ONCE they gave their all each weekend for Parkes in women's Premier League Hockey, but now that Mish Somers and Paige Hay wear blue and white they have a different loyalty.
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Now both are passionate Saints.
This Saturday at Bob Roach Field, Hay and Somers will line up for the Saints in a match against their old home-team Parkes.
Somers, who spent four seasons with Parkes before relocating to Bathurst, knows it is a special sort of rivalry.
"I still play touch for Parkes in the State Cup, so still definitely consider myself a bit of Parkes girl. But in terms of hockey and stuff, I'd say I'm a Bathurst girl," Somers said.
"It was very weird the first time I played against them because a lot of girls I'd played with were still playing. Now I think it will be a bit different.
"It will still be weird, you know home town, but they've got a heap of new super-young girls I haven't played with or played against. So it will be interesting to get out there."
Though the Saints, under new coach Ben Weal, are hoping to improve on a 2019 campaign that took them to the preliminary final, for Parkes the new season marks their Premier League return.
It is something Somers was pleased to see, just as she was delighted when Parkes beat Confederates 2-1 in the opening round last Saturday.
The star defender thinks that won't be Parkes' only win either.
"It was very nice to hear. It was quite disappointing when they exited a few years ago and with all the hard work quiet a few girls had done to keep them in the comp, but they struggled with numbers," she said.
"So it was awesome they've returned and they had a win straight away which was good for the girls. I think they'll be a bit of a dark horse this season.
"They're a team you can't take lightly and they're very strong at home ... so if you take the foot off against them, that's when they'll come and pull your pants and get over the top of you, they're a very unpredictable side."
Somers, Hay and their fellow Saints certainly won't be taking Parkes lightly this Saturday as they look to build on an impressive 5-0 win over Exies last week.
Hay was one of the Saints' best in that win at inner and Somers predicts her fellow Parkes native will have another strong performance this Saturday.
"She's now found her feet at Pat's and she had a bit of a blinder last week," Somers said of Hay.
"She ran all day and yeah, one of the best games I've seen her play in awhile.
"I'm sure she'll be keen to get in there and give it to the Parkes girls, because she has certainly played with a lot of those girls growing up."
That performance against Exies was one which please Somers, the Saints vice-captain, was excited by as a new-look attacking set up clicked.
"We hadn't done a lot of team work at training, so to get out there and string the passes together the way we did was probably a bit of a confidence boost," she said.
"The forwards were just in sync, having Esther Hotham back up front and combining with the Fulton girls was pretty nice to watch."
Saturday's match starts at 2.15pm.
