Gerrard to Miss AHL Through Illness
The WA Thundersticks have been dealt a blow on the eve of this year’s Australian Hockey League (AHL) tournament after Frazer Gerrard was ruled out due to a recurring illness.
Gerrard is believed to be on the mend from viral complications but ran out of time to be fit for the harsh tropical conditions expected in Darwin.
“We’ve been working with WAIS and monitoring Frazer’s progress with this for a few weeks now, we were reasonably confident of him getting up but we were also really conscious of protecting his well being against the demands of this tournament. Frazer is obviously a very important part of the future of this team and our High Performance Program but we fully support the decision that has been made through the WAIS medical staff. Even though it’s a disappointing outcome and we will miss him this year we’re not going to take any risks with our players”, said WA Thundersticks Head Coach Jason Butcher.
Gerrard, a WAIS scholarship holder has also been selected to play for the Burras in this year’s Johor Cup which will take place straight after AHL.
“Frazer is a talented young athlete who is obviously devastated, so it was not an easy decision to withdraw him from this year’s AHL. Given the brutal conditions in both Darwin and Johor that the athletes will face, it was considered by the WAIS medical staff that is was too much of a risk to expose Frazer with his current health concerns. However we are still hopeful that with the extra week off that we can get him on the plane for the Johor Cup”, said WAIS Head Coach – Chris O’Reilly
A decision has been made to replace Gerrard with Melville star Alex Wenn, who has spent most of his career plying his trade in the promotion league with Peel. Wenn’s story is a great one for Western Australian Hockey with the 27 year old coming from seemingly nowhere to make his AHL debut for the Thundersticks.
“We have eight debutants in this team and having a 27 year old of the quality of Wenn come in and debut is a symbol of the openness of our High Performance pathway. We know we have a pipeline of fantastic young talent coming through but we are also focussed on ensuring talent that has been sitting on the sideline of this team whilst it has been strong and settled is not overlooked”, added Butcher.
Meanwhile, The WA Diamonds has also had to make a change to the team that will compete at this year’s Women’s AHL in Sydney. Caitlin Pascov has been replaced by WA Diamonds ‘train-on’ squad member Erin Flynn.
The WA Thundersticks depart for Darwin on Tuesday 22nd September and will spend three days acclimatising to the conditions before taking on Victoria in what will be a crunch first match on Friday at 4:30pm AWST.
The WA Diamonds depart for Sydney on Wednesday 23rd September, before taking on Tasmania on Friday at 3:00pm AWST.
Don’t miss a minute of this year’s Men’s and Women’s Australian Hockey League. Each and every game will be streamed live online. Go to the WA Thundersticks and WA Diamonds web pages to watch the Men’s and Women’s AHL respectively.
-HockeyWA
