2019 WA Masters Hockey Men's O65 State Team

WA v WAC our country cousins. 6:0 win.

Match Report Game 6 vs Queensland
by Dudley Evans

The clash of the Titans! The only two undefeated teams in this grade. Who would get the chocolates and the so called psychological advantage leading into the finals. Well it wasn’t us. Queensland were slightly superior on the night and ran out 3-1 winners. They scored first after an errant pass and a bit of disorganisation at the back. WA hit back and equalised shortly before halftime when Maurie smashed an unstoppable penalty corner drive.
The game was back on an even keel as We regrouped, counted our lollies and our lucky stars that once again we were out of the mire at least for a while!
After halftime and proving that luck evens itself out WA were rocked when an innocuous penalty corner flick was saved by Goalie Tony. As he lay on the ground with the ball at his feet suddenly time stood still! The universe had suddenly stopped as had the WA defence. Unfortunately no one had told the Queensland players as one of them pounced on the loose ball and flicked it into the net! This anomaly of the Earths gravitational pull, Keplars Laws and the whole Theory of Relativity proved to be the crucial turning point as the game had been skewed on its axis. WA tried valiantly to right the ship but in their endeavour to do so leaked another goal before full time.
WA could have done better but our skills were down on the night as was our organisation and positional play. Only slightly I add but just enough for the opposition to prevail.
What could WA do to overturn such a result and beat them if we meet them again in the Grand Final? Plenty of ideas popped up, some out of left field and some out of left universe. All of them have since been shelved at least temporarily as most agreed we have to get in the Grand Final first!
The analysis of the game went on well into the night as it was also Pete Foges birthday! We couldn’t celebrate a win but we could celebrate his achievement of reaching 69 with his body and mind still mostly intact! Actually his combined score is amongst the highest in our group?! Nearing midnight this was disputed by quite a few of the attendees but not by me!
During the after game drinks coach Pesty was philosophical. After a few more drinks he was even less philosophical and more defiant and upbeat. He stirred up as many of the opposition as he could before we disappeared back into the shadows. Like a prowling cougar after a late night skirmish we slunk back into the night to lick our wounds. Pesty had already devised a strategy going forward and would unfold this to the team in the coming days! The devious and cunning don’t give up easily!!!

Goal scorer Maurie the Giles

Best player as awarded by them went to Woody
The Dennis Baker mug went to me for my deep and profound observation that after a good nights rest and a day off “We’ll be back!”

Went down to QLD1 last night. 3:1 down.

Match Report Game 5 vs Vic
by Dudley Evans

Was it fatigue, was it complacency, was it a lack of focus or was it something else that our team psychologist labelled as character building?! Whatever it was WA started like an ageing steam train, lots of huff and puff but not much action! It was no surprise to see a series of critical errors and us down 1 nil after only a few minutes. This was followed by a necessary but illegal tackle by Tony Freo the goalie. In the good old days such a tackle would have been “play on” but today a penalty stroke was given and the situation was going from bad to worse. We were in the mire up to our necks but just as our thoughts were turning to a hot pie and chips Tony righted his previous error and saved the stroke. Was this karma, sheer luck or a good save? Who knows? We still had plenty of time to get our head above water and so the road to recovery began first with an irate coach at quarter time and then with some much better play in the second quarter. This was a major coincidence and the idea of pie and chips was shelved at least for a while. WA began to control the ball, scored from the left then shortly after scored from a short corner when Tommy Long was on hand to put away the rebound. We were back in front and all were breathing easier. We had strayed from the game style and made the simple look very complicated but for the simple isn’t this always the case? I couldn’t answer this question as it was half time and my share of the lollies was the only thing on my mind!
The second half was played with WA back in their normal mode of operation controlling the ball with quick movement and accurate passes. Time passed with 2 notable incidents, one where Vic stopped playing for no apparent reason allowing Maurie to thump the ball into the goal and the other when Johnny O stopped playing for no apparent reason and was penalised for time wasting! He had been caught in 2 minds which has a lot more implications than I have time to write about!?
More time passed with Vic on attack but with Tony controlling the circle they had no chance. More time passed and the final whistle went with WA winning 3-1.

Goal Scorers
Tommy Long 1
Maurie 1
Dud 1

Cards
Green Morgs
Best player as awarded by Vic went to Ric Straynor
The Dennis Baker mug went to Tony the goalie for a number of excellent saves including the penalty stroke.

Game Vic v WA today. 3:1 win for the boys. Still on the top of the ladder.

