Adelaide Fire returns as Hugh Purvis, Jason Butcher, Melody Cooper form coaching lineup

The Adelaide Fire will make a spectacular return to the field after two years on the sidelines, with a star-studded coaching lineup set to take local players to the next level.

South Australia’s national hockey club has returned from two years on the sidelines, with three big-name coaches set to lead the way in 2022.

After a successful debut Hockey One league season in 2019, the Adelaide Fire was forced to sit out as the competition was postponed through 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid pandemic.

Now, the competition is back and so is the Fire.

The club’s men’s and women’s sides will take to the field in October, with Hugh Purvis coaching the men and Jason Butcher coaching the women, while inaugural coach and former New Zealand international Melody Cooper stays with the club in a new High Performance Director role.

“You can just sense the excitement in the local hockey community,” Cooper said.

Adelaide Fire High Performance Director Melody Cooper was excited by the club’s return for 2022. Picture: Kelly Barnes

“We’re all really looking forward to it after not having the national competition for so long.”

Formerly a coach with SASI, the Hockeyroos and the New Zealand national team, and currently the Hockey NT technical director, Jason Butcher will bring a wealth of experience to the Fire’s women’s side.

Men’s coach Hugh Purvis – currently assistant coach of the Hockeyroos for the 2022 world cup – also has a similar resume, spending time with SASI as well as the Canadian men’s program.

“The two of them are very different coaches but have so much experience,” Cooper said.

“We’re also trying to build a succession plan for local hockey as well, where local coaches will get the opportunity to shadow our coaches and share knowledge.”

Adelaide Fire men’s coach Hugh Pervis. Picture: Hockey SA

Adelaide Fire women's coach Jason Butcher. Picture: Hockey SA

The Fire men’s and women’s sides will each host a squad of 14 players this season, and could include a mixture of interstate, international and domestic talent.

Cooper said the Fire would be ready for strong success, and would also work to develop local hockey.

“It’s really critical for our local players to have something to aspire to, and to be able to come together and watch and play with international imports as well as some of the country’s best is huge – we want to see more Hockeyroos and Jillaroos coming out of Adelaide.

“Our focus is to breed success as well, we’re playing to win.”

Australia and Adelaide Hockey Club star Michaela Spano (left) playing for the Fire in 2019. She will be a strong chance to take to the Hockey One field in 2022. Picture: Kelly Barnes

Hockey SA chief Geof Riddle said the Fire would be a club for all South Australians.

“It’s great to have an Adelaide Hockey team back competing again on the national scale,” Riddle said.

“The SA hockey community has been starved of quality national level hockey but now it’s back and I’m hoping it will reignite people’s passion once again.

“We want to be known as the people’s team and have all sport lovers across the state jump on and support us, and I think Hugh, Jason and Melody are the right people to help SA back on the Hockey map.”

The club’s first game will be in Perth against the WA Thundersticks on October 1.