On Saturday a Central West PLH development squad joined in a big afternoon of hockey at Bathurst, taking on the Burwood Briars and then the PLH All Stars men in fixtures designed to promote and reward the competition's young talents.

Though unable to win either of those games, the skill present in the development players was clear to see.

In the second half of their fixture against the Briars, they were especially impressive. Though trailing 2-0 they took the fight to their more experienced rivals and only conceded a third goal with 19 seconds remaining.

"I thought the young guys played really well against Briars, it was 3-0 but they scored that last goal in like the last 20 seconds," coach Dave Marshall said.

"The first 10 minutes they played really well and obviously young guys, it was really good experience for them.

"Our guys have never trained together and have got different systems of play from their different clubs, so it was great to see them come together. They held themselves well and produced a pretty good standard of play."

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Marshall feels the development squad concept is important to promote players like them and hopes it will also attract more players to PLH sides.

"Most of those kids, we had one under 20, but most of them were between 16 and 19, so it's pretty good. Some of them have just turned 16, some have just turned 17, so they're pretty young and they were playing against seasoned first graders and did well," Marshall said.

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"I think for young kids in the area, especially because the men's comp in the area is struggling, the more we can get these guys exposed and give them something to strive for, the better. Hopefully it will help us attract some new players."

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