Emily Chaffey has swapped the blue and red of South Australia for the sky blue of her native NSW as her Australian Indoor Hockey Festival marathon continues in Wollongong.
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After being recruited by South Australia to play in the opens women's nationals, Chaffey is suiting up for the NSW Blues side at the under-21s championships.
Fellow Tamworth product Ehren Hazell is also backing up for the 21s after playing for the NSW Blues open men.
He had a strong tournament, scoring 10 goals (six field goals and four corners) to finish the third top goal-scorer and the leading for his Blues' side.
Former Workies team-mate Brandan Horner was two goals shy of him with eight, the now Lithgow native and Australian representative helping the NSW State side continue their juggernaut.
They prevailed over ACT in a thriller to make it 12-straight national titles, the final forced to a shoot-out after scores were locked at 7-all at the end of regulation time.
Tamworth talent figured strongly among the various states with former Calrossy student Claudia Nielsen playing for Western Australia in the women's competition. After winning gold last year she had to settle for silver with the NSW Blues edging them out 4-3 in the final.
Chaffey's South Australian side meanwhile finished seventh after beating Tasmania 4-2 in their play-off.
She scored their opening goal, one of three she slotted for the tournament.
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It was their only win of what was a tough tournament but a great learning experience for the 20-year old, who was the baby of the team.
"The quality and ball speed, everything is so much quicker," she said.
Some of the toughest hockey Chaffey, who locally plies her trade with Olympians, has played, it particularly tested her physically. She was by the end feeling "pretty sore and tired".
"We had a couple of girls that pulled out because of the fires so we only had two subs, which was pretty hard," Chaffey said.
Especially when their opposition had between four and six subs.
That was one of the biggest challenges.
"The biggest thing for me was because we didn't have many subs, performing well when you are so fatigued, trying to maintain that maximum performance," she said.
The flip side was she got plenty of game time, the tournament serving as the perfect warm-up for the 21s, which is Chaffey's main focus.
She was a bit disappointed not to make the 21s State side and is keen to put in a strong performance.
It is her first nationals campaign at the 21s level after graduating from the junior ranks two years ago following three golden years in the under-18s side, Chaffey capping off her junior days by leading them to the title in her final year.
The region has a strong presence in the 21s division with New England's Chelsea Thornton joining Chaffey in the Blues side, while Darby Chalmers, Jake McCann and Cody McCann are playing with the men's Blues.