Representative Open teams from the Sunraysia and North Central Hockey Associations visited Dimboola on Sunday to take part in a social interleague hockey tournament with a local team.

The competition took the form of a round-robin, with each opponent played once, and as the main aim of the day was social, no final was played or overall winner was crowned.

The Wimmera team included members from all six local clubs, and both visiting teams also featured several players with local experience.

Despite the warm conditions and the hockey season concluding eight weeks ago the grand finals at Yanac, all teams put in a good performance, with fast, free-flowing, skilful play.

The first match saw the Wimmera team take on North Central, and courtesy of a hit by Paul Mackereth that eluded a desperate dive by the opposition goalkeeper, they opened the scoring in the first quarter.

Another goal, this time off Royce Bennett’s stick, saw the local team hold a two-goal lead at halftime.

The visitors remained in the game with a goal in the third period, which set up an exciting last quarter.

While both teams created opportunities, neither could score again in the match, allowing the Wimmera team to enjoy the day’s first victory.

After only a short break, Wimmera fronted up for the second game, taking on Sunraysia.

The first half was very even, with solid defences at both ends of the ground matching everything the attackers could hit at them, and they went into halftime still locked at nil-all.

In a hectic third quarter, the Sunraysia surged forward with two goals, but a Todd Alexander goal kept the Wimmera team in touch.

As the heat began to have an effect on the pace of the play, Sunraysia scored another goal in the last quarter, and the game finished with a scoreline of three goals to one in favour of the visitors.

In the final match, North Central defeated Sunraysia by four goals to two, with former Warrackanbeal player Marcus Williamson scoring twice.

With all three matches complete, each team had registered one win each.

This was the first occasion that a combined Wimmera Open team had competed at any level since the Senior Country Championships in 2018, and it is hoped that this outing might create some enthusiasm to enter a local team in that tournament in 2024.


The Wimmera squad – (from left) Back - Paul Mackereth (Horsham), Simon Farmers (Yanac), Lachlan Schultz (Kaniva), Todd Alexander (Yanac), Oskar Bennett (Warracknabeal), Tom Werner (Horsham), Brad Alexander (Yanac)

Front – Sandon Schultz (Warracknabeal), Tim Jorgensen (Dimboola), Royce Bennett (Warracknabeal), Clint Beattie (Kaniva), Caleb Baldock (Dimboola), Kayden Rowe (Nhill)

Also played but not present for the photo – Ethan Schilling (Warracknabeal)


Wimmera players to line up with the other teams on the day included Horsham’s Tom Batchelor and Lars Simmons, and Dimboola’s Jason Harris with the Sunraysia team, and Warracknabeal’s Marcus Williamson and Ben Williamson with North Central.