A great Waverley crowd littered the balcony amongst the haze of the BBQ smoke and they were ably supported by the vocal Burra travelling sideshow. And it wasn’t long before the visitors were in full voice when Josh Pollard neatly jinked the ball over a diving Panther keeper’s stick to put Greensborough 1-0 up. But Brett Thompson’s men were not to be denied – even with star playmaker Tim Thompson on the sidelines with a calf injury – and just after half time they were able to level.

Greensborough had the lion’s share of the opportunities but Andy Beck still had to work hard in the Burra goal and made some fine saves to justify his place in the U21 Victorian Colts.

Soon enough, Greensborough had capitalised on their superior pace up front and were able to shut out the match with two late goals to claim the Cup and the $500 prize that had to be wrestled from Mick McLean as he went to put it on the bar. . . for himself. . .

But the match was worthy of the first final for the Pre-Season Cup with talent of the calibre of Mirecki, Simpson, Joseph and J. Brooks all on display for two teams that will be highly fancied to play again at some stage in September.

And the Women’s match was equally entertaining with the Waverley girls, led by Danita Eastman, having all the early running and scoring first. But it was Greensborough’s day and some great corner hitting saw the visitors ascend to an unassailable 3-1 lead before the Panthers scored a late goal to give Burra coach Greg Van Meeuuaaaiiwwn some nervous moments on the sidelines.

And so the Greensborough Hockey Club began season 2008 where they left off last year and they show absolutely no signs of slowing down for many years to come.

If you would like to see a FULL GALLERY of images from the game please visit our partners ActionPix’s Hockey Show Gallery by clicking here – and best of all you can purchase photos from them directly!!!  

Waverley v Greensborough 2pm Sat 5th Apr at WAV

Womens Grand Final

Waverley v Greensborough 3:30pm Sat 5th Apr at WAV

 . . . it’s playtime.

And, as if in perfect symmetry, we find two of this decade’s most powerful clubs competing in the finals; Waverley and Greensborough.

Womens Final: Waverley v Greensborough

Mens Final: Waverley v Greensborough

But the road to the finals has not been smooth for either of these clubs. The Waverley Men featured in one of the best match-ups of the first round against a spirited and highly favoured Doncaster team on their turf and came away with a 4-2 win.

The Greensborough Men, on the other hand, completed the most lop-sided result of the tournament with a 12-1 drubbing of Monash Uni. But it was the SL2 Brunswick and Yarra Valley Men that came closest to knocking off their respective SL1 opposition teams with Yarra Valley pushing the newly-promoted Kew to strokes and Brunswick giving Phil Merriman’s TEMs charges an early scare with a 2-2 draw. TEMs also progressed to round two on penalty strokes.

But arguably, it was the SL2 Yarra Valley Women who have gained the most from this tournament as they defeated Southern United 2-1 away from home and then found themselves drawn against the 2007 SL1 premiers; Waverley. But the Yarra Valley girls were not daunted and took it right up to the Panthers in a brave 2-1 defeat. It was that win that saw the Waverley Women safely through to the semi-finals.

For Greensborough, the second round presented two vastly different results for their sides. The Greensborough Women accounted for an under-strength Altona side 9-0 (making their goal tally for the tournament 12-0) while the Men found themselves in early trouble being held by a resilient Altona 1-1. After the longest penalty stroke competition the tournament has seen, however, the Burra Men prevailed and set themselves up a home semi-final against MCC.

The Camberwell Men announced their intentions in this round also with a 10-0 thumping of MUHC and so the clash of the 80’s rivals was set up for the semi-final at Waverley.

This match was again decided in strokes with Waverley holding on for a 1-1 draw against the Wellers who could rightly feel unlucky in not progressing to the final in regular time. The Greensborough Men, however, barely got out of second gear with a 10-1 humiliation of MCC that left new coach Jarrod Lester scratching his head.

The Greensborough Women easily accounted for Doncaster 4-0 who had shocked MCC the week before by knocking out last year’s grand finalists in strokes. And the Waverley Women defeated TEMs whose best result for the tournament came against Essendon whom they knocked out with a tense 4-3 win.

And so we come to the finals and the two Greensborough teams look like the primary contenders to take the $1,000 prize money back to Yan Yean Rd. Amazingly, the Greensborough Women are yet to concede a goal in this tournament on the back of the 16 that they have scored. The Greensborough Men have scored 22 in two matches and survived a penalty-stroke scare against Altona.

The Waverley Men, however, will most likely be on their home turf and have easily been dealt the toughest draw of the tournament with fixtures against three SL1 clubs; Doncaster, TEM and Camberwell. But coach Brett Thompson has answered every question asked of his team in the absence of international superstars Travis Brooks and Luke Doerner and would fancy his chances against Jim Irvine’s Burra.

For the Waverley Women, they find themselves in the final without showing anything extraordinary with wins over StKilda/Powerhouse, Yarra Valley and TEMs. They have received a friendly draw thus far that will end with their greatest challenge against Greensborough if they’re to take home the $500 winner’s cheque.

