As Flames blazed their way towards the Tamworth women's first grade grand final last season one of their best was conspicuously absent.
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Kim Resch missed the latter part of the season after falling pregnant with daughter Peyton.
Fortunately for Flames she is once again setting their attack alight, with the multi-talented sportswoman becoming a real strike weapon for them since she first pulled on the aqua and purple almost 10 years ago now.
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Resch too is happy to have the stick back in her hands.
"It's good to be back this season because I did miss it at the end of last season," she said.
"They're a good bunch of girls to play with so it's a lot of fun and a good break from bub."
They are a good support as well.
"I thought coming back would be really really hard but I think having the girls around me makes it a lot easier, there's a lot of mums in the team," Resch said.
Five months old now, she said Peyton is "really good".
"She's a good little bub and keeping us (Resch and partner Jake McManus) busy," she said.
For almost as long as she has been playing sport, Resch has been a high achiever in whatever sport she has been involved in; be it touch football, athletics (she was a state high jump champion), league tag (she has on at least two occasions been named the best and fairest for the Group 4 ladies league tag competition) or hockey just to name a few. But since becoming a mum she said her perspective around sport has changed a bit.
"I think I look at it as more the fun side instead of the competitive," she said.
"I probably won't be playing any rep stuff much any more.
"But we'll see what happens - you never know."
For the moment it is just hockey with the Group 4 season cancelled.
Resch was planning to again lace up the boots for North Tamworth, and was disappointed not to be. At the same time it has given her and McManus, who plays for the Bears men's side, a bit more time at home with Peyton.
As for Flames things are going along nicely.
They are undefeated after five games after drawing with Waratahs 6-all on Friday night before hammering South United 7-1 on Sunday.
Resch is captaining them this season and said they scored "a lot of really good goals" on Sunday, Marley Pitt leading the way with a hat-trick.
Up 5-nil at three-quarter time, Souths threw a lot of attack at them in the final quarter but defensively they were like a wall and shut down everything
"I think the first three-quarters we attacked really really well and I think in that last quarter we ran out of legs a little bit so our defensive girls really stepped up," Resch said.
In the other games Olympians edged out Services 1-nil to make it two-in-a-row and Waratahs pipped Tudor Wests 1-nil.
The men's first grade action also produced two one-goal games with Nick O'Connor's strike all that separated South United and Kiwi Diggers while Tudor Wests won 5-4 over Workies.