The A-grade men of the Goulburn Valley Hockey Association have several weeks before they suit up again, but there was plenty on at the weekend in their absence.
Mooroopna’s women face the toughest ask of any Goulburn Valley hockey side, but have acquitted themselves well after three weeks in the Victorian State League 2 division.
Two consecutive road trips across the past fortnight have brought success in rounds two and three of the new season, with a 2-0 win over Gippsland Strikers at Drouin’s Bellbird Park before Sunday’s 1-1 draw away at Melton.
Mooroopna cancelled out the strike of Melton captain Chloe Schwarze with a Tegan Summers goal, moving the local talents to an evenly poised record of one win, one draw and one loss after three rounds.
Hannah Vibert’s side has continued to quietly achieve, boasting a modest three goals for and two against in a division that has already had teams score eight or more goals on six occasions in 2024.
Werribee, a side which has accomplished this feat twice already, looms next in Mooroopna’s homecoming to the Shepparton Regional Hockey Complex in round four this Sunday.
Vibert is satisfied with how the Goulburn Valley representatives have navigated the waters.
“It’s going to be a tough draw for us, but we’ve had a great start to the year,” Vibert said.
“One of the things about playing games in Melbourne is a massive amount of driving; it’s a huge commitment, but it’s something the girls are all up for.
“We’re looking forward to making someone else do the drive this weekend.”
Given some of the lopsided scores witnessed across the league this season, in particular featuring Sunday’s guest Werribee, Mooroopna may well be on either end of a couple.
“We acknowledge there’s going to be a pretty big divide this year and some teams will score quite heavily with a clear separation,” Vibert said.
“We’re probably somewhere in the middle, but we really want to push for top four.
“We know we can match it with the sides coming down from State League 1; we’re quite strong in defence, but goal-scoring is going to be a big focus for the next few weeks.”
Meanwhile, Shepparton’s top men’s sides didn’t rest on their laurels in the absence of a round two league fixture — far from it, in fact.
Keeping the Regional Hockey League active for another season, most of the A-grade squads made their way west to compete with the Bendigo region’s best and brightest.
Headlining the competition’s second round was Strikers receiving a surprising caning at the hands of Strathdale, with the premiership favourites knocked over 4-1.
SYC had no such troubles, though, putting in a confidence-boosting shift to emphatically send Bendigo Senjuns packing 8-1.
Mooroopna was the one side to stay local as host, welcoming Eaglehawk to town only to suffer a 4-0 drubbing on Sunday.