Hockey: Success flows onto the selection table for victorious Tamworth open mens side

Isaac Farmilo, Ehren Hazell, Sam Liles, Andrew Kelly, Nick O'Connor and Oliver McGill were all selected in the various squads named following the championships.

Farmilo, Hazell, Liles and Kelly were named in the Pride training squad, O'Connor the 2023 under-21 men's squad and McGill the NSW Country side to play at the Australian Country Championships in Albany in August.

It's the first time Kelly has been involved with the Pride, although the keeper was part of Waratahs' squads back in the days of the AHL, and was the cherry on top of a weekend that will live long in his memory.

He's been striving to win a state championship with the Frogs since 2006, when as a 16-year old he was called in after their original keeper was injured before the championships.

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Now 32, he has been the keeper of the Frogs net ever since. He has only missed one year. That was 2019. He had a broken leg but still helped managed the side.

But until this year the silverware had eluded the Frogs, and him.

Kelly reckoned he'd played in probably four losing finals, including that first year.

As captain James Riddell, who had similarly played in a number of losing finals, remarked post-match "they sting".

Kelly doesn't even like to look at his runner-up medals. He still has one in the glovebox of his car from one year.

"I got into the car after the final and threw it in there and haven't looked at it since," he said.

"To have that no.1 now it's really special for us."

And to do it at home, the first time Tamworth has hosted the championships since 1985, only made it all the more special.

Kelly said he knew looking at the Frogs side they were "a real chance" and said they had that feeling going into the final against Illawarra South Coast that they were "going to win this".

"I don't think we ever thought we weren't going to," he said.

There were though some nervous times at the end with Illawarra South Coast having a penalty corner after the bell to potentially lock up the scores at 3-all.

The last line of defence, Kelly said he actually felt pretty comfortable with both of their goals coming from rebounds rather than direct shots.

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He said the moment when they realised they had actually won was "very surreal".

He quickly whipped his helmet off and embraced Calvin Farmilo, who had knocked the ball away, and Riddell, who was, he said, actually the reason he started playing hockey.

The immediate aftermath is something he said he'll be "remembering" "for a long long time to come" with the crowd starting up the 'Froggies' chant. They then went over and sang the Frogs song to the army of supporters who had ridden every goal with them over the three days.

Kelly said the crowd was "amazing", and spoke about being conscious of that's who they were playing for.

"Yeah we were playing for each other and we were playing to bring that trophy home for ourselves but mainly for the people who were standing on the sideline who had supported our entire hockey careers," he said.

Their mantra for the whole weekend was 'honoring the past and inspiring the future'.

"What we were trying to do all weekend was to play for those Frogs who have come before us and to inspire the next generation of Frogs," he said.

Over the weekend they had different junior sides come in for their post-game cooldowns.

"The whole weekend was really special, we had a lot of older players either coming in and saying hi, or guys that couldn't be there were sending messages," Kelly said.

"We actually had one from Michael York played to us before the game, which was really special as well, to have someone like him."

It is testament to how hard it is to win a state championship that it is something the former Kookaburra captain never achieved with Tamworth.

Now based in Orange where he works as a solicitor, and coaches and plays for Wanderers in the Central West Premier League, Kelly touched on the Frogs culture. It is something unique and special, and has been carried down through the teams over the years.

At the heart of it is representing where they grew up and the "town that shaped our hockey careers".

Dispersed across the state and indeed the country, it is also the one weekend a year many of the players get to play together again.

Riddell noted that is it also a good opportunity for "the older guys" like himself to come back and "give back to the local guys".

Guys like McGill.

Much to the chagrin of his team-mates - Kelly joked that he showed him the shield and said "I started pretty much at the top of this shield" - he is one-from-one with the weekend his first campaign with the Frogs.

"It was awesome; nothing like that," the Tudors young gun said.

"First opens, in town, and to come away with the win was just unreal."

At the other end of the scale was Richard Willis.

He was part of the Frogs back when Tamworth last hosted the championships.

He stepped in to coach when Simon Massey was unavailable to, and was as fitting a replacement as they could have had.

As Kelly remarked he "has given so much to Tamworth Hockey". It wouldn't be where it is today without him.

The long time Tamworth and Tudors coach said "to see the Frogs sing the song in the middle of the field with 1000 people here" was a great thrill.

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It meant a lot to him, as it did so many people, and he was understandably emotional, especially getting to share the moment with son Matt.

"On a personal note to watch my son play so well was special," he said.

He scored all three of Tamworth's goals in the final.

On the selection front Tamworth's Alice Arnott and Abigail Doolan were meanwhile named in the Pride women's squad, and Hockey New England's Nathan Czinner and Jake McCann the men's.

Czinner and McCann were also named in the boys squad for the under-21s along with McCann's younger brother Tyler, while Tamworth's Lily Neilson and Amber Whitney and HNE's Chelsea Thornton were named in the girls squad.

Rounding out the selections HNE's Cody McCann (men) and Caitlin Low (women) will suit up for NSW Country.

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