By Jonty Ralphsmith
Casey Cannons striker Mikayla McDonald represented Vic Country at the recent Hockey Australia Country Championships held in Goulburn, New South Wales.
McDonald was a staple for Vic Country up forward, facilitating plenty of scores across the squad’s seven games from 1-10 August.
“I had some good runs and we played well together as a team and did what we needed to,” McDonald said.
“It definitely helped my hockey – I learned some new skills and met a lot of new people because I was the only one on this side of Melbourne to get selected.”
Vic Country won bronze at the tournament, defeating the Australian Defence Force and South Australia to reach the semi final, which they lost to New South Wales 4-3.
After Western Australia had their measure in the pool stages, Vic Country defeated them 1-0 in the bronze medal match.
McDonald was particularly influential through the pool stage, before playing limited minutes in the two finals due to shin splints.
“I was able to learn more about reading of the play and positioning and which way to run to benefit my team and how to use the open space,” she said.
“Learning new set plays and presses and structures was a lot of fun and how someone else’s coaching can come into the game plan.”
A Drouin local, McDonald has been a key piece of the finals-bound Casey Cannons outfit in the Vic League 1 competition, but has also played for La Trobe Valley in 2024, needing to represent a country outfit to qualify for the championships
For Casey, McDonald has scored 10 goals from 17 games, second only to Sam Wagg.
“It’s been a lot tougher at Casey but I think we’ve managed it pretty well and come away with some good wins,” McDonald said.
“I enjoy the company of the girls and I feel like I’ve definitely developed more with my language and new skills.
“Hopefully we can finish the year off strongly.”
It was McDonald’s first time representing Vic Country, but she was born into a hockey family, and was part of a state academy in 2019 and competed in a representative tournament in April 2021 at Launceston.
The Cannons will finish the regular season with a big test against Toorak East Malvern before finals kick off.
