A TRIO of Wangaratta hockey players have returned from the Australian Women's Masters Hockey Championships where their Victorian team won bronze.

Lesley Forman, Jo Hale and Sharon Watkins made the trip to Cairns where a week's worth of hockey was played in the northern heat.

Forman's side only lost two games for the whole tournament, the first to Queensland in the round robin, and the second against NSW in the semi–final playoff to get into the gold medal match.

Very little separated the top three teams (Queensland, NSW and Victoria) with Victoria playing off against ACT for bronze.

Forman said she loved the experience.

"It was a good week, we only lost two games for the whole tournament," Forman said.

"It was so tight between the top three, it was really only the one game that separated the three teams.

"Unfortunately we didn't make the final but it was a good way to end the season."

Games were consistently played in 30 degree heat in Cairns.

"It was just so hot, not even muggy, it was just hot," she said.

"I didn't handle it too bad because we had 15 players so there were a few on the bench which allowed us to rotate a fair bit.

"The night games were a lot better to play in."

Forman has played in numerous Australia championships but admitted it was tough competition.

"It's a really good standard because most states run trials," she said.

"Every state is picking from a high standard of players so it's always enjoyable testing yourself against the best.

"Jo and I have been playing in the team for a while and Sharon has been there the last few years which made it really enjoyable – especially with the carpooling to Melbourne for training."

The trio were training in Melbourne from May until October when the championships went ahead.

"The original trials were in May and then they picked a training squad which trained until they picked the final team," Forman said.

"Once we made the team we were training once every fortnight in Melbourne but in previous years it was every week for eight to 10 weeks."