In 2018 our men and women again both entered the State League looking to continue the strong performances of past years. Hobart Phoenix is the only club in the state that has entered a men’s and women’s team in every year that the competition has run.
Our men’s team had an indifferent season this year due mostly to players not being available for all rounds.
The exciting thing was that it gave 14-year-old Luke Brown an opportunity to show what an exciting future he has for the club. In the final weekend the side had a strong win over Somerset and a loss to Penguin but other results didn’t fall their way and they just missed making the finals.
Our women’s team finished fourth after the regular season games but with the top four being very close entered the finals full of confidence. The semi final saw them up against Kingston who had added Clarence players Emily Morgan and Josie Greenwood as well as American Madeline Muraida. Sharna Thompson came out on a mission scoring 32 of her 45 points in the first half. Whilst Kingston were able to fight back in the second half Hobart held on to win 79-71. Supporting Sharna on the scoreboard were the McCauley sisters Sarah 14 and Kylie 9.
In the Grand Final we came up against Glenorchy who we had defeated in the southern Grand Final. Since then Glenorchy had added Ulverstone players Shelby Rayner and Charlotte O’Neill to join their current permit player Sarah O’Neill.
Hobart jumped out of the box early and were never troubled with Sarah McCauley playing her best game after returning from a 10+ year absence scoring 21 points. She was again well supported by Sharna Thompson 24 points and Kylie McCauley 26.
With so many sides recruiting multiple players for this year’s State League it was great to see the players we have developed as juniors come away with the win 93-78.