Wagga hockey sensation Dylan Martin will take a wealth of confidence into the new year after earning selection in the Australian Hockey League finals merit team.
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Martin debuted for NSW last year after representing Canberra Lakers the season prior and quickly entrenched himself in the 2018 Waratahs squad.
The 20-year-old came off the bench on four occasions during the AHL tournament, including all three of their finals fixtures.
Martin’s game time totalled just 27 minutes but his silky skills were enough to capture the selectors’ attention, who promptly placed him in the merit side among some of Australia’s most decorated hockey stars.
“It’s pretty exciting to get into that finals team,” Martin said.
“There’s 14 or so players in the side who’ve represented Australia at the top level, so it’s a really good squad and a really good team.”
The shift from Canberra to Sydney has clearly worked wonders for Martin but the young gun has no ill-feelings about the move or his former side.
“ACT and NSW are both really good and quite similar camps to be in.”
“I enjoyed playing in Canberra but I think the difference is that NSW has a larger variety of better players.
“It’s been a good experience for me going over and that’s the main thing for me.
“There’s plenty that goes on behind the scenes here in NSW and I think they’ve got some really good resources for hockey as well.”
NSW couldn’t quite get the job done in their AHL decider against Queensland but Martin will take plenty of experience from the 5-3 loss.
“It was a really tough game and I’ll learn a lot from it, I think.”
Now, both eyes are fixed on making a big impression in the green and gold with Australia preparing for an upcoming under 21s trial series in Queensland.
“We’ll head back into camp in February and we’ve got a few trial games against Chile coming up, so that’s the first thing to look at,” Martin said.
“Then, it’ll be back to working towards getting more time with NSW.”
He’ll no doubt be looking to add to his four caps for Waratahs this year and with Tokyo 2020 looming on the horizon, selectors will be on the lookout for the next Kookaburras star.
Martin downplayed his chances of selection in the Olympic side but expressed his desire to represent Australia at the top level.
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