Last weekend as Bunt coached the current Bathurst open women's side to fifth place in division one at state, they produced a brand of indoor hockey that impressed him.

That kind of performance, as well as the fact Bathurst has nine teams competing across eight different state championships this month, shows the sport is in a good spot.

But with a number of those teams drawing on players from other associations to fill their ranks and most in division two competitions, Bunt thinks things can be better for Bathurst.

A revival of a weekly indoor competition is something he feels could help.

"Hopefully Bathurst can get a bit of a comp going and those younger players can strengthen themselves up a little as they get older," he said.

"I think for us, especially at this time of year, it's always been hard to get players so an indoor comp would help keep them interested."

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Bathurst has enjoyed good success off a local indoor competition in the past. After a league, played at PCYC, was formed in the mid-2000s, it led to representative milestones.

In 2006 the under 14 girls became the first non-metro side to win a state title in their age group. The 14 boys also claimed gold that year and Bathurst had 12 players selected in NSW teams.

In 2008 Bathurst formed an open women's and under 17 boys side for the first time, while Zoe Watts was part of the first NSW Blues side to ever win an age division title at a national tournament.

Though Bathurst has a strong outdoor competition, it currently has no weekly indoor league and given the differences between the two styles, Bunt feels it would be worth exploring a revival.

"It's a completely different game really, it's like putting basketball against football, it's actually a completely different sport, a different skill set is needed," he said.

"It's a smaller space and little things like you're not able to lift it [ball] so you've got to be a better trapper. Passing the ball is a lot more of a skill because you can't just jink it over a stick to get it to them, or try and hit through someone as they're more likely to trap it. It's getting people into better positions and advantage lines in the space.

"It just helps refines those little touches. It's probably more of a spectator sport too, there are a lot more goals, it's a lot faster and it's over quickly, it's not like a full hour of hockey.

"So it [local comp] would be good for Bathurst, it's just sad I'm not up that way to be able to do anything from here."

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