Homegrown Illawarra Kookaburra Blake Govers will make a rare appearance for Albion Park when they face Wests in this year's Illawarra South Coast men's hockey grand final on Sunday at Unanderra.
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Govers, who announced this last Wednesday is on a break from the national training in Perth, says he is back to inspire some of Illawarra's hockey players.
He last played for the Park in the 2015 Illawarra grand final, with the side losing to University 3-2, and after that went to Perth with the national team residential training.
"I'm very keen to see what Illawarra hockey can produce for the biggest game of the year," Govers said.
Govers will later go back to Perth to prepare for the Hockey One season with the NSW Pride team.
National hockey players are now on a break from national training and have allowed their players to go back to their respective clubs and play in their grand finals in their respective states.
Park coach Jack Hayes is excited to have Govers come back, as current Australian players are allowed to take part in the finals series with no restrictions.
"Blake is always super keen to play for the Park," Hayes said.
"With the break and the rule change, no local Australian player should be stopped from playing in our comp when we promote their achievements and encourage them through the year.
"The week off is a good thing. The boys got over a few niggles and will double check we've covered everything prior to Sunday."
Meanwhile, in the Wests camp, the Red Devils were finishing their final training session on Thursday when the news broke that Govers was playing. Wests will still be without captain Elliot Ashby, who has been nursing a calf injury since the last pool game.
"Our guys are prepared for whoever Park put on the field. The pressure for Park has just risen to perform," Wests coach David Rieck said.
"It's just motivation for our guys and pressure for them."
In the women's grand final, University will be looking to upset the premiers Park, especially after their 4-2 win over Wests in the preliminary final last Saturday.
The Students have finally found their combination and a full team on the field which was missing in their previous round games. Park will definitely miss their top striker Kelsey Hughes who recently went to Austria on a hockey contract.
The team only managed a 1-0 win over Wests in the semi-final two weeks ago and struggled to play in that clash.
"Uni is looking forward to a strong fast game of hockey," University captain Maddie Rosser said.
"We know that we need to execute well and capitalise on opportunities early on."
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