WA Over 45's - 2010 Match Reports

WA vs SA - Friday, October 1, 2010

We were off to a shaky start having spent an extra 2 hours on the tarmac in Perth before finally taking off for Sydney, which meant we missed our connecting flight to Canberra. However the extra 3 hours in Sydney airport lead to many a team bonding experience, especially when delayed information (no thanks QANTAS!) meant we missed out on not having to pay for our dinner..... Still, we managed to shop the food court area with our delayed $20 vouchers and scrounge enough goodies for breakfast the next day, supplemented by the efforts of the 55s and 60s who did an emergency shop for us, having travelled on an earlier and less traumatic flight.... 

Training at the National hockey centre went down pretty well, despite the reduced sleep and we managed to shake off the cobwebs and work out the DVTs with a tour through Parliament House thanks to the twins’ connections by the time the opening ceremony came around. A lovely rendition of the national anthem by a local primary school was very much appreciated by all states. A team meeting over dinner got most of the game plan sorted, with the Esteemed Coach (EC) saving a few surprises for the next day. 

The new day dawned, with a walk and coffees under the belt we were primed to play our game. ACT has three synthetic turfs at their stadium, so plenty of space for everyone. The 45s have the full complement of states represented, giving us a 7 game round with a 1 v 2 playoff. After a short stint in the change rooms, with a warm up “to go” (very much needed in these chilly Canberra conditions!) we hit the field, ready to play. We won the toss and sent SA in to bat..... well, gave them the ball anyway. 

A quick turnover saw WA launch its offensive attack in the first minute, with an early penalty corner. Unfortunately not successful, we had a bit of to-ing and fro-ing before Joycie managed to put one away in the 8th minute. We managed three more short corners and a massive 34 turnovers where we stole the ball from SA but no further score in the first half. Kate Main had a valiant attempt at a goal which the umpire deemed unsuccessful for the small matter of it hitting one of our feet, and Ships practiced a bit of golf, but no score resulting. It must be said that although having been selected in two previous touring sides for WA, Legs managed her first game for the state (ANSETT collapses and injuries during training noticeably absent this time around) and proved herself solid in the forward line. Imelda and Ships also took to the field like ducks to water... but we already have two ducks... well, a Ducky and a Duck... Goose... Cass... whatever. 

Ali’s half time talk must have really put the wind up as we went out even harder in the second half. Shazam knocked in a goal in the ninth minute, then again in the 14th and then again in the 20th, after which Ali dragged her to let someone else have a go. Somewhere between Shazam’s 2nd and 3rd goals, SA managed to get a short corner and score, but given that WA had the majority of play and Shazam was been fed like a plague of hungry children in a sweet shop, the SA score didn’t really affect our game. Marjo managed to get a bit of an education from one of the umps, who kindly gave her a pretty green card and a chance for a sit down with the tech bench people. Apparently they don’t play the 5m rule much out in York, and her efforts at channelling were not appreciated by the lady in pink. The EC decided that Marjo had been the naughty twin and promptly replaced her with Puff, which twin 2 must’ve taken to heart, as Henny then went on to score herself a minute later, proving conclusively that she is (today at least) the good twin, and quite a handy player herself. 

The final eight minutes saw WA wrap up the game with a display of possession and passing that left the SA girls quite miserable in their defeat. A 5-1 win for the first game was most definitely a good start to the tournament, everyone got a run and the first game nerves have been discarded. The EC was pretty happy with the team’s performance, and happily timed the girls’ immersion in the icy cold hotel pool in place of ice baths (seriously, who needs ice baths when the pool is about -3 degrees C anyway???) 

Team dinner in the local pub with our friend MJ the pollie from Parliament House, and an early night wrapped up the first day of play. Looking forward to continued successes over the coming week. 

Result: WA 5 defeated SA 1 
Goal scorers: S Stoate (3), S Joyce, H Guinness 

WA vs NT - Saturday, October 2, 2010

Cloudy and thunderstorms was the forecast for day 2 in Canberra, but as Puff had dictated that there was to be no rain while she was on the field, we were confident of a rain free game for our game against NT. We had another good warm up (we have this down pat now) before we hit the field and took the ball to start the game. 

