Power shift in Australian Hockey is now complete

Today saw the completion of the Australian Hockey League for 2017 in Perth Western Australia, with the two Gold Medal Finals in both the men's and women's played between the states of Victoria and Queensland with Victoria winning both. This result today also signals that the power shift in Australian hockey is now complete, with the states of Victoria and Queensland along with New South Wales in Third now officially becoming the powerful hockey states of Australia and the engine room driving the future of the game of hockey in Australia.

Now this hasn't just happened overnight it has been on a slow burn for sometime, because its these three states along with the ACT that are working the hardest in the areas of-

- Development
- Promotion & Marketing of the Sport
- Innovation

It is these three states that have embraced the new more professional direction that is occurring in  the game in Australia the most, its is also these states and the clubs in these states that are doing the most to develop the game and grow the game through new innovations such as J-Ball, Kookaburra 8's and Hockey 5's. Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales have also put in place some of the best high performance/development programs in place anywhere in the country, with players have access to the best coaching and diversity of coaching from a very early age.

These three states, have also led the way in promotion of the game, with there top leagues being either live streamed or put on TV in some form. You now can pretty much see the Victorian Premier League and Vic League 1 game of the week streamed live each week, and this is pretty well the same in Queensland & New South Wales. Now don't get me wrong other states such as South Australia and Tasmania have followed suit in this, but its really been Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales leading the charge.

Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales now have the three largest numbers of registered hockey players in the country, they are also the three states where the greatest growth in occurring again in terms of young kids playing the game. Put all this together and this is why I am saying now that the power shift which has been happening for sometime in Australian hockey is now complete.

On the flip side of that the once great powerhouse of Australian hockey, Western Australia looks to by all the key indicators to be in the decline that I have been for telling for sometime. There was once a time when WA could boast against all those key indicators that they were the powerhouse and engine room state of the game. Well its safe to say no longer.

Can this be reversed, off course it can, but it now requires massive, sweeping, radical change to every aspect of the way the game is being run in Western Australia. All the dead wood and the baggage that the game is carrying in WA must be swept away, the time has come for new faces, radical thinkers and people that are prepared to accept and embrace that the game has changed and that the things done in the past are no longer working and its time to do new things.

But that is a post for another day, I will finish off by saying this.

The King is dead, long live the new King.