Waratahs reign supreme in men’s hockey grand final

WARATAHS claimed their first Far North Coast men’s hockey premiership in six seasons with a 2-1 grand final win over Northern Star at Goonellabah.

The Burringbar-based club also took out the division three title and will celebrate its 95th anniversary next season, with the current committee taking charge in 2021.

“It’s great to be back in the winner’s circle; Northern Star have always been the benchmark in the competition,” club president Alex Hetherington said.

“We were confident our guys would give it a good crack this season, it’s just a matter of digging in during the big games and playing well as a team.

“We recruited a couple new guys in and had some other blokes come back to the club, it all seemed to come together.”

Goalkeeper Zachary Grace shared the best and fairest award with Ballina’s Ryan Proctor and won the Chris Buchanan Medal for player of the match in the grand final. Grace has been a standout in the club’s last two premiership wins.

“He is the best goalkeeper I’ve seen, he wouldn’t be out of place at state level,” Hetherington said. “He kept us in the game.”

“Division three were really successful, we had guys in that team who have never played hockey before. One of our major sponsors decided to play for the first time and he brought a few of his staff with him.”

Ballina’s Neil Chaseling and Waratahs’ Neville Newell finished as the competition’s top goal-scorers with 17 each.

In other divisions, Ballina were minor and major premiers in the division one women’s competition. Lara Maloney won the Abbey Standing Medal for player of the match in the grand final, while Northern Star’s Hollie Matthews was the competition’s best and fairest.

Ballina also won the under-12s, under-14s and women’s B1 competitions.