Everything you need to know about the 2025 Hockey Premier League
From all the keys in and outs to your club’s rising stars, here’s everything you need to know about the 2025 Hockey Tasmania Men’s Premier League season.
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A 46-year men’s Premier League title drought was ended when DiamondBacks clinched a convincing 3-0 defeat of minor premiers Canterbury, with Kookaburras trio Josh Beltz, Jack Welch and Hayden Beltz returning to play major roles.
The latter claimed the player of the final award with an industrious effort in midfield, while Maroons coach Ilene Carr created her own slice of history, becoming the first female head coach to land a senior men’s trophy.
With the luxury of calling all three national players back for a title defence, subject to their involvement in the Oceania Cup in September, DiamondBacks will enter season 2025 as strong favourites but with the pressure on their broader squad to return them to the grand final.
University have consistently been in the title conversation in recent years before coming up short in finals hockey, with a wretched injury run magnifying their shortcomings.
But if you can believe the pre-season hype, playing-coach Ben Read, and livewire pair Keenan Johnson and Oscar Sproule are all at new levels of fitness.
Canterbury r-gain former Burras keeper Max Larkin and the aggressive style of new coach Josh Poke will see them chasing a top two finish
Then there’s North-West Graduates who boast junior stars Oliver Stebbings an Angus McMullen, while speculation mounts that five-time Olympian Eddie Ockenden may don the Bulldog colours in the back half of the campaign to strengthen their hopes.
The chasing pack of OHA and Derwent have ground to make up on their rivals and much of their fortunes will lie on having continuity with their best available talent and converting chances.
With a plethora of national and international hockey talent across each club, there will be countless twists and turns throughout the season, that begins with Saturday’s opening round of fixtures.
DiamondBacks
Last season: Premiers
Coach: Ilene Carr
Captain: Will Oliver
Key ins: Milo Gee
Key outs: Josh Commins
Rising star: Patrick Donegan
Coach says: This season will be about consolidating our growth as a squad from the 24 season. The key question for us is can we back it up to play in a grand final again and for the squad and this is the exciting challenge for us.
Coach predictions
League best and fairest: Keenan Johnson (UNI)
League top scorer: Oscar Sproule (UNI)
Clifford says: It would be a bold strategy to tip anything other than a DiamondBacks repeat with their Kookaburras trio available, however much of the year will focus on whether last year’s stars such as top scorer Oscar Pritchard can raise their levels.
Canterbury
Last season: Second
Coach: Josh Poke
Captain: TBC
Key ins: Nil
Key outs: Ruben Hoey, Tom Rasmussen, Luc Redman, James Sexton
Rising star: Cody Innes
Coach says: After reviewing the regular season in 2024 the stats showed what a dominant season the team had and a big reason behind them finishing on top of the ladder. We want to maintain the high standards set last year and improve our efficiency inside the attacking circle.
Coach predictions
League best and fairest: Eddie Ockenden (NWG)
League top scorer: Oscar Pritchard (DBS)
Clifford says: Will maintain their miserly defensive structures and their season’s fortunes will largely rest with their ability to hit the scoreboard. Tyler McDonald must set himself to top the scoring charts from set pieces, while Lachie Rogers plays with reckless abandon to boost their chances.
University
Last season: Third
Coaches: Ben Read, Trent Sproule
Captain: David McCarthy
Key ins: Tyson Johnson, Ruben Hoey, Dan Harper
Key outs: Nil
Rising star: Oscar Sproule
Coach says: this is the fittest University team to take the field in at least a decade. We have had a hugely successful pre-season and with 3 key signings we are looking forward to a big year. We are setting out to play exciting, attacking hockey.
Coach predictions
League best and fairest: Oliver Stebbings (NWG)
League top scorer: Oscar Pritchard (DBS)
Clifford says: Have seemingly won the off-season with some important signings and the return to full fitness of their stars. All eyes will be on how they manage the health of their squad and develop an adaptive game plan cherry ripe for finals.
North-West Graduates
Last season: Fourth
Coaches: Jeremy Stebbings, Patrick Ward
Captains: TBC
Key ins: Nil
Key outs: George Wilkinson
Rising star: Jack Larkin
Coach says: We have a young group that has a lot of talent but needs to learn a lot on how to beat the best teams from last year regularly. We can’t rely on two or three players to win games, and we need to defend a lot better as a team to challenge for a possible top two spot.
Coach predictions
League best and fairest: Keenan Johnson (UNI)
League top scorer: Oscar Sproule (UNI)
Clifford says: Does Eddie Ockenden play or not play is the $10,000 question. If the 5-time Olympian and Australian games record holder does take the field, word is former Bulldog stars such as James Bourke, Oliver Arnold and Ward may similarly grace the field with the G.O.A.T to make North-West a title proposition.
Derwent
Last season: Fifth
Coach: Torin Bester
Captain: Ewan Vickery
Key ins: Jarrod Cunningham, Alex Shaw
Key outs: Harry Winch, Angus Boulton, Patrick Ward, Stuart Webb
Rising star: Leo Korn
Coach says: We have some real defined focus points of improvement that I believe will help as we look to bridge the small margins that were there in our loses last season. It’s also great to have Josh Mardell and Ali Addison supporting as assistant coaches.
Coach predictions
League best and fairest: Oliver Stebbings (NWG)
League top scorer: Ben Read (UNI)
Clifford says: Have an experienced core of former premiership players that can push them into winning positions to mount a run at finals, while they develop their depth and game management.
OHA
Last season: Sixth
Coaches: Oliver Smith, Joe Murphy
Captain: Harry Laughlin
Key ins: Patrick McDevitt
Key outs: James Thomas, Oscar Lucas
Rising star: Jake Wesseldine
Coach says: Our young playing squad is a year more mature and have taken that next big step this pre-season into becoming confident, senior hockey players. We’re really excited about the progression of Wesseldine, Rhys Wilkinson, Ben Sargent and Lucas Sward this pre-season as they have all been training the lights out.
Coach predictions
League best and fairest: Oliver Stebbings (NWG)
League top scorer: Oscar Pritchard (DBS)
Clifford says: Have opted for dual playing-coaches with the departure of former coach Michael Park and I expect they’ll seek to play a high-octane brand and their fortunes will hinge on how they structure up behind the ball to support ‘Benjamin Button-inspired’ star veteran goalkeeper Harry Laughlin.
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