Hockey One

The Liberty Hockey One is a field hockey competition organised by Hockey Australia, which replaced the Australian Hockey League.

Hockey One

Formerly	Australian Hockey League
Sport	Field hockey
Founded	2019
No. of teams	7
Country	Australia
Continent	Oceania (OHF)
Most recent champion(s)	HC Melbourne (M) Perth Thundersticks (W)
Most titles	NSW Pride (M) (2) Brisbane Blaze (W) (2)
TV partner(s)	7plus
Official website	hockeyone.com.au

Dual competitions are conducted for both men's and women's teams, with parallel fixtures for both competitions throughout the regular season. The league serves as Australia's premier domestic hockey league, helping unearth future talent for selection to the Australian national teams; the Kookaburras and Hockeyroos.

The NSW Pride and the Brisbane Blaze are currently the most successful teams, winning three out of six titles each. The Pride won both the men's and women's competitions in 2022, whereas the Blaze won both competitions in 2023.

History

The Hockey One League was founded on 17 April 2019. The tournament was formed following an overhaul of the Australian Hockey League, and replaced the tournament to serve as Australia's premier hockey competition.

Following a series of rule innovations during the 2018 men's and women's AHL tournaments, Hockey Australia made the decision to disband the premier competition, making way for the new domestic league.

On 23 September 2019, Hockey Australia confirmed that the new league had secured a major partnership with Kellogg's, with naming rights also afforded to the company, forming the Sultana Bran Hockey One League. The sponsorship was for the first two seasons, which due to the COVID-19 pandemic extended through to the 2022 (second) season. The following day it was confirmed that Westfund Health Insurance had been named as a supporting partner.

On 11 September 2023, the league announced Jamie Dwyer Hockey (JDH) as the new official naming rights partner, with the 2023 (third) season named the JDH Hockey One League.

On 24 September 2024, Liberty was announced as naming rights partner, officially renaming the league to the Liberty Hockey One League for season four (2024).

COVID-19 pandemic

Following a successful first season of the Sultana Bran Hockey One in 2019, the second edition was anticipated for commencement in late 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the league's second season was postponed until 2021. The decision was made by the Hockey One board on 24 March 2020 following consultations with Hockey Australia and the seven member associations in the league, all of which being unable to financially support the program later in the year.

The postponement was not only made to benefit associations financially, but also on account of restrictions put into place by the Government of Australia, which prohibited mass-gatherings and sporting events. The league went on to postpone the second season to October 2022, owing to divergent state border restrictions in place across the country in late 2021.

Format

Seven teams will compete in a round-robin tournament with home and away matches, played from late September to mid November, with the top four teams advancing to the finals round at a pre-determined location.

Teams

The seven teams to compete in the Sultana Bran Hockey One come from Australia's states and territories, with the Northern Territory being the only team absent.

• Canberra Chill
• NSW Pride
• Brisbane Blaze
• Adelaide Fire
• Tassie Tigers
• HC Melbourne
• Perth Thundersticks

One Hockey Cup

Source:

The One Hockey Cup, presents an opportunity to celebrate the combined performances of Men’s and Women’s teams from the 7 Hockey One League Franchises. The One Hockey Cup will be awarded to the Club that ranks highest based on the aggregate scores of their Women’s and Men’s teams at the end of the Regular Season (Rounds 1 – 7).

The One Hockey Cup table stands as a separate competition to the League, and as such, the following points system is applied only to the One Hockey Cup table, and not applied to the League Table/general team standings. The One Hockey Cup results will have no impact on the outcome of the Hockey One League.

1. Clubs will be ranked on the One Hockey Cup table, based on the aggregate scores of the Women’s and Men’s matches on each matchday during the Regular Season (Rounds 1 – 7).
1.1. matchday results will be awarded as wins, draws, or losses, based on the aggregate score achieved by one Club against another on a single matchday.
1.1.1. if a single match results in a draw, the Club that wins the shoot-out competition will receive one extra goal on their aggregate matchday goal total.

2. Points on the One Hockey Cup table will be awarded as follows, based on the aggregate score of both matches on a single matchday
2.1. five points to the winning Club;
2.2. two points to each Club, in the event of a draw;
2.3. Zero points to the loser.
2.4. In circumstances where a match is abandoned, such as under “12. Interruptions to a Match” and the result is deemed to be a draw, two points will be awarded to each team towards their Club’s total for that matchday.

3. At the end of the Regular Season (Rounds 1 – 7) Clubs will be ranked on the One Hockey Cup table according to the number of points each club has accumulated in the regular rounds of the Hockey One Competition.
3.1. If two or more clubs have the same number of points, these clubs will be ranked according to their respective number of matchdays won.
3.2. If there remains equality between two or more clubs, then these clubs will be ranked according to their respective goal difference (which means “goals for” less “goals against”).
3.3. If there remains equality among two or more clubs, then these teams will be ranked according to their respective number of “goals for”.
3.4. Should there remain equality among two clubs, then the results of the matches played between those clubs will determine the ranking of the tied clubs.
3.5. If more than two clubs are involved, then a ranking based upon the results of the matches (only) then shall determine their respective position, based on the points awarded in accordance with aforementioned Club Cup 2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, & 2.4
3.6 If there remains equality among two or more clubs, then these clubs will be ranked according to the number of Field Goals scored during the regular rounds.
3.7 If there remains equality among two or more clubs, then these clubs will share the relevant placing on the One Hockey Cup table.

