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Brisbane eye double Hockey One glory

3 minute read

Brisbane Blaze can claim both the men's and women's trophies in the Hockey One League but will have to upset NSW Pride and Hockey Club Melbourne respectively.

Brisbane Blaze will look to claim glory in both men's and women's Hockey One League inaugural grand finals on Saturday.

Brisbane face the undefeated NSW Pride in the men's decider, before their women take on Hockey Club Melbourne.

Blaze's Jake Whetton said his side would need to start better to avoid a similar 5-0 drubbing they copped earlier in the season.

"They put a bit of a scoreline on us last time we played and they've got a really good, solid group," Whetton said.

"We've had some chats as a group, done some homework over the past couple of weeks leading into this game and hopefully we've got a game plan that can come out and do the job on Saturday."

Pride's Tom Craig said his undefeated side weren't feeling under pressure but expected a tough contest.

"I think Brisbane and us have probably been the two form teams of the competition, so without disrespecting other teams, we've probably been looking forward to this fixture a fair bit," he said.

"We had a really good match-up against them in Brisbane, now it's in neutral territory, we're down in Melbourne, it's different turf - none of us are really used to the turf and the playing conditions down here - but it's pretty even."

Ahead of the women's decider, Melbourne's Sophie Taylor said her side would benefit from a home grand final, having edged the Blaze 1-0 earlier this season.

"I think we take confidence out of beating Brisbane last time - they've got a couple of inclusions and they're an incredible side," Taylor said.

"So we're going to have to pull out our best game tomorrow, we've got a fantastic group as part of the Melbourne team and we all have each other's back, so I'm really excited to go out there and put our best performance forward and hopefully that's a win."

Blaze counterpart Ashlea Fey said her team were hitting form at the right time to cause an upset.

"Last weekend we played a very good team game and I think that would be the selfless thing to do again this weekend," Fey said.

"I think it could definitely go our way."

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