Saturday, September 15 was the Collie Men’s Hockey Association grand final and awards day.
The day began with the annual Over vs Under 25’s games.
The game was played in good spirits with players from all clubs joining to form the two teams.
This created a different rivalry to the regular season as teammates became opposition and enemies became allies.
The game was free flowing with a distinct lack of defence as everyone on the turf strove for that last chance to get a goal on the board to cap off the season.
At half-time the Overs held a slender lead.
The second half was much of the same until the older, slower, wiser heads prevailed, pushing the deficit out to take the win.
This left the grand final to be played between Mustangs and Patriots.
As usual this game was a tough fought contest.
Mustangs started well peppering the goals, but finding it difficult put anything in the back of the net.
Patriots’ defence and goalie doggedly kept the advances at bay.
Eventually the Patriots midfield began to take control and deliver the ball to their forwards, forcing Mustangs onto the back foot.
This pressure eventually was to much and Patriots slotted the first goal.
Patriots used this confidence to push on and add another two; all goals coming from Jaydon Ellery.
Mustangs never gave up the fight, after multiple efforts they finally put a goal on the board but it was to late by this stage the damage was done, and Patriots who came from third, through the preliminary final ended up taking the match 3-1 and the premiership.
The yearly awards were also given out during the presentations.
Patriots’ Chris Michalak was awarded the Michael Aramini Medal for fairest and best in the grand final.
This year the fairest and best award for the season was jointly won by Greg Tomasini and Jamie Graham.
Greg Tomasini also won the highest goalscorer award.
Collie Men’s Hockey Association would like to thank all the volunteers, supporters, umpires and players for their support during the year and hope to move to strengthen the competition to an even better standard over the next few years.
