After a long off-season, Souths' new captain-coach Tahni Isedale believes this Saturday's Premier League Hockey women's opener will be a good indication of where the team is at.
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Isedale takes over the coaching role from Chris Stafford, who oversaw a winless 2020 campaign which saw only six regular season games played due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Isedale said her team is ready to go for the season opener against Orange United, as Souths looks for its first win since the 2019 season.
"This season has been a long time coming so we're definitely ready for a game," she said.
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"The girls are pretty excited. The first game will definitely be a gauge at where we're at for the season."
Souths opposition for Saturday is a brand new club formed back in January, with Orange United being the brain-child of former Confederates players such as Eva Reith-Snare, who wanted to give as much opportunity to the city's young players as possible.
While it's expected Orange United will feature some players from the old Confederates club, Isedale admitted she isn't too familiar with the club's lineup.
"We don't know much about them," she said.
The girls are pretty excited. The first game will definitely be a gauge at where we're at for the season.
- Tahni Isedale
"A lot of their players would've played for Feds last year. There'll be a few familiar faces but we're not entirely sure what their whole side will look together."
Isedale said she's expecting a big season from talented youngster Sophie Macauley, while Emma Siejka is expected to pull on a two blues jersey in 2021 after having the year off.
"Sophie Macauley has been going from strength to strength the past couple of years, so it'll be exciting to watch her play," she said.
"We've got a couple of returning players, like Emma Siejka, who is coming back after a year off. It'll be good to see her play.
"There's also a few new faces, so we're excited to see how those newbies go."
And after a coronavirus-interrupted 2020 season, Isedale is hoping for a less hectic campaign this year.
"Fingers crossed. Last year was difficult," she said.
"We only played each team once and we had a snow round throw into the middle of that, so we didn't even get to play one of the teams.
"We're definitely looking forward to playing every team a couple of times, to get a true gauge of where we're at instead of playing each team once."
The match between Souths and Orange United will commence at 12.30pm from the Orange Hockey Centre.
In other matches, Lithgow Panthers will host Ex-Services while Orange CYMS will have the away trip to play Parkes.
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