Five WAIS athletes selected to 2022 Hockeyroos squad

WAIS athletes make up nearly a quarter of the 2022 Hockeyroos squad with Shanea Tonkin joining the returning Aleisha Power, Karri Somerville, Georgia Wilson and Penny Squibb in the 22-member-squad.

24-year-old Tonkin has earned a debut call up, having developed in the WAIS program over the last six years.

Tonkin is joined by Tokyo Olympians Karri Somerville and Georgia Wilson, who finished fifth at the Games and Aleisha Power and Penny Squibb.

Hockeyroos Head Coach Katrina Powell is excited by the new generation of talent joining the squad.

“Shanea has been in our national development squad and made real progress in terms of her physicality. She has great speed and skill so we are keen to see what she can do,” said Powell.

2022 will be a busy year for the Hockeyroos with a World Cup coming up in July closely followed by the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

“I’m really excited about the future of this group,” said Powell.

“It has retained a lot of talent that saw us perform well in Tokyo, but I think the addition of the four new players will help us solidify that and put our hand up for a medal in Paris.

“The experience piece is an important one. You want to go into an Olympic Games as an experienced group so that’s why we have made some of these changes to the squad now.

“Looking to the future in Paris and beyond, it’s important to expose these players to big matches we have this year with the World Cup and Commonwealth Games. Having them experience and learn from these major tournaments this year is critical.”