Hale Hockey Club a force to be reckoned with after claiming two Men's premierships

Hale Hockey Club’s president believes the club will be a force to be reckoned after it claimed its second men's Premier League title with a 5-0 victory over Melville City in this year's Premier League Grand Final.

The side took the win on Saturday to claim the premiership in their third clean-sheet victory in as many weeks, which saw captain Liam Flynn lead from the front to score all five goals for the match.

Flynn’s best on ground performance saw him finish the 2023 Premier League season with 62 goals, which Hale president Clayton Arnold said, “would never be seen again”.

“I used to play hockey at that level a long time ago now but getting five goals in the grand final, I think it’s something that’s just unheard of,” he said.

“Not only that but in the season, including the finals, [Liam Flynn] scored 62 goals and that’ll never be seen again.

“It’s just unbelievable.”

While Flynn’s performance was a marvel, Arnold also sang praises for Hale’s strong defence, led by Corey Weyer and Johan Durst.

“Melville are a strong team, and we didn’t take them lightly at all,” he said.

“They’ve got a very good midfield and they’d won the last two premierships, so we weren’t going in expecting what ended up being a one-sided game.

“It’s a credit to the boys to have two clean sheets going into it, the defence was playing very well, and we didn’t let them get too many corners.”

While winning the club’s second Division 1 premiership was a sweet moment, Hale also celebrated the talents of its Division 2 Men’s side, who prevailed over UWA 2-1 to claim the premiership earlier in the day.

Arnold said the club had been building its junior players, which resulted in several young players making up part of the club’s premiership team.

“There’s a lot of depth in both teams so it puts pressure on getting spots in our [Division 1] team,” he said.

“If it all goes well for the future, we’ll be a force to be reckoned with.”