It was Ritzie’s turn to captain the side today, and she showed excellent leadership by slotting in a field goal in the 4th minute. We continued the half with the majority of play, driving the ball into the NT’s D another 14 times before getting a short corner with 4 minutes left on the clock. Some excellent text book play saw Legs slot it away – which went towards making up for her earlier error in mistaking the NT bench for the tech bench and going there to look for the number of the player she was subbing on the field. NT did say that she would be welcome to wear the orange and black, but Legs politely declined. 

Building on our short corner conversion rate (1 from 1 in this game), we earned another short corner with a minute to go. The NT broke, we retook the corner and Shazam slammed it to retain our perfect record on corner conversions and a half time score of 3-nil up. 

The Esteemed Coach gave her half time spiel and reinforced the need to keep 2 hands on the stick and push in the “D”. Refreshed with our supplies of fruit and lollies, we hit the field recharged and ready for the second half. 

Some strong attacking play and a few long runs up the field saw us take control of the game, although we did have a few blonde moments and gave the ball to NT a couple of times by mistake. Mind you, it is a team game and we do like to share, preferably between ourselves though and not the opposition. We managed yet another strong attacking run and in a beautiful team play, Shazam slotted the ball through the crowded D and gave Striker a goal in the 17th minute. Kate promptly decided to drop a shin pad in the next run of play, but we still managed to drive the ball into the D and earn another short corner. A critical error by a NT defender saw her foot stop a certain goal and Ducky step up to take the resulting stroke. Never really a question of success with Ducky’s propensity for the overhead and other aerial variations, and we were 5-nil up with 13 minutes to go. 

NT became understandably rattled and we were not certain whether or not one of their players was celebrating a birthday, but they were given a green card and a short rest on the bench. It seemed cruel to take advantage of their reduced number of players, so we practiced sending the ball from end to end, around the back and the short pass game for the rest of the half. Another good result under the belt and with two wins to start the tournament and a happy coach it gave us the perfect excuse to hit the local establishment for refreshing beverages and watch Collingwood take on the rest of Australia in the AFL grand final. Unfortunately the Saints have not been watching us and were unable to emulate our successes, but we are open to offers by their management if they want any hints on how to score goals and win games. 

Result: WA 5 - NT 0 
Goal scorers: J Ritz, K Longbottom, S Stoate , V Re, A Duckworth 

WA vs VIC - Sunday, October 3, 2010

Yet another cloudy day as we headed for the stadium (for some reason the weather seems to think we’re in Melbourne, but the signposts all say Canberra). We watched our buddies in the 50s for a bit – some nice moves on the field there – before we went in to prepare for our own game. We did have to appease Puff a little, telling her that the spatterings of moisture falling from above was actually overspray from the “old faithful” fountain in Lake Burley-Griffin, and the over excited emissions from a few low flying birds, but despite her avowal that she “didn’t do rain” we started the game with what could only be called “light precipitation” for the first ten minutes or so. 

The Vics took the ball to start, and primed with some information from our Minister of External Affairs and Industrial Espionage, we had a good idea of what to expect. The Vics set up for their usual get-the-ball-and-run-it-straight-into-attack move but were stymied by an umbrella of black and gold that would not let them through. 

We continually frustrated the Victorians who were giving our defensive battery a solid work out. They earned themselves six short corners in the first half but were unable to put any of them away. Wee Fee was on fire (lucky no-one had an extinguisher...) and the defense belted the ball left right and centre before the Vics managed to sneak in a field goal at the 20th minute. 

WA faced a continual barrage of Victorian attack for the rest of the half and the Vics must seriously have been more frustrated than a St Kilda fan at the second AFL grand final. No further score for the rest of the half and we hit the half time break feeling like we’d had a decent work out. The Esteemed Coach reminded us of a few key points and suitably fortified with fruit and lollies, we headed off into the second half. 

Patsy obviously took to heart Ali’s instructions to put pressure on the opposition by forgetting to run away from the Vics taking the free hit and was given a green card for tackling within the 5m zone. She got a short break in the wet spot (who left the naughty chair in the rain, tech bench???) before coming out and giving the Vics a few more headaches. The Vics thought that they had scored from a short corner but even the umpires know that the ball has to go outside the circle before you can claim a goal, so their Victory dance was Vicariously short lived. Despite the pressure dished up by the opposition, our defenders stayed strong and kept them out for the remainder of the game. We had some good passages of attacking play but were unable to stick the pill in the net to equalise. Still, if I was a Victorian statistician I’d be saying 10 short corners in a game with no conversions is not something I’d be skiting about. 

