Canberra will always be home but an Arrow-minded Anna Flanagan has declared leaving the capital will give her the best shot at a Hockeyroos return.
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Flanagan will join the NSW Arrows for the Australian Hockey League season beginning in October, bringing an end to her time with the Canberra Strikers - for now.
The 26-year-old still has every intention of returning to Canberra but says a stint with the Arrows will give her a "red hot" chance at forcing her way back into the national squad.
Flanagan has been left in limbo in recent years following a handful of off-field indiscretions but is refusing to give up hope on the prospect of suiting up in green and gold at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020.
"I’ve got to give it a pretty red-hot crack this year and that will be a big indicator going forward if I make the squad or not," Flanagan said.
"It will give me a lot of direction in terms of what I do with my hockey in the future so I’m wanting to give it a real red-hot crack and I thought this was the best decision for my hockey.
"I thought I just needed to, knowing how I played last year with Canberra, I needed to try something different this year. It was a pretty difficult call to make, having played for the last 10 years now for Canberra.
"I don’t see it as a long-term thing, it’s just something I wanted to try this year."
Flanagan will travel to Perth in a fortnight for a Hockeyroos pre-World Cup camp as she plots her path back to the top flight.
She hopes that path includes a return to the capital, conceding the hardest thing about the move will be playing against the girls she grew up with and forged a bond with in blue and gold.
"I’m from Canberra, it is my hometown, and it’s a team that I have always really enjoyed playing for every single year," Flanagan said.
"To not be there playing with people I’ve grown up with, I’ve always had a lot of pride playing for Canberra, it was really difficult, but putting my hockey first this year because I want to have a really good crack at it.
"I made the decision that for just this year I would play for NSW. They’re disappointed as well. We’ve got a game in Canberra and I’ll be playing for NSW in my hometown so that is going to be interesting.
"They’re also really supportive. It’s just a one-year thing as I do want to play for Canberra again in the future."
Flanagan has linked up with the Northern Sydney and Beaches association in Sydney and being able to stay there and work under Arrows coach Katrina Powell will give her more work-life balance.
The two-week competition has been centralised at the Hockey Australia headquarters in Perth for the past three years, but will now move to a home-and-away format played over four weekends beginning in Sydney on October 6.
Canberra is set to host AHL matches for the first time in six years when the revamped tournament rolls into the capital for round three on October 20.
Flanagan's departure coincides with Hockey Australia's announcement of a landmark five-year television deal with Fox Sports which will open the door for live coverage of the Hockey Pro League, Hockey World Cup, Champions Trophy and Olympic qualification events until 2022.
Fox Sports will broadcast the AHL from 2019, with Hockey ACT boss Gavin Hunt confirming clubs will need to commit $150,000 per season over four years, with each team expected to host three games from 2019.
AUSTRALIAN HOCKEY LEAGUE
October 6: Round one - Sydney
October 14: Round two - Hobart
October 20: Round three - Canberra
October 25-28: Finals - Gold Coast