Match Report Game 4 vs ACT

Another tough match played in rainy overcast conditions. This made the pitch vary between very wet and not so very wet if you get what I mean! Despite the challenging conditions WA started well and were 2 nil up before any of us in the dugout had time to sneak a few half time lollies or devise a strategy for staying as dry as possible. After much discussion it was decided we were all going to get soaked so we may as well suck it up and get on with the usual rotations. This proved to be an excellent decision game wise as WA scored another before quarter time to pretty much put the result beyond doubt.
The second quarter produced another 2 goals for WA who were playing very good hockey against a team whose game plan seemed to be to smash the ball upfield as far as possible. Those balls that weren’t trapped were restarted from the sideline or backline then worked upfield for another crack at the ACT goal. 5 nil at halftime and WA were cruising but still getting soaked!
The second half was more of the same but without the goals. WA had numerous short corners and field goal chances and with an ounce of luck could have scored another 5. The ball control, passing and general composure on the ball had improved from the last game and WA were now travelling along like a recently serviced V6 Falcon. In particular the tackling and pressure game led to many turnovers and more possession for WA. Somewhere amongst all of this ACT received a repeat short corner when the umpire was unsighted and took a wild guess as to what had happened. At the short corner Tony saved the first shot but the rebound shot was deflected into the goal. Finally a goal had been scored against us! The defence were shocked and closely analysed the situation. As the ball was transferred back to halfway their spokesman Johnny O said, “oh well, s**t happens!” WA closed out the game with renewed vigour just to make sure we could get into the change sheds in a positive frame of mind and toss down a very welcome slug of Foges medicinal tonic.
With the final score 6-1 spectators were left wondering how WA had played such bright attractive hockey in such terrible conditions. Maybe they had got us confused with the WA 40’s who were cleaning up Queensland on the other ground, maybe they were less than astute judges or maybe they had been talking to our newly appointed PR manager! Whatever the reasoning coach Pesty was purring along very happy with the result and even happier he had managed to get on the score sheet!
It was noted how hard it is to single out best player(s) in a really good team effort. The WA juggernaut is in full flight like a runaway train. With everybody contributing the end result is high class (for our age) enjoyable hockey!! Long may it continue, well at least for another week!

Goal Scorers
Ian Pestana 1
Rudy 1
Zorba 2
Ian Simes 1
Eddie 1 (recorded as Pesty in Altius)

Cards Nil
Best player as awarded by ACT went to S t r e t c h Peter Dawkins
The Dennis Baker mug went to Ian Simes who had continued his rich vein of good form. In an in depth interview after the game he stated he was over the moon at his recognition and would “shout the boys".

Wild weather and heavy rains in Bunbury for the game against ACT. A win for WA with 6:1

Match Report Game 3 vs NSW

WA went into this clash knowing NSW would be a much sterner test than previous oppositions. This turned out to be correct but WA embraced the challenge and tore into the New South Welshmen as soon as the game started. The pressure was on NSW but it wasn’t until late in the second quarter before WA scored twice to lead 2.0 at halftime. Expecting the domination to continue WA were pretty slack in defence and wasteful on attack. The second half became a grinding arm wrestle played mainly between the two 22’s. The only notable part about all of this was NSW were unable to score and so WA ran out 2 nil winners.
Rudy featured in some scything runs through the NSW defence which set up both goals but in general WA left themselves plenty of room for improvement in their trapping, ball skills, passing and positional play. There was nothing in the simple game of hockey to leave out!!

Goal scorers
Ian Pestana 1 but credited to Eddie Bartnik
Tommy Long 1
Cards nil

Penalty corners WA 3 NSW 0

Best player as awarded by NSW was Ric Staynor in his first substantial involvement in the tournament.
The Dennis Baker mug was passed on to a well deserving Peter Fogels.

Some photos with our walk out shirts.

Match Report Game 2 vs Queensland 2 by Dudley Evans

WA were expected to dominate this clash and as soon as the game started they were on the attack. It only took a few minutes before they were up 1 nil. Maurie had scored a goal but “seagull” Simes had been credited with it. The pattern of play had been set and this pretty much continued until the final whistle. Along the way WA scored a further 7 goals, missed quite a few others including a penalty stroke and generally enjoyed the luxury of being a few goals up. This was an opportunity to refine combinations and try and extend our hockey repertoire, some of these ideas worked out well and some were slightly less successful!!

The goal scorers for WA in no particular order of timing or quality were:
Tommy Long 1
Eddie Bartnik 1
Ian Simes 1
Johnny Chapman 2
Peter Dawkins 1
Peter Fogels 1
Stephen Needham (zorba) 1

Penalty strokes 1 Ian Pestana (MISSED)
Cards
Green Keith Gilly

Proving that the Queenslanders were much better judges of hockey players than a lot of the WA locals their best player award went to myself!
The Dennis Baker mug was passed on from Woody to Tommy Long who had continued his good form. Others to rate a mention were Foges for his high quality goal and continued hard running, Zorba for his endeavour and first goal ever for WA and S t r e t c h for his goal after pushing up from left half.
After the game were the Queensland players depressed and dejected? On the contrary they were happy and delighted to be here still running and to have thwarted a lot of our scoring chances! Their attitude was commendable and first class. After a well earned drink we all disappeared into the night for the drive back to our accommodation in Busselton. After a few more drinks and some more sensible analysis most of us agreed that there were much harder tests to come!!

Day 2. Game against QLD2. 8:0 winners. So let’s enjoy being on the top of the ladder now.