A STORM warning might still be in place for the men, but Central West Premier League Hockey president Nicole Riley is tipping the one of the closest women's title battles in years.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
With the April 30 season openers drawing close, Riley is excited about the prospect of a competition which highlights the best hockey talents from across the Central West.
While Ex-Services have withdrawn from the women's competition and defending champions Orange CYMS have a very different-look playing roster for 2022, Riley is still eagerly anticipating what will be "a really open" title race.
"Pat's have a pretty strong 11 with some new girls coming in, two of them are playing at the under 18s state champs, so there's definitely some good talent coming through," she said.
"Bathurst City are getting better every year, they've been through a stage of rebuilding and I wouldn't be surprised if they are a lot closer than they have been the last couple of years.
"CYMS have lost of players and have got quite a young team, but they'll still be strong, United I think should not be underestimated at all, they seem to have a really good base now.
"Panthers, they'll be back with a vengeance as well, so it will be a really good year I reckon."
In the men's competition defending premiers Lithgow Storm again shapes as the side to beat, Riley admitting "I think they'd be favourites".
They will compete alongside St Pat's, Orange Wanderers and Parkes, with a format change seeing only the top three advance to the final series.
Riley said the latter town is in a good position, lauding the efforts of locals to keep the association in tip-top shape and following the fine Parkes hockey traditoin.
"Parkes are doing great things out there for hockey, they're looking at their third turf going in," she said.
"So Parkes is in a really good position to be hosting things like state championships, they are really being pro-active and doing everything they can to promote hockey out there.
"Good for them, that's what we need associations to be doing, driving home the benefits of playing hockey," Riley said.
READ MORE SPORTS STORIES:
Though the hopes of forming a Barbarians outfit with talents from across the Central West not currently associated with a Premier League Club, to join the men's draw did not come to fruition, Riley said they are not giving up on the concept.
"We've had a lot of interest in it, but not enough to form a team for this season. It is something that we'll look at from a development point of view, we'll keep working on it and hopefully maybe next season we'll have enough," she said.
"It's just to try and boost the numbers in men's hockey because we're losing players to other sports. There are a couple of guys from Kelso who are really keen to put a team together, so if we can assist them in doing that, we'll absolutely do what we can."
CWPLH has been working hard on increasing the profile of the league and attracted new sponsors Ben Hagney Electrical (women's league) and Group One Site Services (men's league).
"We're really trying to push that Central West element, we want to take a bit more pride in the players who are from out here," Riley said.
"We've got so many that play in Sydney on a Sunday, we've got a lot of representative players, to have so much talent in the Central West, that's something that's worth putting out there.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
Bookmark www.parkeschampionpost.com.au
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on Instagram
