Kookaburras Announce Oceania Cup Squad

Four time world player of the year and Olympic gold medallist Jamie Dwyer is set to play his first match for the Kookaburras for 2011 and his first since suffering a knee injury earlier in the year when the Kookaburras compete in the 2011 Oceania Cup – Olympic Qualifier in Hobart from October 5-9.

Dwyer injured his knee playing for his club team in Holland in April which required surgery and saw him sidelined for over three months.

After returning to full training, Dwyer’s recovery has gone extremely well to the point where he has been selected in the Oceania Cup squad.

Dwyer has recently been lending his services to the Western Australian Institute of Sport, fronting its Go for 2&5 Community Development Program alongside WAIS athlete Blair Evans. The program targets local Western Australian primary school students, encouraging them to eat more fruit and vegetables and get regular physical activity.

The Kookaburras will also regain the services of veterans Mark Knowles and Rob Hammond who are also returning from injury. Knowles suffered a stress fracture in June while Hammond missed the Kookaburras tour of Europe due to a hamstring injury.

Also included in the Kookaburras Oceania Cup squad are AIS-WAIS scholarship holders Fergus Kavanagh, Kiel Brown and Brett Dancer.

The Kookaburras will take on New Zealand and Fiji at the Oceania Cup-Olympic Qualifier and must finish in the top two of the tournament to receive automatic qualification to the 2012 London Olympics.

A 19 player squad has been selected and will be reduced to 18 prior to the tournament.

Following the Oceania Cup the Kookaburras will compete in a newly created tournament called the Lanco International Super Series in Perth from October 20-23. The tournament has all new rules to make the game faster and more exciting than ever before. Further information can be found at this link: http://www.hockey.org.au/index.php?id=481

-with Hockey Australia