Rangeville eyes off fourth title

A DETERMINED Rangeville side is poised for the start of the A1 women’s competition tonight.

Tatum Stewart strikes the ball for Rangeville. Photo: Kevin Farmer

HOCKEY: Rangeville has held the ascendancy in women’s hockey in Toowoomba in recent years, and they’re not planning on that dominance stopping anytime soon.

The reigning three-time champions of women’s A1 hockey come into the new season with a high-powered squad, and coach Elke Swain is again optimistic of Rangeville’s chances when the new year gets underway tonight.

“The fourth one is always on our minds, but we know it will be a challenge,” Swain said.

“We have a couple of newbies joining our side, including upgrading a couple of juniors for some more exposure.

“I’m confident in the players we have.”

A key component of the success of Rangeville in recent years has been their ability to blood young players into the squad with the more experienced players on the roster.

Swain said this will again be the case, as they look for results now with an eye to the future.

“Getting that experience for our younger players is something we’ve always tried to do,” she said.

“We’ve only lost a couple of players from last year, and will still have the likes of Tatum Stewart, Aleisha Neumann when she is available and Maddie Staff.

“All of our Queensland representatives are back which is great.

“It’s a case of teaching the young ones coming through. It will be a bit of a rebuild year for us, but we have the luxury of having a few experienced players that can help with that.

“We don’t like leaving until the good players leave us. We are constantly rebuilding. We have a good mix of juniors and seniors and this has paid dividends for the women for years now. The mix of the two playing together works well.”

As they have done in years past, Rangeville opted against any formal trial matches leading into their round one clash with Newtown.

“We traditionally don’t do trials,” she said.

“We did a few sessions at The Bar Health and Fitness and have been hitting a lot of balls for the last three weeks at training and trying to get the basics downpat.

“We’ve got a new player from Brisbane, Maddy Kinnear. It’s very rare to take on a newbie that we haven’t seen, but her fitness and skills have warranted a spot in the side.

“Some of the girls played in the Tiger Turf Cup in Brisbane a few weeks ago, but it has been hard to organise a trial with other centres.”

Red Lion and Past High will officially commence the A1 women’s season.

FIXTURES

Red Lion vs Past High at 6.50pm, Rangeville vs Newtown at 8.20pm. All games played at Clyde Park tonight.

IRON JACK CHALLENGE HEATS UP

HOCKEY: The halfway point of the Iron Jack Challenge is approaching, with teams looking to work their way into the top two.

Strong form in front of goal and converting field goals has seen the GCC Pink Batts stamp their authority through the early stages, winning both fixtures.

They get the chance for the hat-trick when they take on the HSR Hot Shots to start proceedings tonight at Clyde Park.

It won’t come easy however, with the Hot Shots looking to bounce back from a tough loss last outing, where they led inside four minutes, only to be downed 2-1 by the Strikers.

Stafford’s Strikers recovered from a heavy 8-0 loss in the opening round, finding their best form last week to improve to one win and one loss for the season.

They have the potential to move into the top two when facing off with the winless SQPS Scorers.

The Scorers held a 2-0 lead over the Pink Batts last weekend, before a late surge saw them defeated 5-2.

FIXTURES

GCC Pink Batts vs HSR Hot Shots at 6.50pm; Stafford’s Strikers vs SQPS Scorers at 8.20pm. Games played at Clyde Park tonight.

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