Premier League Round 17 – Match of the Round Preview

Belgravia Sports Apparel Premier League
Round 17 – Match of the Round Preview

Seacliff Hockey Club v Burnside Hockey Club 

Preview by Bevan Jones

Premier League Women

It should be a cracking contest on Sunday at Mate Stadium with 4th placed Burnside taking on top of the table Seacliff.

Burnside have had seven wins, one draw and eight losses and sit equal on 22 points with 5th placed Adelaide University whilst Seacliff have had 14 wins and a draw and a loss in 2023.

Both teams are coming into the game full of confidence after wins in round 16 with Burnside having a 2-0 win over Forestville and Seacliff having a 2-1 win over Adelaide University.

Last time Burnside and Seacliff met was in round 10 and on that occasion, it was a tight game with Seacliff getting it done 2-0.

Burnside Coach Sanjay Singh, who co-coaches the team with Nick Pannell, said the next couple of weeks would decide the fate of his team in 2023.

“The girls have really embraced the one touch free flowing passing game Nick and I have encouraged. Sometimes games don't go that way but the teamwork that the girls display has enabled them to adapt,” Singh said.

“We are halfway through a four-game stretch that will dictate how we finish the season. 

“The girls seem to be really enjoying the opportunity to compete and improve as a team.

“We have enormous respect for the Seacliff club.

“We expect another exciting open game Sunday and we are looking forward to the challenge.”

Seacliff Coach Matt Morton said they had finals focus in mind when preparing for games in the lead up.

“We have been mixing up the systems in the last few weeks and implement new things and getting ready for finals,” Morton said.

“It is always a challenging game mid-week at 8:30pm but the girls did really well considering there were some players missing, they dug deep and got the result against Adelaide University.

It’s a long season and you’re never going to have your full side for many weeks throughout the season so you can’t read too much into what happens during the minor round.

“Finals are a different game, so we’ll take this week as it comes and put another performance on the park and make sure we are progressing each week.”

This will be another great contest between these two sides, but it is hard to go past Seacliff now. Seacliff to win 2-1.

Premier League Men

A big challenge awaits Burnside on Sunday when they face top of the table Seacliff at Mate Stadium.

Burnside currently sit 6th with a 5-11 record and are coming off a 3-0 loss against Forestville in round 16 whilst Seacliff with a 12-3 record is coming off a 4-0 win over Adelaide University.

Last time Burnside took on Seacliff it was Seacliff getting the job done in a tight one 1-0 in round 10.

Seacliff Coach Matt Morton said the busy schedule in the last few weeks had been tough for his team.

“For the men it’s five games in two weeks which is a real challenge,” Morton said.

“We are treating it as a mini state trip in terms of lack of training, focus on recovery and looking to knuckle down and work on preparation heading into finals.

“It’s always a long season, when we’ve won our last few flags, it’s always been from third, you get that extra motivation playing for your season when every game is an elimination final.

“At the end of the day we just want to make finals and once we get there, we reset our targets and our goals adjust accordingly.”

Burnside Coach Dan Haseloff said despite not making the finals he’s been happy with his team’s improvement this year.

“It has been a tough few weeks for us with injuries to a number of key players,” Haseloff said.

“With finals out of the picture for us, we are focusing on some smaller goals for the rest of the season to ensure we continue to move forward as a squad. 

“We have improved in a number of areas this year and we're looking to continue that momentum.”

Unfortunately, I think it’s going to be a tough day out for Burnside’s men’s side and Seacliff will win this comfortably 4-1.

This week’s Matches of the Round are LIVE on LiveHockey - https://livehockey.com.au
Women @ 2:00pm | Men @ 3:30pm