It has all come down now to two matches, two clubs and two Cups proudly donated by Just Hockey.

The match details will hopefully be announced in the next couple of days but at this stage I would set aside Saturday afternoon to watch the Mens’ and Womens’ finals of The Hockey Show Cup at Waverley between Waverley and Greensborough. Good luck to both clubs!

* * *

Have your say about The Hockey Show Cup. . . Would you like to see it back next year? Has the experience been beneficial for the competing clubs or has it hindered preparations? What would you do differently?

Guys and Girls,

Just a quick note to let you know of the new subscription service for The Hockey Show in 2008.

On the right hand side of the the page, you can join up to our VIP subscription list.

Through the form of a custom built newsletter, we aim to keep you on top of everything going on in Hockey Show Land, and reward you with special discounts and offers from our sponsors, keep you up to date with all the news going on in and around the Victorian and Australian hockey scene and also automatically make you VIPs for Hockey Show events throughout the year…and trust us, you want to get on board those shebangs.

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So mosey that mouse over to the right and get a subscribin!

As the venues and times are passed on we will publish them here for you, the match-ups are…

Last weeks results were…

WOMEN’S CUP

MEN’S CUP

WOMEN’S CUP
Southern United v Yarra Valley
Altona v Monash Uni
Greensborough v Kew
Powerhouse/StKilda v Waverley
Doncaster v Footscray
MCC v Camberwell
TEM v Mentone
Essendon Ladies v Hawthorn

MEN’S CUP
MCC v Hawthorn
Doncaster v Waverley
Southern United v Altona
Yarra Valley v Kew
Essendon v Camberwell
Monash Uni v Greensborough
MUHC v MHSOB
Brunswick v TEM

Southern United has received one of the best draws with both of their teams playing at home against oppositions they will fancy themselves against. The men troubled Altona last year and would love to prove that they still have what it takes to be competitive with the SL1 sides despite their relegation. And for the Altona men, it will be a great hit-out for debutante coach Darren Duff who has taken over the reins at the club from Ross Harper.

At the other end of the scale it’s difficult to admire Monash Uni’s draw with their women playing the highly-fancied Altona girls away. . . while their men have an even tougher task against the reigning premiers, Greensborough. Even with many of the Greensborough players absent on Viking duties in Canberra it’s going to be tough to tip against the young guns of Burra at the Burra.

Doncaster have managed to see both of their teams playing at home – the women will fancy themselves against Footscray while the men will have their hands full against Waverley. But with an absentee list boasting, Smith, Brooks & Ford for this match it’s going to be a great test for the youth at these clubs – and a particularly challenging start for Waverley stalwart, Brett Thompson taking over from the remarkably successful Richard Nally as coach of the Panthers. This fixture will be the one to watch.

MCC have tickets to the coaching merry-go-round with Dan Coulson accepting his first senior role with the women after the sensationally controversial departure of incumbent coach, Graeme Chittenden. . . and the men appointing ace umpire Jarrod Lester after Gerry Anastasio chose not to continue at the club. The first assignments for these coaches will not be straightforward with the women playing the perennially successful Camberwell and the men tackling last year’s grand finalists, Hawthorn.

But if there’s one new coach breathing a sigh of relief it will be TEMs’ Phil Merriman – easily the youngest SL1 appointment in decades – with the TEMs men drawing Brunswick. But don’t underestimate the Wickers. . . coach Paul Richards would think himself desperately unlucky not to have seen his team in the 2007 finals and this club is looking to take another step forward in 2008 with the laying of a brand new ground.

The tastiest women’s fixture will see Hawthorn travel out to Essendon early on Saturday afternoon. It’s been a little while since either of these clubs tasted success but one would suggest they will be thereabouts in September.

Meanwhile, in the men’s draw – with MUHC v MHSOB and Yarra Valley v Kew – we are guaranteed to see two 2007 SL2 outfits progress to the final eight which should see tremendous challenges ahead for these clubs before Easter.

Make sure you get down to support your club for their first hit-out of the season in The Hockey Show Cup and help cheer them on to the first piece of silverware for the season!

The Cup is a pre-season knockout competition to be played over four weekends…

The top 16 Melbourne clubs will all compete for the $500 cash prize on offer to the winner of the Mens and Womens competitions!

The weekly draws are random with only the winners progressing to the next round.

The draw for the first round will be held on Sunday 2nd March at The London Tavern (238 Lennox St, Richmond).

All players, coaches and managers are invited to a few afternoon drinks for the draw and to organise their pre-season schedules while representatives from all clubs are present. . . but most of all, it’s a great excuse for all the players and clubs to get together over a final summer beer…or lemon squash.

Everybody is encouraged to arrive before 12:30pm if they’d like a seat for lunch as the beer garden at The London Tavern does fill quickly.

If you want to download a poster to display at your club simply click on this link – THS Cup Poster.