We hit the “ice baths” on our return to the apartments – apparently local residents call this a swimming pool, and seeing as they would have to be part polar bear to live here anyway, it’s probably a fair call. With a team practice session before retiring for the evening (you will have to wait until the Monday night WA state teams dinner to find out exactly what we were practising...) we are looking forward to the public holiday game tomorrow. Of course, the 45s are the only teams playing on the public holiday as every other grade gets a rest day tomorrow, but as most of the attractions of Canberra will probably be as closed as Kevin Rudd’s ambitions for another term in government, we will look forward to our rest day on Tuesday when Canberra comes alive to the sound of Ducky’s gentle snores in Senate question time echoing down from the parliamentary mound... No goal scorers but have to say Wee Fee was best player by majority rule.... 

Result: WA 0 - VIC 1 
Goal scorers: none  
Best player: Wee Fee 

WA vs QLD - Monday, October 4, 2010

A leisuraly walk to nearby Manuka (pronounced MAAAAA na car) for breakfast at one of the fine dining establishments in the area was a wonderful start to the day. Unfortunately it wasn’t until the team meeting a little later that we remembered that it was Duck... er, Goose... er.. Cass’s birthday, so the residents and ambulatory public of Manuka were very disappointed to miss our spirited rendition of “Happy Birthday” for the lady in question. A few special birthday treats later, we were off to the stadium to take on Queensland in a trans-continental battle. 

For the political heart of Australia, the power broking seat of the nation, Canberra struggles with exactly what sort of weather it is dishing out each day. Overcast, showers, but don’t forget the sunblock because when the clouds part, there is a sting to the sun that will give you patchy red spots on your face if you don’t apply the blockout evenly – isn’t that right Vicki & Kate? Luckily this is a great aid to confusing the opposition, so we actively encourage it. 

Once again we sent the opposition in to bat and let them have the ball first, only to promptly steal it off them in a fairly active session of attacking play giving us first a long then a short corner, which we were unable to convert. Queensland took this personally and responded with a short corner against us, which despite the superlative efforts of Wee Fee and her team, they managed to knock over the boundary for a six...... well, score a goal, anyway. 

This seemed to provoke the Sandgropers (look that one up, children – if you’re playing in veterans league, you should remember the terminology) to come back with a vengeance. A particularly spectacular tackle by Henny saw both the Queenslander and our twin pirouette gracefully around their respective sticks before sprawling spectacularly across the turf in opposite directions. Given the Commonwealth Games currently in progress they managed to earn an 8.5 and 7.5 respectively, with Henny’s extra marks coming for the courtly bow she made to the crowd on rising from the turf. 

It took a while for the team to resettle, and after a burst of play with Queensland pressuring our defense, the WAsy girls took the game into our own hands and slotted in a goal to equalise the scores. Another ten minutes of even play before the Queenslanders had another lucky break and managed to smack the ball at Wee Fee several times before managing to sneak one past for another goal. We finished the half 2-1 down but with the last couple of minutes going our way. 

Our Esteemed Coach was quite excited in her half time talk and fired up the girls for the second session with the help of the twin’s supply of chocolate coated coffee beans. While not officially a banned substance, they did seem to give certain players a boost and management will be looking at further options along these lines for future games. 

We hit the pitch for the second half with captain Ritzie throwing herself into the game left, right and centre. We are thankful that she is little as the umps haven’t twigged that she may occasionally be on her knees while playing the ball, but as she is quite quick at the ”dive, slide, swing, jump up and run some more” sequence, we have managed to stay out of trouble. 

Kate however, has not and has been unfairly targeted by many an opposition player, leading her to be the recipient of some rather spectacular “mad axe murderer” style tackles by the burgundy bodies on the field. We think it’s because they can tell she’s left handed and they are jealous of her reverse stick skills. They may have also been entranced by her lithe and athletic movements chasing an errant substitution number card down the field, but that is another story... 

All that aside, it took the Queenslanders 13 minutes to earn themselves a short corner, which they managed to convert – to our disappointment. Some great midfield play saw the ball travel from end to end, with more turnovers than you could poke a stick at (and believe me, we were trying!). An excellent passage of attacking play in the last three minutes saw WA score again, but not enough time to equalise the match. We finished with a 2-3 loss and sitting equal third on 6 points with NSW, one point behind Tassie and Queensland and Victoria on top of the table with 9. The rest day for all the 45s teams tomorrow will allow us to recuperate from the first half of the round and recharge the batteries for the lead up to the final. 

