Hockey: Tamworth men eyeing return to state championship semi-finals

With the exception of Matt Willis, who has a prac starting back in Perth on Monday, they are as coach Ian Woodley put it "as gun as we can get".

"There's some pretty good credentials," he said.

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The likes of South United coach Sam Clifton, leading goalscorer Nick O'Connor, Luke Maher, Tim Hardy, Adam Straub and Alex Taggart will combine with some of Tamworth's best talent plying their trade in Sydney such as Sam Liles, Isaac Farmilo, James Riddell and Ehren Hazell.

Calvin Farmilo is also making the trek from Darwin.

"He just had a really good stint at the under-18s nationals with the Northern Territory team," Woodley said.

"He's also going to be playing at the under-21s national championships for South Australia."

One of the first things that jumps out is the Frogs' striking ability.

O'Connor was the player of the tournament at the recent state under-18s championships, while Hazell, despite playing in the midfield, is the runaway leading goalscorer (with 18) in the Sydney Premier 1 competition. He is also leading on the best and fairest.

Isaac Farmilo is also right up there in the goalscoring stats sitting equal fourth.

"We've got some attacking weapons there," Woodley said.

The best part is they can attack from "anywhere on the field".

He is though remaining reserved about their chances.

They have in his opinion probably the hardest of the two pools, drawing Illawarra South Coast (1), who they have first-up on Saturday, Metro South West (1), Central Coast (1) and Grafton.

After no championships last year, Woodley said the players are very keen to pull on the green and white again.

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