Played on the Cooke Hockey Complex on Friday morning, the NSW State team was captained by Bathurst talent Lily Kable.

Lahni Woodger opened the scoring in the opening minutes of the first quarter for NSW, however, the team struggled to put away good attacking opportunities until a two minute spell in the final quarter produced goals from Martina Williams and Makenna Barnett-Suey to seal the result.

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Birkefeld said the match was a great way to start the national championships.

"I'll take result but there's still plenty of work to do in the attacking 25 to do," he said.

"We weren't clinical enough for my liking. Too many chances went off the baseline but the development from our end to their end was top notch and I'm very happy with how we're going there.

"3-0 is a good result. I thought NT were very good today, very disciplined in their shapes. They made it really difficult for us to score, protecting the line to goal, great defending, great flat stick defending.

"I'm really happy with the result and it's a great way to start the championships. It's a great platform to build off."

Birkefeld was full of praise for Kable , a captain the players admire.

"I'm happy with Lily. I'm actually playing her out of position, she's never played as a CM before. I've thrown her into the deep end to add an extra attacking flair out on the field," he said.

"I think she's doing great. She normally plays an AM or striker, but she's leading really, really well from the front.

"I'm very happy with her leadership. The girls gets around her and she's good at improving others."

Two Bathurst players got on the scoresheet in NSW Blue's 5-0 win over Tasmania earlier that day, with Macey Fulton scoring a fourth quarter double and Maggie Thompson scoring the opening goal of the match. Taylor Grabham also featured.

NSW Blue were in action again on Friday afternoon after this publication went to print.

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