Hockey: Nick O'Connor adjudged player of the State Under-18s Boys Hockey Championships

On the back of his outstanding performance for the Frogs, the striker was named the player of the state championships.

He was prominent up front as they finished fifth in Division 1 after just missing out on a semi-final berth.

It was a near thing for the Frogs.

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After drawing what coach Garry Littlejohns termed the "pool of depth", late goals in a couple of their games was the difference between them finishing in the top two and the third in their pool they did.

In their second game against a Newcastle side "heavy on rep players" on Friday night, they conceded a goal in the last 50 seconds to go down 2-1.

A "good 4-1 win" over New England first-up on Saturday kept their finals hopes alive going into their final game against Illawarra.

Needing to win to go through, the South Coast side scored with around five minutes to go to claim a 1-nil win and knock the Frogs out.

"We just ran out of legs," Littlejohns said.

They were a young side with two 14-year olds, one 15-year old and two 16-year olds.

Littlejohns said they all stepped up and "gave a very good account of themselves", but against the likes of Illawarra and Newcastle, they just couldn't quite match the size and the speed of the bigger players.

Their cause wasn't helped by O'Connor, who was "the standout striker at the carnival" rolling his ankle in the first five minutes of the Illawarra game and being virtually on one leg.

The 18-year old's performance on the weekend was the continuation of what has been a great season.

He has been tearing up for South United in the local competition. In just three games he has scored more than 14 goals including back-to-back hauls of six and eight.

He said that did give him a bit of confidence going into the weekend.

After not having the chance to pull on the green and white last year with all the state championships cancelled O'Connor said it was good to play some rep hockey again.

The award was a nice bonus in what was his final junior state champs.

"It was a bit of a surprise but pretty good," he said.

He will now leap into the open men's pool suiting up for the Frogs at next month's state championships.

"We've got a pretty strong team," O'Connor said.

The likes of Ehren Hazell, Isaac Farmilo, James Riddell and Sam Liles are set to combine with some of the best talent in the local competition.

Littlejohns said it was disappointing they couldn't make the semi's having no doubt they could have been more than competitive with Newcastle and Illawarra going on to play the final.

Along with O'Connor, he thought Ryan and Chris Taggart were exceptional for them.

But they all played well.

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