Orbost Hockey Club has had a busy start to the 2025 season, and for four of their keenest junior players the action got more intense last weekend.
While the rest of their Green and Gold army took a quick break from East Gippsland Hockey Association action courtesy of a league-wide bye, the intrepid four ventured to Melbourne to take part in the Junior Country Championships, combining in all-star teams to pull on the blue and orange stripes of the East Gippsland Country Week representative team.
Over two days of action, each East Gippsland side played six games against the likes of Ballarat and Geelong and were challenged accordingly in a series of high-pressure and fast-paced matches.
The under 16 competition took place at the Greensborough Hockey Centre, and saw the Orbost pairing of Chloe Findley and Leni Millward take part in the girls tournament and Mitch Farley in the boys event.
The East Gippsland boys produced a run of strong performances to ultimately finish in third place, with Farley’s attacking endeavours certainly playing a big part in the team success.
While the girls’ representative team was unable to taste victory, co-captain Findley was inspirational with her hard running forward, while Millward was a defensive rock at the back throughout.
In the under 14s division, Jasper Anderson represented East Gippsland Boys at the Essendon Hockey Centre, with his powerful play helping his team to a win and three draws, in addition to finishing the weekend as their leading goal scorer.
Orbost Hockey Club will next be in action this Saturday when it travels down the highway to face off against Mitchell River at the WORLD facility in Bairnsdale.
