Clemons Earns Kookaburras Chance
The Kookaburras’ squad for next month’s 24th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh, Malaysia has been announced with three WAIS athletes included.
Goalkeeper Tristan Clemons received a call up and will join Commonwealth Games gold medallists Trent Mitton and Aran Zalewski in an 18-strong squad that features a combination of new and senior players while seeing the return of athletes from injury.
Captain Mark Knowles will return to the international fold to lead the group having battled an ankle injury after leading the group to gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Joel Carroll is also included having missed much of the 2014 season.
Two of the Kookaburras’ most experienced players, Jamie Dwyer and Glenn Turner will return having not played for Australia since the World Cup in June last year. If Dwyer plays in the Azlan Shah’s opening match against Canada, he will become Australia’s outright most capped player with a record of 322 appearances for the Kookaburras, overtaking Jay Stacy’s record of 321.
National development squad goalkeeper Tristan Clemons has received the call-up alongside recently selected senior goalkeeper Leon Hayward. The tournament will be Hayward’s first major international tournament at senior level.
After a pleasing performance at the 2014 Champions Trophy in Bhubaneswar, NSW defender Matthew Dawson retains his place in the squad and is joined by fellow youngster Queensland forward Dylan Wotherspoon who missed out on the Champions Trophy through injury.
Speaking about the squad, Kookaburras Head Coach Graham Reid said, “I believe this is a good mixture of athletes selected for the Azlan Shah and it will be great to have a few more of our senior players back on the field after not playing at the Commonwealth Games and Champions Trophy.
“This team offers an opportunity for players who have not played for a while to get back into the swing of playing hockey for Australia. The decision to bring Leon Hayward and Tristan Clemons as the Kookaburras’ goalkeepers for the tournament was to give the pair the chance to showcase their talents on an international stage, allowing Andrew Charter and Tyler Lovell the chance to rest.”
With a key focus on building exposure for the athletes at an international level ahead of the Olympic qualifying event, the World League Semi Final tournament in Antwerp in June, Reid added, “We will be getting on top of the new rule changes at this tournament ahead of the World League. This will be our biggest focus for the team, ensuring we get them right. We are trying to refine the team and give as many opportunities to our players as possible in order to find our strongest team for Belgium.
“What I love about the Azlan Shah is that it’s one of the toughest places to play hockey. With high humidity and heat conditions it tests our players both physically and mentally. Our opponents will be tough to play and it will be a great competition to be a part of.”
The Kookaburras have won gold at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup on eight previous occasions, including back-to-back gold in 2004/2005 and 2013/2014.
For four of the selected athletes – Joel Carroll (100 caps), Mark Knowles (250 caps), Tristan White (50 caps) and Aran Zalewski (50 caps) – the tournament should see them reach key milestones in their international playing careers.
Following a successful year with World Cup gold, Commonwealth Games gold and Champions Trophy bronze, a number of athletes were not considered for selection as they receive a recovery break after demonstrating solid performances during last year’s tournaments. Those players playing in the Dutch league – Russell Ford, Kieran Govers, Fergus Kavanagh (WAIS) and Matthew Swann – were not available for selection.
Matches for the Kookaburras over the next few months will all lead towards selecting the strongest possible team for the World League Semi Final, with the aim of securing qualification for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio De Janeiro.
The Kookaburras’ opening match of the Sultan Azlan Shah is against Canada at 6:30pm AEST /4:30pm AWST on Sunday 5 April.
-HockeyAus