Of course, the best way to do this is for all WA teams to have a get-together, so we descended on the ACT Rugby Club in Barton for our team fling. It was great to catch up with our buddies from other teams and exchange small gifts as well as hang out with mates and tell tall tales of bygone years, games and players. And no such gathering would be complete without entertainment, which was most professionally presented by the teams themselves with a small interlude by a quartet of locals who could not read the “Closed for private function” sign at the front door. Not sure why they wouldn’t think it odd that a rowdy group of 100+ women in black and gold would be in the rugby club on a Monday night, but this is Canberra and we are learning that despite the political platforms of our ruling parties (or maybe because of them) almost anything is acceptable here. Many thanks to Kate & Duck for leading the singalongs between acts – it’s amazing how many songs they reminded us that we knew – with actions – that we still had the agility to perform after a gruelling four days of tournament competition. 

Tuesday is our rest day, and we have several low-key sightseeing and fine dining activities planned before coming back on Wednesday rested and raring to go for the remainder of the tournament. Nico’s House of Massage will continue to operate over the break, with clients requested not to ask for “happy endings” as these will be politely declined. 

Result: WA 2 - QLD 3 
Goal scorers: S. Stoate, K. Longbottom  
Best player: Kate Main 

WA vs NSW - Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Sing: “The sun is a-shining to welcome the day.... hey ho, off to the fair” 

Well, maybe not the fair but the sun was definitely shining as we left the apartments and headed off to the stadium. We all had a most relaxing and refreshing rest day yesterday, with various tours of the War Memorial, shopping complexes, a bit of game watching and leisurely lunching and dining. Everyone was feeling fighting fit and raring to go, and looking at the Canberra sun as a poor reflection of our normal WA conditions, we were looking forward to today’s game. 

Sunblock applied and warm up completed by simply walking from bus to the ground (maybe there was a bit of jogging and stretching and a few balls bandied about...) we lined up on the Powell Field and gave NSW the ball to start. Again, we practiced our “Indian giver” routine and promptly stole the ball off them, driving into attack and converting the resulting short corner in a text book play in the second minute. The bench swooned, the Esteemed Coach was ecstatic and the manager deafened as we celebrated the early dominance of the game.  

Some great channelling by Ali “Ships” Hoy (also known as Annette Baller) helped improve our turnover stats as the next 13 minutes saw some good end to end play between the two teams. Unfortunately NSW got lucky in our defensive circle and managed to convert a penalty corner of their own, but they were looking decidedly wilted in the unusual Canberra sun and seemed to go into a decline. 

WA responded with a strong six minutes of attacking play, with Imelda “Shoes” Pankhurst setting up a great assist to allow Kate Main to slot in her second goal for the half. We had some strong drive into attack in the remaining 10 minutes but were unable to convert the corner we earned with 4 minutes left on the clock. Marjo took a fairly hefty tumble and came off for an extra sit down just to make sure all was well (amazing what you can do with some fixomul and rigid strapping tape these days...) We finished the half with the ball in our possession and the score line 2-1 in our favour. 

Deft application of wet towels at half time seemed to revive the players and recharge the batteries, although perhaps not as effective as we hoped. NSW practiced our patented Indian giver manoeuvre and took the ball into our D for a short corner that could not get past our superlative defensive barrier. Unfortunately a lifted ball managed to collect a NSW player in the head in the sixth minute, and play was stopped to allow for treatment of the player on the field, before she was able to leave the field (escorted but on her own legs – always a bonus). Unfortunately this seemed to be contagious and our own Joycie wore a ball to the head as well after NSW broke on a short corner and again play was stopped and Joycie was also escorted to the bench under her own steam. A bit of a rest in the shade and Joycie made it back for the last ten minutes. This obviously inspired the WAsy girls as after a spate of attacking play, we managed to send the ball into the D and earn a penalty stroke. Shazam stepped up to the spot and slotted in a nice one – bottom left – leaving the keeping quite distressed. Never one to take advantage of a downhearted opposition, WA struck back with a field goal two minutes later – Shazam again.... in more ways than one. 

