The Mercury's Premier League Hockey Team of the Year

The Mercury’s Tasmanian Premier League Hockey Team of the Year

In his new column hockey reporter Adam Clifford breaks down the top performers from the Premier League as he names his teams of the season with some surprise omissions.

With the Premier League hockey finals series the horizon, Mercury contributor Adam Clifford has trawled through this year’s match sheets and analysing statistics from the opening 18 rounds of action, to select a men’s and women’s teams of the year.

WOMEN

In somewhat of a shock omission, 2024 league MVP Louisa Jacobson (NWG) misses out on a place just 12 months after she streeted the field by a margin of 10 votes to claim the second league award of her career.

Another to perhaps controversially miss selection is Graduates teammate and current Premier League top goal scorer Josie Crowden (18 goals), albeit half of her season tally came in just one match against wooden spooners Derwent.

Just seven faces return from last year’s Mercury Team of the Year which includes OHA pair Taylor Brooks and Sof McLeod, Grads’ Grace Calvert and Beth Dobbie, and DiamondBacks’ duo Philly Bridley and Sophie Kruimink.

Kruimink’s elder sibling, Belle, also returns to the team after transferring across from OHA to Graduates and producing a string of commanding defensive performances, coupled with well-timed overlapping runs.

After skipping the 2024 Hockey One League to ply her trade in England, the elder Kruimink looks cherry-ripe to not only debut for the Tassie Tigers in October but also play a key defensive role as they pursue back-to-back finals berths.

Interestingly, the 16-player squad features an even spread of talent across all six clubs, highlighting the growing competitiveness of the competition, with a new wave of talent emerging such as breakout stars Frances Boyles, Ellie Sproule and Emily Rawson.

In goals, Derwent keeper Zara Cunningham earns her first selection to narrowly edge out Georgia Bennett (CAN) and Jess Stevens (DBS), rewarded for her consistency and resilient performances that saw her recognised in the Strikers best three players in eighty per cent of matches.

Canterbury defender Blair Beard made an empathic return to the competition after the birth of daughter Elodie, marshalling the backline and propelling her side forward with precision disposal.

She is fittingly also recognised as Team of the Year captain for the first time, playing a leading hand alongside Hannah Richardson and coach-hubby Tom Beard in transforming the team culture.

Beard joins Belle Kruimink at the heart of defence, with diminutive pairing Rawson and Sproule using their advanced reading of the play to good effect on the flanks.

The midfield trio of Brooks, Bridley and Sophie Kruimink virtually picks itself and there could be few cases made for a replacement, with Bridley’s 15 goals and Kruimink’s seven underscoring their dominance in the engine room.

English recruit Megan Cottee is a new forward addition to the starting line-up, after adding an extra dimension to the Lions forward line with 12 goals to help propel them to title aspirants and generate reward for Canterbury’s growing possession games.

Fellow selected forward Dobbie and Calvert may not have net as many goals as previous campaigns, but their tireless work ethic, line breaking and roles in transition make them selection locks.

The interchange bench features a mix of experience and surprise packets, with OHA veteran Sofie McLeod’s (11 goals) flexibility supporting eye-catching club campaigns from Boyles, Harriet Sproule, Jessie Pankiw and Stella Pritchard.

The hard luck stories sit with Crowden, Jacobson and their North-West Graduates teammate Maddy Rojahn, while OHA’s Julia Reid and Canterbury’s Jemma Kenworthy also had very strong claims.

Their mission to be selected in 2026 will also face fierce opposition from emerging talents like Freya Hewitt-Park (UNI), Amy Dawber (DER) and Lucinda Washington (DER), who can all expect to poll well in their respective club awards.

TEAM

Goalkeeper: Zara Cunningham (DER)

Defenders: Blair Beard – captain (CAN), Belle Kruimink (NWG), Emily Rawson (OHA), Ellie Sproule (UNI)

Midfielders: Taylor Brooks (OHA), Philly Bridley (DBS), Sophie Kruimink (DBS)

Strikers: Megan Cottee (CAN), Beth Dobbie (NWG), Grace Calvert (NWG)

Interchange: Sofie McLeod (OHA), Frances Boyles (UNI), Jessie Pankiw (DER), Stella Pritchard (DBS), Harriet Sproule (UNI).

MEN

Such has been the quality of the men’s competition there is no room for its biggest names, including five-time Olympian Eddie Ockenden and Australian under-21 pair Lachie Rogers and Oliver Stebbings.

While the former is the reigning Hockey One League MVP, the latter two have just returned from playing in a practice match series with the Kookaburras in Perth, as part of their preparation for next month’s Oceania Cup and World Cup qualifiers.

The rock star trio have been gazumped by a series of re-born Premier League stalwarts and a host of emerging stars.

With the season reaching a fitting crescendo, the trio will undoubtedly have a big say in who becomes eventual champion, but they’re squeezed out by a club-record four selections from minor premiers University and a host of eye-catching individual performances.

Derwent’s Ewan Vickery’s prolific season at the heart of defence sees him replace clubmate Josh Mardell as honorary team captain and sees him assume a full-back starting position, alongside University player-coach Ben Read.

Read’s dedicated fitness regimen has resulted in a sharp return to form, as evidenced by his 24 goals, and he’s lead from the front in the Students clinching the minor premiership with just one loss.

All eyes will be on whether the 33-year-old can finally clinch a maiden Premier League title, to go alongside his plethora of national championships titles.

Joining Vickery and Read in defence are returnees Tyler McDonald (CAN) and Oliver Pritchard (DBS), while Lion Brad Kitto’s supreme mid-season return simply could not be ignored with a substitute’s spot.

This defensive group sits in front of Lions goalkeeper Max Larkin, who recovered from a significant hamstring injury to concede just 38 goals, which is 14 less than the defending champions.

Alongside Mardell in midfield are first-time selections Angus McMullen and Keenan Johnson, who lit up matches with their game breaking skills and all-action displays, with the latter a virtual lock to debut for the Tassie Tigers.

It was somewhat like splitting hairs to determine the forward line with DiamondBacks pair Max Johnstone and Oscar Pritchard, working with Graduates’ Harvey Bessell and University’s Oscar Sproule. The crafty quartet added 58 goals between them this campaign.

Kitto and the younger Pritchard are ultimately joined on the substitutes bench by versatile OHA duo Oliver Smith and Matt Murphy, and the enigmatic Ruben Hoey returns to the Team of the Year after crossing to University from the Lions.

Murphy narrowly clinches the bragging rights over his elder brother Joe and indeed some bloke named Ockenden, whose glimpses of world dominance served as stark reminders that he could rip a premiership from any side, at any moment, with one sweeping move.

TEAM

Goalkeeper: Max Larkin (CAN)

Defenders: Ewan Vickery – captain (DER), Ben Read (UNI), Tyler McDonald (CAN), Oliver Pritchard (DBS)

Midfielders: Angus McMullen (NWG), Josh Mardell (DER), Keenan Johnson (UNI)

Strikers: Max Johnstone (DBS), Oscar Sproule (UNI), Harvey Bessell (NWG)

Interchange: Oscar Pritchard (DBS), Oliver Smith (OHA), Ruben Hoey (UNI), Brad Kitto (CAN), Matt Murphy (OHA).

Written by Adam Clifford for the Mercury