Five players from Souths will don the maroon for the five-day competition in Newcastle

The five Central Queensland players will don the maroon for the five-day competition which starts in Newcastle on Monday.

Five Rockhampton hockey players will represent Queensland at Hockey Australia’s Masters Women’s Invitational in Newcastle this week.

The five-day competition starts on Monday and will feature teams from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT.

Sue Deakin and Cheryl Green will play in the 60-plus division, Mandy Riley and Helen Kennedy in the combined 50/55-plus division, and Chelsea Scholes in the 40-plus division.

Each of the representatives plays for Souths in the Rockhampton Hockey Association competition.

Riley has been appointed co-captain of the Queensland Maroon team, which was selected following the state titles in Warwick.

She is no stranger to the leadership role, having captained the state 50-plus team at the nationals in 2019.

Riley said despite not all states and territories being represented, she was still expecting some stiff competition.

“Victoria and New South Wales are always very strong,” she said.

“We have some new players but quite a lot of the players have been in Queensland Masters teams before so I think we’ll go all right.

“I just like going away and getting to play against somebody different.”

Riley will play in the midfield for Queensland, alongside Kennedy, with their familiarity and understanding of each other’s game sure to work in the team’s favour.

The five players have been fine-tuning their skills in pre-season training with Souths in preparation for the start of the RHA’s 2022 season.

Riley said the club had really good numbers in the women’s ranks this year.