Metro League 1 Hockey

Pics from the SWHL page.

The Season In (Stats) Review

Let's start with the Regular Season stats that you can get off the Ladder. We will just concentrate on the Regular Season because, as we all know, that all gets thrown out come the pressure of the Finals.

Most Wins
1st Moorebank - 15
2nd UNSW - 12
=3rd GWD and Sydney Uni - 9
5th Strikers - 8

Most Draws
1st GNS - 4
=2nd GWD, Strikers and Ryde - 3
5th Briars - 2

Most Goals Scored
1st Moorebank - 68
2nd UNSW - 60
3rd Strikers 42
4th GWD - 39
5th Sydney Uni - 30

Least Goals Against
1st Moorebank - 10
2nd UNSW - 15
3rd Strikers - 18
4th Sydney Uni - 19
5th GWD - 23

Goal Difference
1st Moorebank - +58
2nd UNSW - +45
3rd Strikers - +24
4th GWD - +16
5th Sydney Uni - +11

A Deeper Dive
The proof that stats aren't the be-all and end-all is that Strikers, with the 3rd best attack, defence and goal difference, didn't make semi finals.
This shows that competition points are what really matters.
Strikers had just 1 win against another Top 5 team (2-0 over Sydney Uni, plus 2 draws against GWD).
Their record against the Bottom 4 teams was 7 wins and a draw. Their For and Against over the Bottom 4 teams was +30 (34 goals scored, 4 goals conceded).
That is an average winning margin against those teams of 3.75 goals per game.
Against those same teams, GWD had a goal difference of +21 (average winning margin 2.63 goals per game), while Sydney Uni was +17 (average winning margin 2.13 goals per game).
Against other Top 5 teams, GWD has 2 wins and 2 draws, while Sydney Uni had 2 wins and a draw.

Biggest Winning Margin
=1st 10 goals - Moorebank (twice)
=3rd 8 goals - UNSW, GWD
=5th 7 goals - UNSW (twice), Strikers

Number of 1 goal wins
1st Sydney Uni - 5
2nd GWD - 4
3rd Moorebank - 3
4th UNSW - 2
=5th Strikers, Ryde, GNS - 1

Number of 1 goal losses
1st Ryde - 4
=2nd Sydney Uni, Strikers - 3
=4th Briars, GNS, Raptors - 2

The stats for the 1 goal losses show how much just a bit more luck in scoring for some teams could have really changed their end of season ladder positions.

In regards to the Teams' goal differences in general, only the Top 5 teams had a positive goals difference.
This stat normally fluctuates between Top 5 and Top 6 year on year.
How does this rate against the other Top Level Women's Comps around the country?
It was pretty consistent nationwide, except for Hobart.

Brisbane PL1 - Top 6 teams of 10 teams had a positive goal difference (from +70 to +9)
Canberra CL1 - Data no longer available but was consistent with the other competitions
Melbourne Premier League - Top 6 of 12 teams (from +70 to +7)
Hobart Premier League - Top 4 of 6 teams (From +66 to +8)
Adelaide Metro 1 - Top 3 teams of 8 teams (from +52 to +24)
Perth Premier Division - Top 5 plus #7 of 11 teams (from +60 to +1). #6 WASPS' goal difference was 0.

See you next season.

The Big Dance Is Over

Last week we finished the post with the question,
"So, who will be the 2025 Champions?"
Last Sunday we found out.

Last Weekend's Results
The Final
UNSW 3 def Moorebank 1

Moorebank and UNSW showed why they have clearly been the best performing teams all year.
The old saying, "Attack wins games but defence wins championships" was on display with UNSW showing how strangling their defence can be.

After a scoreless 1st Quarter, UNSW got their first goal on the board via a 19th minute field goal.
In the 30th minute UNSW then did something that they hadn't done previously in their 3 games against Moorebank this year.
They scored a second goal, this time off a penalty corner.

Half Time
UNSW 2 - Moorebank 0

In the 40th minute, UNSW put another ball in the net, again off a PC.
Score UNSW 3 - Moorebank 0

Moorebank finally got on the board with about 5 minutes to go in the 3rd Quarter off yet another PC.
Score UNSW 3 - Moorebank 1.

