After a number of year playing and coaching David Knipe has stepped down as 1st XI head coach with veteran trio Frank Ryan, Todd Mills and Cammy Fraser all ‘retiring’. We wish them all the best and thank them for all of their service, it is much appreciated when guys puts so much time into the club and into the sport and the door will always remain open to them and their kids to come back at any time.

The team have been on a recruitment drive during the summer bringing in Josh McRae from the Gold Coast, Dave Forrester from France, Ben Upton from the southern coast and we welcome back Will Shepherdson from Exeter University.

Calum Milne and Stevie Grubb will lead coaching and the team are looking forward to an exciting and challenging league, cup and European campaign.

One to watch: Martin Shepherdson. Ed Irvine also stepped down after being manager for the last 3 seasons. Old Shep will need to make sure his tartan blanket game is on point this season in order to continue Ed’s legacy.

2nd XI

The 2s finished on a high last season, lifting the district cup. As always the 2s have lost players to university and we wish them the best. The next crop of exciting young talent will be pushed up from the Dev Team and the 3s.

Ben Docherty takes the reigns this year and will provide excellent leadership for this young, developing team. Also, who knows, we might even seen Rob Barr make an appearance after having a baby and taking a season off …

One to watch: New Harry – better at hockey than the old Harry, benches more than the old Harry and has better chat than the old Harry. Oh yeah, old Harry is now vice-captain.

3rd XI

The 3s succumbed to the Galacticos in the final game of last season and Matt Henton has been bitter all summer. So after much negotiation he has concluded the transfer of at least 3 of the 5th XI squad. Add to that a couple of new faces – notably Jordi Masip from Barcelona and the 3s will be their tough, no nonsense selves. Games are always exciting with the 3s and there are always goals! Looking forward to even more this season!

One to watch: Dave Coaton – after becoming a father to Hugo ‘Boss’ Coaton over the summer Dave has a new lease of life. This extra energy will be vital in the 3s midfield.

Dev XI

It might sounds strange but this season the dev team will have a younger look to it. A re-jig of some of the old boys in the team sees Chris Murphy take charge of the development team. Chris has experience of bringing youngsters through club sport and is a regular youth team contributor in our cricket section.

Chris will continue the excellent work Shep has done over the last 10 years and we hope to introduce a plethora of new kids to adult hockey during the season.

One to watch: Any of our nine U16 stags who were selected for the East U16 squad last weekend

5th XI

Gordon Allan’s Galacticos have just won the inaugural 2/3/5s tournament at St Georges and continue to assert their dominance on the club. They have since offered the 1s a ‘take-on’ – a challenge which has yet to be accepted. There is a sprinkling of new players but the 5s keep their core from last season. With Central League being re-established after last season, the 5th XI have another good chance of winning East 1 this year. If they can keep the consistency and quality they have shown last year they will be sticky opponents for any team in the cup too.

One to watch: Jon ‘the canoe’ Broomhead is back – a speedy right winger who will be back delivering crosses for Meikle and Martin to finish off

6th XI

Tom ‘the recruiter’ Chisholm has signed up every new player in the club to his whatsapp group. The man with the largest squad in the club expects big things from the 6s this year. A couple of regular faces coming back from injury and a new tea boy in Dan Cummings means the 6s will be a competitive team on pitch and an extra social team off pitch.

One to watch: After recruiting goalies at the top end of the club Iain Chisholm joins the 6s this year. He will be sorely missed by the 5s squad leaving big shoes to fill – a great Goalkeeper who will be playing with his brother and sure will be crucial on the line saving loads of points for the mighty 6s this season!

7th XI

The 7s have been reinvigorated under the new captaincy of Jonathan Norrie and there are rumours they already have 14 available for Saturday (it’s only Wednesday night) Unbelievable scenes. Jonathan has promised beers and pies post match and an invite to the 7s dinner for anyone willing to offer their playing, coaching or umpiring services during the season. This team is all about inclusively, socialising and participation and Jonathan is a great advocate for all of these so I am sure the team will do well and have an enjoyable year.

One to watch: Mike Dougal is making a comeback after a quadruple heart bypass. Easy now Mike …

Umpiring
As we field so many teams, we struggle at times to also provide enough umpires to cover all our games. Stephen Jamieson would love to hear from you if you can help out in any capacity !!

Volunteers
We also rely heavily on volunteers doing a lot of organisation and behind the scenes work each year. Usually the guy's helping out do multiple roles so if you can help out please let Jonny know. Roles vary and helping out a little goes a long way. You might have to put up with Andy's bad jokes occasionally but the rest of us are hilarious !!! Please get involved and shape the club for future success.

Good luck on Saturday everyone !!!!