HOCKEY Australia has recently announced the 23-player Australian women’s national hockey squad for 2017, which has been selected with the primary purpose of achieving success at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
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Of the 23 chosen, which includes Gerringong’s Grace Stewart, twelve of the athletes played at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games including dual Olympian Emily Smith and goalkeeper Rachael Lynch; with Jordyn Holzberger, Kaitlin Nobbs, Madi Ratcliffe and Jocelyn Bartram moving up to the national senior squad from the national development squad.
Kaitlin Nobbs’ elevation to the senior squad comes after an outstanding performance at the recent Junior World Cup in Santiago, where Australia came away with the bronze medal; while Jordyn Holzberger impressed at the trans-Tasman Trophy and International Festival of Hockey.
Jocelyn Bartram has shown her ability throughout 2016 and joins the senior squad after a consistent year training with the national development squad in Perth while Madi Radcliffe had a successful two-year build up to the 2016 Junior World Cup which she was selected for, before missing out due to injury.
The new look squad has been created following on from the Hockeyroos’ sixth place finish in Rio as incoming head coach Paul Gaudoin and High Performance Director Toni Cumpston look to rebuild the squad heading towards the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games and Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
“The 2017 squad has been chosen as we look to develop the team that we believe will give us the best possible chance of success in Tokyo 2020,” Paul Gaudoin said.
“With some of our senior Hockeyroos taking time away from the sport, it has given us the chance to call some of our development team up to the national squad and give them the opportunity to further their development as a part of the centralised training program in Perth and perform within the squad.
“It’s an exciting time for the squad, as it always is at the beginning of a new Olympic cycle, and we’ll be looking at doing things a little differently so that we become a more flexible, versatile and unpredictable team.”
Noticeably absent from the squad are veterans Casey Sablowski and Jodie Kenny who announced post-Rio that they would be having a break from the sport, along with Anna Flanagan who announced in November that she would take some time away from hockey.
Hockey Australia will continue to support these athletes during their time away from the sport.
The Hockeyroos will gather for their first training session as a new squad at the Perth Hockey Stadium in March where they will work towards the Hawkes Bay Cup, a tour in the USA, the World League semi-final in Brussels, the Oceania Cup in October and the World League final in Auckland, New Zealand in November should they qualify.
The Hockeyroos’ full coaching team will be announced in the new year once interviews have taken place for the assistant coach position.
2017 women’s hockey squad: Laura Barden (Kew, VIC), Jocelyn Bartram (Albury, NSW), Edwina Bone (Orange, NSW), Jane-Anne Claxton (Adelaide, SA), Kirstin Dwyer (Mackay, QLD), Madison Fitzpatrick (Cabarita Beach, NSW), Kate Hanna (Constitution Hill, NSW), Jordyn Holzberger (Ipswich, QLD), Stephanie Kershaw (Townsville, QLD), Rachael Lynch (Warrandyte, VIC), Karri McMahon (Berri, SA), Georgina Morgan (Armidale, NSW), Gabrielle Nance (Kingscliff, NSW), Georgia Nanscawen (Melbourne, VIC), Kaitlin Nobbs (Newington, NSW), Brooke Peris (Darwin, NT), Madi Ratcliffe (Warrnambool, VIC), Kathryn Slattery (South Stirling, WA), Emily Smith (Crookwell, NSW), Grace Stewart (Gerringong, NSW), Renee Taylor (Everton Park, QLD), Ashlee Wells (Morwell, VIC) and Mariah Williams (Parkes, NSW).