The EC was getting very excited on the bench (note to self: remember earplugs) as the game wound down, especially when NSW got a corner against us in the dying seconds of the game. However with Patsy charging out as first runner they never stood a chance and the game finished with us 4-1 up and sitting on equal second, pending the results of the rest of the day’s games. 

A quiet night was planned by all as we have the first game tomorrow against our hosts ACT. Not looking forward to the early start, but am sure we can give them heaps, as long as the EC gets her triple shot soy latte and Kate gets a chance to read the paper before we hit the pitch.  

Result: WA 4 - NSW 1 
Goal scorers: K Main (2),S Stoate (2)  
Best player: Anita Duckworth 

WA vs ACT - Thursday, October 7, 2010

I am so not a morning person....... 

Today we left the apartments at 7.30am to be able to cope with the Canberra peak hour traffic before our 9:15am game. We must have blinked and missed it though.... Our biggest excitement came from a tradie’s van which decided to dash across an intersection in front of the team bus.... maybe he hadn’t had his coffee either. We made it to the stadium in the usual 20 minutes, even allowing for dawdling, so wandered into the grounds rubbing sleep out of our eyes, squinting into the sunrise and hovering around the canteen door to see if they would let us in for a coffee (despite all the hype about powerade, red bull and all that new fangled gloop they market, our team functions best on a flat white or a skinny cap as a pre-game booster...). The twins brought out the chocolate coated coffee beans, EC & Kate managed to get the canteen open so between these measures most players managed to satisfy their cravings, and we started our warm up to the tune “It’s a fine line between pleasure and pain.” We weren’t sure if this was going to be a good omen but decided that the pain was from getting up way too early and the pleasure would be coming from our win, so all was looking positively peachy. 

For some reason we are allergic to taking the ball when we win the toss, so we continued our tradition of letting the opposition start with the ball only to take it straight off them. A lovely run of attacking play saw WA drive into the ACT defense for the first eight minutes. Obviously rattled, the ACT team broke on a short corner we earned against them, and we were encouraged by the ACT team spirit as the ACT postie yelled “You cow” after the offending breaker as she retired to the half line. A second break left the ACT with only three behind the line so we decided to give our Esteemed Coach a minor coronary by pushing the ball all round the D and not scoring while we had the advantage. 

We had the majority of play in the first half but it wasn’t until we had ten minutes to go that we earned a short corner and Joycie put one on the board for us. We finished off the half with a few defensive manoeuvres, although a massive hit from Annette had Kate running for the baseline, but Ali obviously had had more chocolate covered coffee beans than Kate had coffee and the ball managed to beat Kate over the line. 

At half time we were 1-0 up and the blood was definitely flowing through the veins a lot less sluggishly. EC was pleased with the team’s performance but as the song said on Monday night, “Ali asked for more.” We had a strong start to the second half with several circle penetrations and shots on goal, but didn’t manage to put one away until our relentless attack saw Shazam knock in a goal with 13 minutes left on the clock. This seemed to dishearten the ACT and bolster the WA girls all in one hit. WA went on an attacking frenzy, with Shazam scoring 2 more and Legs squeezing one in there, being the last to touch the ball in a team effort in the D. There was some text book play in there – long runs up the field, triangle passes around the opposition – a coach’s dream. And as the EC has decided that five is her favourite number, it was very apt that we finished with a 5-0 win. 

Our final game tomorrow against Tasmania could be a battle for the silver position on the ladder, depending on the outcome of the rest of the games today. Meanwhile, the girls have headed off to “do” Floriade and a bit of light shopping before hosting the Over 50’s for cocktails tonight. Thankfully our schedule has us back to the 2:15pm timeslot and a much more civilised time to play (did I mention that I don’t do mornings? I did? Well, might make an exception for days like today...) 

Result: WA 5 - ACT 0 
Goal scorers: S Stoate (3), S Joyce, K Longbottom  
Best player : S Joyce 

WA vs TAS - Friday, October 8, 2010

The new day dawned (I think we saw the sun at about 8.30am.... great night with the 50s last night for pre-dinner drinks, a bit of dancing and creative decorating of the stairwell outside the captain’s room. For the record, the rubbish bag broke through no fault of the carrier). We weren’t quite sure how to take this game – a win would put us in third position if everything went according to predictions, but a major mistake by Qld could also see us increase our position to second with a win. With only a 1v2 playoff in our grade, the nerves were out in force and no-one was quite sure what to expect. With the team having a few nervous kittens, Nico’s dog back in Perth started having puppies... making it up to five before we got to hit the pitch. 

