Hockey: Matt Willis preparing to line up for Perth Thundersticks against NSW Pride

Now settled over in Perth, the Tamworth product has linked up with the Thundersticks for this year's Hockey One season.

They are set to play the NSW Pride in Sydney on Friday night.

Willis confessed to feeling a bit strange preparing to take the pitch against the state whose colours he first wore as a junior all the way through to the Waratahs in the old AHL (the precursor to Hockey One).

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"It has been a little bit weird to get my head around obviously playing for NSW for so many years," he said.

"I think having those five years away (it is his first time back in the national league environment since about 2017) kind of eases that a little bit, but it will be certainly different on Friday night playing against a lot of guys that I've played with."

"In saying that there's also a lot of young guys in the NSW team with a lot of their Kookaburras guys playing overseas at the moment.

"I guess the other thing, and maybe it's only a small thing, but NSW aren't playing in blue anymore. So you know, that doesn't have quite that same feel."

Back when he last played, in what was then the AHL, part of the Kookaburras set-up, Willis reflected that it is now about different things for him.

"I guess sort of going away and playing overseas and then having that break with COVID and everything, you sort of get a bit of different perspective on things," he said.

"This time round playing at this level... It's not so much about necessarily trying to play for Australia or pushing that, it's just sort of playing good hockey at a good level with some good guys and see how we can go."

It has been a period of transition off the pitch too.

After COVID prompted him to reevaluate things he retrained as a humanities teacher, and has just started his second term at Ridge View Secondary College.

About 40km south of the city, the school is only a few years old.

"One of mates works there and once I graduated, he was like hey do you want to come, I've got a job for you, so it all sort of worked out," Willis said.

It is a 40 minute commute each way - 35 on a good day - but he is enjoying it.

He comes into the Hockey One on the back of a successful club season, with his Melville side following up their breakthrough first-ever Premier Division title last year with victory again this season.

"It's pretty cool; to be able to do it again sort of I guess proves the first one wasn't a fluke," he joked.

As for Friday night, it will be a good challenge with the Thundersticks and Pride both undefeated.

"It's a great time to have this matchup I think for both teams," Willis said.

"We've had some nice wins. We maybe haven't played our best yet, I don't think, I hope.

"We missed quite a few guys last weekend that were away at a wedding so they'll be coming back this weekend.

"And I think the NSW guys may have some inclusions as well, guys like Flynn Ogilvie are potentially coming back.

"So I think it'll be a good good test for us to see where we're at against probably the team that everyone's tipping to probably get it done."

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