Edwina Bone has put her Olympics preparations on hold for a chance to lead the Canberra Chill to a grand final when she makes her Hockey One return on Sunday.
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Bone, Brooke Peris and Kalindi Commerford are back in the capital after spending the past month helping the Hockeyroos book their ticket to next year's Tokyo Olympics.
The national side missed out on automatic qualification after they lost to New Zealand on goal difference in September. It meant the Hockeyroos needed to beat Russia in a two-match series to qualify for a 10th straight Olympics and ruled players out of their Hockey One duties.
Bone is set to become a two-time Olympian after the Hockeyroos secured their spot for the Tokyo Games with clean-sweep over Russia.
The 31-year-old defender can now narrow her focus on claiming the inaugural Hockey One title when the Chill meet HC Melbourne in a semi-final clash at Victoria's State Netball and Hockey Centre on Sunday.
"[The Olympics] is everything we've been working for this cycle," Bone said. "It was very relieving because there was pressure of having two matches to play and you either get an Olympic qualifier or you don't. It's nerve wracking and a little bit scary.
"At first it was relief but then, oh my gosh, we've actually qualified for the Olympics and we've earned it.
"I feel having the qualification done and out of the way I can be a little more relaxed. I thought I wasn't going to get this opportunity to play finals in the first year of Hockey One, so it's going to be very exciting."
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Canberra will be bolstered by the return of the Hockeyroos trio, Japanese import Yui Ishibashi and Jess Smith for the semi-final clash.
Ian Rutledge's side finished fourth on the ladder but their semi-final spot hung on a knife edge with a bye in the last round.
The Tassie Tigers, who were without a win from five games, upset the Perth Thundersticks 5-3 to give Canberra a finals lifeline.
"I couldn't even watch the game," Bone laughed. "Everyone was just so excited we had enough points to get through to the finals but also because we didn't have any power over the results with the bye.
"There was a lot of Tassie love from the group last week but then it changed to more of a focus. Kalindi, Brooke, Naomi [Evans] and I have come over from Perth to make sure we had a couple of training sessions with the group to organise ourselves and get everyone on the same page as quickly as possible for Melbourne."
Melbourne has been the in-form team of the competition with five wins and one loss from a shoot-out.
The ladder-leaders beat Canberra 2-0 in round four but Rutledge says the return of the Hockeyroos will play a crucial role in the semi-final clash.
"They're going to be tough to beat at home but one of our best performances of the year was against Melbourne which was without our Hockeyroos," Rutledge said.
"The Hockeyroos are coming back at a really critical time but we achieved what we did with the entire group which is great from an opportunity and depth perspective.
"I feel pretty confident. If we focus on what we need to focus on with our game, it'll cause a lot of disruption and trauma to Melbourne.
"We're going to have to be at our best to win which is a good thing to be, there's no issue with that - that's the semi finals of a national competition."
The winner will meet either the Brisbane Blaze or Adelaide Fire in the premiership decider next week. The top-ranked side will earn the hosting rights of the grand final, meaning Canberra will head interstate if they qualify for the Hockey One decider.