GERRINGONG’S Grace Stewart has been named in the Hockeyroos 18-person squad for the Oceania Cup to be played at Sydney Olympic Park Hockey Centre from October 11-15.
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Australia will take on New Zealand and Papua New Guinea in the biennial event where the Hockeyroos have won six of the nine editions.
The Hockeyroos were last in action at the FIH World League Semi-Final in Belgium in June.
Kirstin Dwyer returns after glandular fever along with Ashlea Fey, Kaitlin Nobbs and Grace Stewart, with Kate Hanna, Jacqui Day, Georgia Nanscawen and Georgina Morgan (injury) making way from the World League Semi-Final team.
“Selection was challenging – we’re learning about the group and we’re still not decided on the make-up of our squad for next year, but we think we’ve selected a team that can win the Oceania Cup,” Hockeyroos coach Paul Gaudoin said.
“We’ve had some injuries as well that has taken people out of selection such as Georgina Morgan, Gabrielle Nance and Mariah Williams, but the selected group is solid.”
Gaudoin also confirmed 25-year-old forward Emily Smith has been appointed as permanent captain and will lead the team for the first time in Sydney.
Smith takes up the captaincy following long-term skipper Madonna Blyth’s retirement last year, with Jane Claxton holding the role on an interim basis.
“Emily has shown a consistent approach to her hockey, she’s well respected by her peers and the Hockeyroos staff, so it was a pretty simple decision in the end,” Gaudoin said.
“We haven’t rushed into selecting our captain or leadership group over the past year.
“We’ve had interim leadership groups for tournaments, but we’ve utilised the year to explore the playing group and see what we really needed.
“I don’t want her to do too much different. She’s been involved with leadership groups previously.”
Smith, who hails from Crookwell in country NSW, will be supported by Claxton, Rachael Lynch, Kathryn Slattery and Karri McMahon in the leadership group.
“We want to see a step-up among the whole group with Emily helping and enabling that,” Gaudoin said.
“She’s got some good supporters underneath her.
“We’ve selected those people in order to drive our group forward. We need to get people on board to come with us to the next level.”
Australia’s Oceania Cup opponents New Zealand and Papua New Guinea are ranked sixth and 50th respectively in the FIH World Rankings.
The Hockeyroos are currently fifth on the FIH World Rankings but were knocked out of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro at the quarter-finals stage by the Black Sticks. New Zealand also defeated Australia at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, fuelling the rivalry.
Gaudoin said there was a lot to gain for Australia at the Oceania Cup.
“We want to win the tournament,” Gaudoin said.
“Ranking points are important.
“We want to keep working on the development of our group and our playing style.
“We want to make sure we can perform well against these two countries, including one who is a very competitive team ranked in the top six in the world.”
The squad will fly to Sydney for the tournament on Monday, October 9 following the conclusion of the Australian Hockey League in Perth.
Hockeyroos Oceania Cup squad: Laura Barden, Jocelyn Bartram, Edwina Bone, Jane Claxton, Kirstin Dwyer, Ashlea Fey, Madison Fitzpatrick, Jordyn Holzberger, Stephanie Kershaw, Karri McMahon, Kaitlin Nobbs, Madeleine Ratcliffe, Kathryn Slattery, Emily Smith ©, Grace Stewart, Renee Taylor and Georgia Wilson.
