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CBC add more silverware to burgeoning collection with women’s A1 success in 2024 hockey grand final

Neale HarveyKalgoorlie Miner
CBC players celebrate their win after the 2024 Eastern Goldfields Hockey Association women’s A1 grand final.
Camera IconCBC players celebrate their win after the 2024 Eastern Goldfields Hockey Association women’s A1 grand final. Credit: Glenn Holdaway/Supplied

It was a subtle changing of the guard, but the result was the same on Saturday when CBC achieved back-to-back flags in the Eastern Goldfields Hockey Association’s women’s A1 ranks.

Last weekend’s 2-0 grand final triumph over Mines added the finishing touches to an unbeaten season when CBC racked-up 15 wins during the qualifiers.

After they advanced straight to the grand final under the EGHA’s top-three format, CBC at the weekend got the job done on the back of Courtney Armstrong’s best-on-ground display.

CBC’s latest triumph extended one of local sport’s most enviable records that delivered nine flags in 11 seasons to the end of 2016, with the 2015-16 titles won under coach Dave McGinty after Bruce Puckett had overseen the previous seven.

Defeat against Norths in the 2022 decider thwarted CBC’s bid for an eighth consecutive flag, but under Puckett they have not lost a game since while adding two more premierships.

Puckett said he was reluctant to take much credit this year after missing a big chunk of the season and handing the reins to his youngest daughter Lauren.

“I didn’t do justice to the season, being away in Europe for six or seven weeks and then I wasn’t there for the grand final,” Puckett said.

“I feel a little bit guilty, as far as a claim of being the coach.

“Lauren ran the show in my absence and it was difficult for her early because at the start of the season they were short and we played a lot of juniors who were absolutely fantastic for us.

“We have three or four young players who really helped us out, played in the grand final and, overall, did a fantastic job.

“We make a conscious effort to try and keep young kids coming through.”

Puckett said a key to the group’s ongoing success was tackling each season on its merits.

“We go about the business the same way every year and you hope the girls get the job done,” he said.

“But we don’t take any of the results for granted (because) we’d been knocked off before in a grand final when I believed we were the better side.

“The girls still have the nerves jangling because they care about what they do, which is important.”

Grand final results:

A1 women:

CBC d Mines 2-0. Best-on-ground: Courtney Armstrong (CBC).

A2 women:

Norths d CBC 2-0. Best-on-ground: Nicole Foo (Norths).

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