But that would be the end of the scoring.
The 4th quarter was fiercely contested but the keepers didn't let anything go past them.

UNSW win their 3rd premiership in 4 years.

Congratulations Whalies.

Hope to see you all next year.

Looks like our original post failed. Re-posting it below.
Apologies if it shows up twice.

The Big Dance

The two teams that have clearly been the best performing teams all year will meet in the ML1 Final.

Last Weekend's Results
Preliminary Final
UNSW 2 def Sydney Uni 1

The final score in this game followed a remarkable pattern between these two teams going back 6 seasons where the winning team scored two goals (6 of the last 7 undrawn games - the other undrawn result was a 1-0 win to Sydney Uni last year). There have been 4 drawn games in that time, two games were 0-0 (2025 washout and 2020) and the other two draws had a 2-2 result (2022 and 2023).

Game this weekend.

#1 Moorebank v #2 UNSW
2:00pm Sydney Olympic Park

Last year Moorebank finished as Minor Premiers, only to lose to Strikers in a shootout in the Final.
Moorebank are again Minor Premiers this year but their results show that they are a much more dominant team.
In 2024 they won the Minor Premiership over Strikers on goal difference, this year they finished 3 wins clear on points.
They had an undefeated season where the only game they didn't win was a 1-1 draw with GNS in the middle of rep season.
This is the 4th year in a row that they have made semis with their only wins in that time being last season's Preliminary Final and this season's Major Semi Final. Those two wins come from their last 3 games so their overall record is probably more a reflection of a (still) young team gaining from greater high pressure game experience.

UNSW have played in 4 of the last 5 semi final series, only missing out last year (after being Premiers in 2023).
Their record in those series is 4 wins and 2 losses. Their wins includes 2 finals (2022 and 2023). Their losses, on the other hand were from 2020 when they lost the Minor Semi Final and two weeks ago against Moorebank in the Major Semi.

In the Regular Season, Moorebank won both the Round 7 game (2-1) and the Round 16 game (4-1).

What do the Regular Season stats say?
The more interesting story is in defence where Moorebank conceded 10 goals to UNSW's 15 goals.
Up until Round 16, UNSW had the strongest defence in the competition having conceded only 6 goals all season compared to Moorebank who had conceded 8 goals up to that stage. UNSW then conceded 9 goals in their last 3 games (4 goals against Moorebank in Round 16 and 5 goals against GWD in Round 18).
Whalies, however, had already secured their semi final spot by Round 16.
In attack, Moorebank finished the season with 68 goals against UNSW's 60 goals.
A deeper dive into this stat shows that Moorebank scored more goals than UNSW against the other Top 5 teams but the scoring from both teams was more even against the Bottom 4 teams.

So, who will be the 2025 Champions?
We will find out on Sunday.

The Finals - Week 2

One team through to the Big Dance while another gets ready for next season.

Last Weekend's Results

Major Semi Final
Moorebank 2 def UNSW 1
Moorebank progress directly to the Final while UNSW get the 2nd chance in next weekend's Preliminary Final.

Minor Semi Final
Sydney Uni 0 (4) def GWD 0 (2)
After a scoreless game, GWD are eliminated after the Students win the shootout 4-2.
Even though they were eliminated, note that GWD reached the finals in the 3rd year of the collaboration.
Compare this to Strikers, who made the finals in their 2nd year and won the final in their 5th season.
Compare it also to UNSW, who made the finals in their 4th year after re-admission to ML1 and also won the final in their 5th season.

Games this weekend.

#2 UNSW v #4 Sydney Uni
Games between Sydney Uni and UNSW have a reputation for being hard fought.

