Tara Murray
If you’re looking for Nye Roberts, it’s more likely than not you’ll find him on a hockey field.
The Altona star has had a jammed packed year on the pitch which is set to only get bigger.
Roberts was a key player in Altona’s minor premiership in the Hockey Victoria premier league season and finished third in the competition best and fairest.
He also won Altona’s best and fairest.
On Monday, he flew out to Malaysia with the Australian under-21 side to play in the Sultan of Johor Cup.
The midfielder is also part of the Hockey Club Melbourne squad for the Hockey One League season.
Speaking last week, he said It has been a big few months.
“It doesn’t stop,” he said. “I’m going away next Monday to Malaysia and Hockey 1 starts this week
Roberts said finishing third in the league best and fairest came as a bit of shock to him.
“I thought I had a good season but there’s some excellent players in the league.
“To finish in the top three is fantastic. I think it’s just been the amount of training I’ve been doing.”
Roberts said he was proud of how the Seagulls went in finals despite not tasting the ultimate success.
He said they performed how most people had expected them to go this season.
Roberts will compete at the Sultan of Johor Cup for a second straight year. He said it’s his third or fourth time heading away with the Australian under-21 team.
“It’s another chance to play at a high level,” he said before flying out this week. “It’s a pretty new squad.
“It’ll be interesting to see how we go. The last few times we’ve lost in penalty shoot outs in finals.
“We’re expecting to go well and hopefully we have some success, we haven’t had a lot of recent success.”
Once he’s back from Australian duty, Roberts will be focusing
Speaking before the opening game of the Hockey One season, Roberts said he was hoping to play in the opening round before heading overseas.
He was named in the team alongside Altona teammates Andrew Scanlon, Cooper Burns and Kade Leigh.
Scanlon and Leigh were making their debuts in the Hockey One competition.
They opened with a 4-3 with Leigh scoring twice for Melbourne.
“I played three games last year,” he said. “I want to get picked in every game that I’m available.”
Roberts said the long term goal was to make the Kookaburras side and further his hockey career.
“That’s why I’m training multiple times a week,” he said. “I want to get as high as I can.”
