Canberra's title hopes go up in a Blaze as Brisbane rally to claim title

You start to wonder if they would have their matching Hockey One championship medals without that mentality.

Brisbane sent the Canberra Chill's championship dreams up in a Blaze with a 4-1 win in the Hockey One women's grand final at the Lyneham Hockey Centre on Sunday.

Dolkens struck inside the final five minutes before Savannah Fitzpatrick added another - and the ensuing conversion - to break Canberra's hearts and secured the Blaze's second title in three seasons.

It has been some time coming for the Blaze, whose first championship came in Hockey One's inaugural season in 2019 before the competition went on hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As for the Chill, co-captain Kalindi Commerford is adamant Canberra will be back on this stage.

"It hasn't really sunk in, to be honest," Chill co-captain Kalindi Commerford said.

"I said all season I could have stopped after the first week on a personal level, because I gained so much from it. I'm disappointed for the group but also incredibly proud. On paper, Brisbane or NSW probably should have won, they've got 90 per cent of the Hockeyroos between them.

"I'm proud of our group for sticking it to the big guns. We have a strong foundation, we'll keep building and we'll be back next year stronger.

"Every year we come together and we're a bunch of interstate and international athletes, and we have to work out how to play together. If we've got that from the start, then we start on the front foot."

The Chill were on home soil but went into the final as underdogs. Brisbane had finished on top of the table and, for the third time in as many seasons, were playing in the decider.

But if we're talking history, Canberra could point to a win over Brisbane little more than a fortnight ago.

Neither side could break the deadlock in the opening quarter before Katie Mullan put the home side in front.

If Irish import Mullan was still wondering whether the Canberra crowd had adopted her as one of their own, she only had to listen for the rousing reception when her shot zipped past the Blaze defence.

But Brisbane would hit back. Britt Wilkinson found the Blaze's first midway through the third quarter before Dolkens put them ahead in the fourth. All she could think at that point was: "I hope we score again because I am so tired, please."

Fitzpatrick put the result beyond doubt with a goal and a conversion inside the final two minutes.

"That feels unreal, so unreal, because it was just such an intense, hard game. We had to earn it, it wasn't just a nice easy one," Dolkens said.

"You don't just beat NSW by a fluke and they beat us in the round games when we went to shootouts. We knew they were going to be tough. We just had to come out and put on our best performance, otherwise we weren't going to get up.

"We're so tight. We really are just a bunch of friends who play together on the field, we're not just like a professional sports team like many other teams. We all have matching friendship bracelets, we all just play for each other. Even our coaches have them, our physio, they're beautiful."

In the men's final that followed, Brisbane claimed a thrilling decider 5-3 in a penalty shootout after scores were locked at 3-3 at full-time.

AT A GLANCE

Hockey One grand final: BRISBANE BLAZE 4 (Savannah Fitzpatrick 2, Dayle Dolkens, Britt Wilkinson goals) bt CANBERRA CHILL 1 (Katie Mullan goal) at Lyneham Hockey Centre.