They have played each other 4 times in the Final Series since 2020 and 3 of those games have ended in a shootout.
Even more telling is that the last time Sydney Uni beat UNSW in a Final Series game was in 2020's 1st v 4th Semi Final when, after the teams were 1-1 at the end of regular time, #1 Sydney Uni beat #4 UNSW 4-3 in the shootout. Sydney Uni went on to win the final 3-0 over Strikers.
Their next meeting was the 2022 Major Semi Final where UNSW went straight to the final, winning the shootout 2-1 after both teams were deadlocked 2-2 at Full Time.
This was followed by the 2022 Final, which was also won in a shootout, 3-1, by UNSW after both teams were again deadlocked 2-2 at Full Time.
The last time they met in the Final Series was the 2023 Final where Whalies won 2-1 in regular time.

Going back through the Regular Season games since 2020, out of the 10 games played between these two, 4 games have been drawn, while both Sydney Uni and UNSW have won 3 games each. Of those 6 games that had a result, 4 of them were won by a single goal margin.
The biggest winning margin in that time? UNSW winning 2-0 in 2022 and 2024.
What was the highest number of goals that a team has scored in those games? 2 goals (Sydney Uni 2021, 2022 and 2023 twice. UNSW 2022 twice, 2023, 2024 and 2025).

So what has happened this season?
UNSW won the Round 6 clash 2-1 while Round 14 was washed out.

What do the Regular Season stats say?
The attacking stats tell a story.
UNSW scored double the goals that Sydney Uni scored (60 to 30).
The story is the same against the Top 5 teams where Sydney Uni has scored 6 goals compared to UNSW's 13 goals.
Defensively, it is Sydney Uni's 19 goals conceded against UNSW's 15 goals.
Defence against Top 5 teams is the same with both teams conceding 12 goals against Top 5 opponents.

See you next week.

The Finals - Week 1

It's an old cliché, but the finals really are the start of a new season.

After a closely fought season where the semi final teams were not decided until the very last game played, your Final 4 teams are:

1st Moorebank
2nd UNSW
3rd GWD
4th Sydney Uni

Regular season form isn't everything.
No team knows this better than Moorebank who, after winning the Minor Premiership last season, lost the major semi final to Strikers, won the prelim against Ryde, only to lose to Strikers again in the final (in a shootout).
In the last 8 completed seasons, the Minor Premiers have only won the Final on 4 occasions.
The team that finished 2nd on the ladder has won it 3 times while just Ryde in 2017 has won it from 3rd spot.

Games this weekend.

#3 GWD v #4 Sydney Uni
12:45pm Sydney Olympic Pitch
GWD have made the finals for the first time since..., well, we can't quite remember that far back.
Sydney Uni, on the other hand, have played semis every year since..., well, we can't quite remember that either.
Both games between these two teams this year have been 1 goal victories, Sydney Uni won 1-0 back in Round 4 and GWD won 3-2 in Round 13.
G-Dubs definitely have the greater momentum coming into the finals, having 6 wins and a draw in their final 8 games of the season compared to the Students 4 wins and a draw.
But this is the semi finals, not the regular season. Will Sydney Uni's big game experience get them through?
Will an extra year of experience for GWD's young squad get them through?
Going back over the last 7 finals series where 3rd played 4th in a minor semi final (in COVID shortened 2020, 1st played 4th and 2nd played 3rd), the 3rd placed team has won this match-up only 3 times, the last time being Ryde in 2022.

#1 Moorebank v #2 UNSW
2:30pm Sydney Olympic Pitch
Who gets next weekend off and who gets the 2nd chance?
Moorebank have been clearly dominant this (undefeated) season and go into the major semi final having won both games against UNSW this year (2-1 in Round 7 and 4-1 in Round 16).
UNSW won the major semi final back in 2022 (ranked #2) and 2023 (ranked #1), on the way to winning the final in both of those years.
If you ignore UNSW's last game against GWD, both teams have a near identical defensive record.
In attack, Moorebank have scored 8 more goals over the season.
Again, going back over the last 7 seasons where the #1 team played the #2 team in the major semi, the #1 ranked team has won it 5 times.
The 2 times that the #2 team won were last year when Strikers beat Moorebank, and in 2022 when UNSW beat Sydney Uni.
On both of those occasions, the #2 team went on to win the final.

See you next week.