JOSH Worpel will be hoping to go one colour better with NSW at this week’s National Indoor U18 Championships in Brisbane.
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Last year Worpel was part of the 18s field side that was beaten by Victoria in the final.
He’s one of a handful of Tamworth and Armidale players selected to play for the various NSW indoor sides.
The 15s have already begun their quest for gold.
Their nationals started in Brisbane yesterday. Tamworth’s Emily Chaffey and Abigail Doolan are playing for the girls and Ehren Hazell the boys.
The 18s will follow on Friday.
It will be Worpel’s second indoor nationals after playing with the 15s a couple of years ago.
Before that, he also went to the U14s invitational carnival, which Tamworth’s Hamish McAdam, Tayla King and Kate Reynolds and Armidale’s Mian Emmanuel and Sarah Askey are off to next week.
NSW heads into the nationals as defending champions.
“There’s a couple of boys backing up, which should be good,” Worpel said.
Including him, seven are backing up from the field side.
They’ve had a couple of trainings together and have come together pretty well.
“We’re pretty strong in defence. I don’t expect too many goals to be scored against us,” Worpel said.
“Going forward in attack we’ve been going well.”
“We’ve got to get the finishing right.”
That’ll be the key.
As usual, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia loom as the biggest dangers to NSW’s hopes.
Worpel has been playing indoor for a few years now.
“It’s a lot faster. You have to adjust to that,” he said.
“You have to move the ball fast.”
With the field too being smaller, the ball is coming at you quicker.
“As a defender, you have to make quicker decisions,” Worpel said.
He is also in the calculations for the field side again.
He’s in the training squad and will attend trials next month.
Armidale’s Katrina Rekunow will also be playing at the 18s nationals.
She’s been called up into the Tasmanian side.
The invitational nationals will be held in Canberra from January 24-26.
King, Reynolds and Askey were all part of the state 13s field side last year but, for Emmanuel and McAdam, it will be their first time representing NSW.
McAdam will play up front for the boys and is really excited about playing in the
tournament.
NSW will be joined by teams from Victoria, ACT and maybe Queensland.
