Freeman said he had confidence in his players during a pulsating sudden death shootout that saw Tasmania eventually triumph 5-4, after scores were tied up 2-2 at the end of full time.

‘‘The momentum of the game at the end was fantastic but I had confidence in the guys in relation to the shootout because we had some pretty good guys there with the ball and I just had that feeling,’’ Freeman said.

‘‘But more importantly our goalkeeper Tristan Clemons did an outstanding job.’’

He said the two-goal lead that the Thundersticks built inside the first 10 minutes of the game was never an insurmountable challenge for the Tigers to overcome.

‘‘Two goals down with the way the game is played these days is nothing really and they scored them very early and we basically had three or more quarters to get them back,’’ he said.

‘‘We started to gain control from the second quarter which was important and then the momentum started to swing our way and I think the possession stats in the last quarter were 60-40 to us which pretty much tells the story.’’

Freeman said he had a mixture of emotions as the final WA shot was blocked by the Tasmanian goalie Clemons and the victory celebrations began.

‘‘There was excitement and the realisation of what we’d achieved.

‘‘I’m still way up in the clouds at the moment.’’

The victorious Tigers celebrated their championship victory after the game at the South Australian Hockey Centre before congregating in the coach’s hotel room for a post-match review.

‘‘We sat down and had a few beers,’’ he said.

‘‘I said to them last night that they had achieved so many things this week and it was a major achievement to be named the best side in the country.

‘‘And look at the impact this will have on hockey in Tasmania because they have made inroads into getting Tas hockey right back up there again.’’

Freeman described Tasmania captain Eddie Ockenden as a superstar but said he couldn’t watch as he stepped up to take the final penalty shot to take the shootout into sudden death.

‘‘I couldn’t look – I turned away,’’ he said.

‘‘Eddie is a superstar and then you have Tim Deavin and Jeremy Edwards.

‘‘But then you look at the rest of the group and we had no passengers – everyone contributed and everyone was fantastic.’’