the rhythm of this game MCC found a response. Good teams do that.

MCC also struck in the last quarter to take the lead 4-3. We threw everything at them, created a few chances but couldn’t come up with the goal we needed. Its tough to come up short on the big stage but we should be proud of our year and what we gave on the day.

Time for some thank yous. Derek and Ash, both have given so much time to both us and the PL group this year and were so quick to step into our game days in the last few weeks. We are so lucky to have people like both of you commit so much effort to help us try and succeed.

Bill and Ruby. You both came into what is a pretty hard job, a group that always strives for the ultimate success. You have made this team so much fun to be a part of this season and gave us all the tools to play some awesome hockey. Its been such a pleasure to be play in a team coached by you both.

All of the players who took the field this year. Only some of us got to take the field on the weekend but it takes an entire squad to get us there. I thought we could go far this year and we did, whilst we didn’t win the last game of the year it was such a great team to play in all year. We aren't defined by just one result and I for one will always reflect so positively on this season. It wasn’t the ending that we wanted but hey, there is always next year. Thanks for the season boys, I’ve loved it. Until next time.

- Tom Winter

Women’s Pennant A

defeated by Hawthorn 3-0

After a perfect record during the season the CHC WPA ladies were ready to get the cherry on top with a big grand final against old rivals Hawthorn. Despite having gone down to them 2 weeks prior, a firey game against Mentone the week before had prepped us well to bring our best against a team who have been the benchmark in PA for a long (too long) time!

Melbourne weather decided that grand final wasn’t big enough pressure & decided Doncaster needed a thorough semi-flooding, creating a literal road block along the left hand side of the pitch in the first half. Unfortunately for us Hawthorn used their many years of collective experience and exploited their pitch advantage popping away 2 early goals. As the game progressed & we tried our best to manifest sun, we instead got more rain & hail, creating a very difficult pitch to play on.

Despite the external factors our belief never faltered and we persevered throughout the entire game. Our strikers did their best to mow down their big hits & force their defenders to constantly be weary of our whereabouts, our midfielders never tired, running their guts out to try and create opportunities and our defenders put bodies on the line to not let any more goals sneak past our always reliable Regan in net.

Big shout out to all the CHC fans who braved the Arctic conditions to cheer us on - we couldn’t do it without you all!

We threw everything at them but it wasn’t our day, but that’s okay because we’ll be back and firing on all cylinders come 2025!

- Bridget Pledge

Men’s Pennant A

defeated by MCC 302

Goals: Dom Bozzone, Logan Wells

Report to follow

Women’s Pennant C

defeated by Waverley 3-1

Goals: Lauren Davis

It's a pretty special team to have locked in 3 out of 3 grand final spots since our promotion to Pennant C. Ollie and I have the privilege of showing up every week to a team that has such a fun and infectious energy, and back it up with some quality hockey. Here we found ourselves again, a new team to face but us once again back playing in the last week of hockey season.

Riding high off a textbook prelim final win, and watching Pennant B's last second heroics, we were ready to end the Camberwell show at Doncaster on a high. Big early thank you to our Pennant D girls Lucy and Tess for stepping up to the biggest game of the year (and we know how much Gracie wanted to be there!). After preparing all day for a wet pitch, we were met with bright sun and a quick pitch, but it played perfectly for us as Waverley started with the sun in their eyes. We kicked right into gear connecting up beautifully between every line and really putting their back line under stress, Em with at least 3 turnovers in the first 5 minutes. Great work from our halves and full backs Megan, Kate, Amy, Louis and Bridget, who covered off their high forwards easily. Waverley getting frustrated into some early complaining, bad tackles and cards.

The play started to open up with plenty of action for the forwards, Em, KP, Woodsy and Lucy, leading to many circle entries. Beautiful leading through the middle from Kate, Lucy, Tess, Loz and Anna creating space all over the field. Eventually leading to a beautiful ball from Kate D across the field to Em, leaving a 2 on 1 in the D. Easy pass off to Woodsy who buried it in the back to extend her lead at the top of Pennant C. Seeing our short corner specialist Meg arrive late in the 2nd ready to play inspired us even further to keep playing hard. 1-0 at half time and we were up and about.

Waverley must've finally decided they wanted to play in the second half, as we suddenly faced a new and quicker team than before. Pressure on the ball was higher, facing more turnovers and a stifling press. Great work from Chloe clearing out any look in or short corner, and defence doing a great job to prevent any further circle entries. An unluckily timed short corner on the 3rd quarter final whistle allowed Waverley to put the full team up and scramble a goal on the post to equalise. 1 more quarter to break through, but Waverley came even harder. Yelling at their own team and us, with a malicious support crew on the side lines, we stood firm and held them out, staying patient and supportive. Meg with fresh legs managing to stop any free run through their inners. 1-1 at full time.

Back into the shootouts we go, 2nd time in a row almost identical to our last meeting. There was a remarkable calmness in the team, having played a game to be proud of, with Waverley never getting over us in regular time. Fantastic work from Chloe in goals as usual, but not to be our day again. Runners up in a shootout can be hard to swallow, but this team showed what it's really all about - a group hug to finish it off and plenty of smiles, showing remarkable maturity and humility. Proud of our efforts, we couldn't ask for a better season.

Some extra thanks for our double up players, Lucy G pushing through food poisoning to make it, Meg for leaving her conference to play (and Dad for driving her to the game!), and our lovely team manager Addie providing constant supportive words and smiles on the bench. And to every player for making it a season to remember, plenty of changes along the way but to consistently put together a team that clicked no matter who was there should be commended.

- Sam Balson