But when it comes to hockey, Ekert swears he is blue, not maroon, and that he could not have been prouder on Saturday when the NSW Country men’s team secured a sixth consecutive national title.

Watching on from the sidelines as coach, Ekert’s NSW Country team beat Queensland 5-0 in the Australian Country Championships decider at Berri, South Australia.

It capped off an undefeated run at the tournament for NSW Country, who scored 41 goals across seven games.

“It’s six in a row now and actually we were the first New South Wales team to win more than five in a row,” Ekert said.

“It’s really good and to be part of all six was even better – three as a player and three as a coach.

“I’m hockey blue put it that way. I still know where I’m from, but at the end of the day I live here now, my family is here and my heart is here. When it comes to New South Wales hockey, I’m there through and through for the side.

“Some of it comes down to luck and some of it comes down to how you prepare, this year it was all about our preparation. It was faultless from start to finish.”

Since the former Queensland Country star switched camps to join the NSW ranks, he has certainly impressed in blue.

As a player he netted plenty of goals for NSW, including the decisive penalty in the 2015 decider against Victoria, but now Ekert devotes countless hours to coaching.

“I’ve got to dedicate a lot of time to setting things up – much to my wife’s disgust. Coaching is my passion now, playing is out the back door and and I don’t enjoy it as much as coaching,” he said.

“But a lot of time goes into it and a lot of time that no-one really sees. You’ve got to then put it all into 10 days while you’re away and hopefully it comes off, so it’s great that it has.”

While Ekert had plenty of talent at his disposal for the August 3-11 titles, including Central West stars Taylor Dolbel, Nick Milne, Ben Kelly and Michael Dillon, he said there was plenty of pressure on NSW.

Still, he knew they had prepared well and it showed in the pool games. Aside from a 2-all draw with Queensland, NSW dominated all its rivals.

In the semi-final NSW beat Western Australia 4-1, setting up another meeting with Queensland in the decider.

Ekert was confident his playing group could rise to the occasion and he was proven correct as they opened up a 3-0 lead and struck twice more after the break. Dillon and Milne were amongst the scorers.

“This will sound weird, but no I wasn’t nervous, it was probably the calmest I was for any game. Anytime you get a New Souths Wales v Queensland game, the guys just step up, it’s one of those games where you know your players are going to step up,” Ekert said.

“If you prepare well you are going to get the job done, but against a team like Queensland, it’s who wants to win it more. We were clearly the most dominant side there, which was awesome.

“It’s not very often you win a national championships, they don’t come along too often.”

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