Winners

One Hockey Cup Winners
Year	Winner
2023	Brisbane Blaze
2024	Perth Thundersticks

Men's tournament

Summaries

Year	Hosts		Gold Medal Match				Third and Fourth
			Champions	Score	Runners-up		3rd place	Score	4th place
2019	Melbourne		NSW Pride	8–3	Brisbane Blaze		Tassie Tigers	Round-robin	HC Melbourne
2022	Bendigo		NSW Pride	2–0	Perth Thundersticks		Brisbane Blaze	6–2	Canberra Chill
2023	Canberra		Brisbane Blaze	3–3 (5–3 pen.)	NSW Pride		HC Melbourne	2–1	Tassie Tigers
2024	Hobart		HC Melbourne	5–2	Canberra Chill		Brisbane Blaze	4–3	Perth Thundersticks

Awards

Men's Statistics
Year	Player of the League	Highest Goalscorer(s)	Player of the Final	Fans Player of the Season
2019	Eddie Ockenden (Tigers)	Blake Govers (Pride)	Flynn Ogilvie (Pride)	Not Awarded
2022	Andrew Charter (Chill)	Joel Rintala (Blaze)	Ky Willott (Pride)
2023	Timothy Brand (Pride)	Jacob Anderson (Blaze)	Blake Govers (Pride)
2024	Eddie Ockenden (Tigers)	Landon Morley (Fire) Aiden Dooley (Chill)	Nathan Ephraums (Melbourne)	Cooper Burns (Melbourne)

Team Appearances

Team	2019	2022	2023	2024	Total
Canberra Chill	5th	4th	7th	2nd	4
NSW Pride	1st	1st	2nd	6th	4
Brisbane Blaze	2nd	3rd	1st	3rd	4
Adelaide Fire	7th	7th	5th	7th	4
Tassie Tigers	3rd	5th	4th	5th	4
HC Melbourne	4th	6th	3rd	1st	4
Perth Thundersticks	6th	2nd	6th	4th	4
Total	7	7	7	7	28

Women's tournament

Summaries

Year	Final Host		Gold Medal Match				Third and Fourth
			Champions	Score	Runners-up		3rd place	Score	4th place
2019	Melbourne		Brisbane Blaze	1–1 (3–2 pen.)	HC Melbourne		Adelaide Fire	Round-robin	Canberra Chill
2022	Bendigo		NSW Pride	2–2 (3–1 pen.)	Brisbane Blaze		Perth Thundersticks	3–0	HC Melbourne
2023	Canberra		Brisbane Blaze	4–1	Canberra Chill		Perth Thundersticks	2–1	NSW Pride
2024	Hobart		Perth Thundersticks	4–1	Brisbane Blaze		NSW Pride	4–4 (3–0 pen.)	Tassie Tigers

Awards

Women's Statistics
Year	Player of the League	Highest Goalscorer(s)	Player of the Final	Fans Player of the Season
2019	Shihori Oikawa (Chill)	Madeleine Ratcliffe (Melbourne) Michaela Spano (Fire) Abigail Wilson (Pride)	Rosie Malone (Blaze)	Not Awarded
2022	Amy Lawton (Melbourne)	Grace Stewart (Pride)	Mariah Williams (Pride)
2023	Kaitlin Nobbs (Pride)	Laura Reid (Pride)	Stephanie Kershaw (Blaze)
2024	Gitte Michels (Tigers)	Lexie Pickering (Thundersticks)	Aleisha Power (Thundersticks)	Eva Drummond (Thundersticks)

Team Appearances

Team	2019	2022	2023	2024	Total
Canberra Chill	4th	5th	2nd	6th	4
NSW Pride	6th	1st	4th	3rd	4
Brisbane Blaze	1st	2nd	1st	2nd	4
Adelaide Fire	3rd	6th	6th	7th	4
Tassie Tigers	7th	7th	7th	4th	4
HC Melbourne	2nd	4th	5th	5th	4
Perth Thundersticks	5th	3rd	3rd	1st	4
Total	7	7	7	7	28

Statistics

Leading scorers

All-Time Men's Top Scorers Rank Team Player Goals 1 NSW Pride Blake Govers 26 2 Brisbane Blaze Joel Rintala 23 4 HC Melbourne Nathan Ephraums 22 4 Perth Thundersticks James Day 20 Thomas Wickham 6 Canberra Chill Benjamin Staines 19 7 Brisbane Blaze Cale Cramer 16 NSW Pride Timothy Brand Ky Willott 10 HC Melbourne Joshua Simmonds 15

All-Time Women's Top Scorers Rank Team Player Goals 1 NSW Pride Abigail Wilson 22 2 Brisbane Blaze Savannah Fitzpatrick 18 3 Perth Thundersticks Liné Malan Lexie Pickering 5 Canberra Chill Naomi Evans 15 6 NSW Pride Grace Stewart 14 7 Brisbane Blaze Madison Fitzpatrick 10 Britt Wilkinson HC Melbourne Hannah Cotter Madeleine Ratcliffe

Media coverage

To promote the sport and engage fans, every match of the 2022 Hockey One League was broadcast live across Australia. All matches were broadcast live on Kayo Sports and in addition, all Thursday night double headers were broadcast on FOX Sports. Both Kayo and FOX Sports broadcast the finals series, held over a weekend in Bendigo on the 19th and 20th of November, 2022.

Prior to the 2023 season, Hockey Australia announced a new broadcast deal with the Seven Network, bringing the competition to their free streaming service 7plus in a multi-year deal.

See also

• Hockey Australia
• Australian Hockey League