'Flying' Flynn shines on national stage

WA hockey’s most prolific goal scorer of the past decade is starting to translate his local success onto the national stage.

Hale Hockey Club star Liam Flynn has scored four goals from his first two matches for the undefeated Perth Thundersticks to begin the 2022 Hockey One campaign.

Flynn – who missed the first match through illness – scored two penalty corner goals in the Thundersticks 3-2 win over the Brisbane Blaze on Saturday, matching his efforts in the 8-5 victory over HC Melbourne the week before.

The 2022 Olympians Medal winner has been a dominant force in the Hockey WA Premier League over the past decade, winning the Eric Pearce Leading Goalscorer Award a record breaking five times in just the last six years.

But Flynn said he had struggled in the past to convert his local-league form onto the national stage.

The Thundersticks striker said he had gotten the monkey off his back and believed he was starting to play his best at this year’s Hockey One.

“Trying to translate my Premier League form into games with the Thundersticks and Hockey One was something I struggled with a little bit in the past,” Flynn said.

“(Head coach) David Guest has been a really big help for me with that, we play together at Hale Hockey Club, and he is really backing me.

“He just told me to play like I do at the club level and put a lot of confidence in me to play my own game.

“It is working so far which is good, so hopefully it can keep going.”

Flynn missed the Thundersticks first win of the tournament through illness but was brought back into the side and made an immediate impact in Melbourne.

The goal-scoring star said he was thrilled to seamlessly fit back into a side which had such high hopes for 2022.

“It was really cool to come back into a team that was going so well and slot in,” Flynn said.

“Sometimes when you miss the first game you have to make up for it and play catch up, so it was nice to get straight in and start doing my job.”

The Thundersticks lead the league with three wins from three matches but are set to face their biggest test on Friday when they play the second-placed NSW Pride at Sydney Olympic Park.

Flynn said having early wins on the board meant the Thundersticks could now continue to work on their process.

“The team and I are feeling really good, it is nice to have got off to such a good start,” he said.

“It takes some of the pressure of us to have to really scrap and fight for results to make finals at the end.

“Hopefully we have pretty much locked a spot up in finals after the next few games and we can focus on the Finals Series in Bendigo.”

The Thundersticks travel to Sydney on Friday to play the NSW Pride before hosting the Tassie Tigers on October 29 at the Perth Hockey Stadium at Curtin University.

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Get tickets for the Thundersticks final home clash on October 29.