Following our tried and true formula, our opposition started with the ball, only to get a quick breakaway and earn two penalty corners against us in the first minute, converting the second. Understandably shaken (did they not realise the formula meant WE were to make the breakaway and score???) it took the WA girls a few minutes to recover and work out the Tassie game with a bit of end to end play, flitting in and out of eachother’s attacking circles until Puff managed to save a shot on goal against us with her chest. Unfortunately as she wasn’t a goalie, this resulted in a penalty stroke against us, which Wee Fee ably defended. 

By this time, WA had sorted out the Tassie game and was able to dominate the remaining 18 minutes with some strong attacking play. Unfortunately we were unable to convert the four long corners or two penalty corners, so we headed into the half time break 1-0 down. Our Esteemed Coach reminded us of the need to play our game, control the ball and retain possession at all times. Our best game comes from the short passes, triangle passing and the round the back manoeuvres – which we were using more frequently in the second half. Suitably rehydrated and resunblocked, we hit the pitch in rather warm conditions for Canberra and took the ball into attack. 

WA dominated the first 12 minutes, but a late breakaway by the Taswegians saw them in the goal and scoring in the 14th minute. Unfortunately, our wonderful keeper Wee Fee managed to seriously injure her troublesome knee and spent the next six minutes hobbling around in the circle, completing two awesome saves, before the pain got the better of her and we had to force her from the field. Thankfully the WA spectators from our O40s team were able to take her off to hospital for xrays and assessment, while the rest of us regrouped and worked out how we could fill the sizable gap in our defence left by her departure (being a one keeper team). After much discussion with the umps and tech bench, we decided to run with eleven field players (apparently FIH experimental rules state that we no longer have to have a keeper or helmeted player on the field, which has not been the WA interpretation of the rules). This was a new and daunting experience for the WA team, who regrouped and set up with Puff at the back and the rest of us determined to make Fi proud of us. With Puff “channelling” Fi and booming directions all over the place, WA drove into attack and quickly earned a short corner, which Henny managed to convert. WA retained the majority of play in the final eleven minutes, although Tassie managed to get a short corner against us, which was ably defended by Puff and co. I’m not sure, but I think the Taswegians were intimidated by the WA defense almost linking arms and charging at them like a rugby scrum and they had no chance of getting the ball past such a determined quintet. 

We finished the game 1-2 down, knowing that we had certainly worked our hardest in the final minutes. Our tournament now over, we could look back at several of the highlights to date. We had scored 22 goals during the past week, 10 of which were claimed by Shazam, making her the most probable candidate for highest goal scorer in the grade. Our game play improved over the course of the week and we ended up with a massive 465 turnovers in our favour (where we got the ball off the opposition) with them only managing to get it away from us 387 times. We got into the circle in attack 151 times, but the opposition only managed to get into our defensive circle 99 times. Our short corner conversion rate was a shade under 22% for the tournament, with a scoring percentage of 44% overall (goals to shots on goal). Certainly many positives to build on for future years. 

Our Wee Fee was returned to us in one piece, although on crutches (much to her disgust) with instructions to rest up until she could see her regular doctor in Perth. Nico’s dog managed to have ten puppies over the course of the day, which had most of us wincing in sympathy. Team dinner in a local Italian restaurant, then a day of watching finals ahead before we start the long haul back to WA. A memorable tournament in many ways, especially for our “virgins” Shoes and Ships (Annette Baller – think this one will stick!) and pseudo virgin Legs. We’re not sure that Canberra will ever be the same again, but we are looking forward to the 2011 Australian Women’s Masters Hockey Championships being held in Perth, where we can show the rest of Australia what real weather is, and how to have a good time both on and off the field. See you all in Perth next year! 

Result: WA 1 - TAS 2 
Goal scorers: H Guinness  
Best player : H Guinness (Honorable Mention H Rule) 

PS. Several of our players were selected in the Over 45 Australian Womens Masters Team to play in the Gold Coast in July 2010. 
Congratulations to Fiona Althaus, Anita Duckworth, Judy Ritz and Suzanne Stoate who made the team and Marjorie Boultbee who was named as a shadow player. Special congrats to Suzanne who was also named in the leadership team as one of three co-captains.