Three Athletes Named in Kookaburras Champions Trophy Squad

Kookaburras coach Ric Charlesworth firmly has the 2012 London Olympics in his sights, today announcing an extremely young squad to compete at the 2010 Champions Trophy.

Included in the 19 man squad are AIS-WAIS scholarship holders Fergus Kavanagh, Graeme Begbie and Trent Mitton.

With a team which is significantly different to that which won the 2009 Champions Trophy and the 2010 World Cup earlier this year, Charlesworth has gone with a much younger line up to build further depth in the Kookaburras squad ahead of the 2012 London Olympics.

Five key players from the 2010 World Cup squad with over 800 games experience and four Olympic gold medals between them will not participate in the 2010 Champions Trophy in Monchengladbach, Germany from July 31 – August 8.

Kiel Brown, Liam De Young, Rob Hammond, Mark Knowles and Grant Schubert all helped the Kookaburras win their first World Cup in over 24 years earlier this year, however they have not been selected in the 2010 Champions Trophy squad.

The average games per player from the 2009 Champions Trophy squad was 93.4, while the average games per player of the 2010 Champions Trophy squad is 59.7.

Charlesworth said his decision to leave such valuable players out of the squad was to both give these players some time off after a recent heavy work load and also to give experience to others and help build depth in the squad.

“All of those players are quality, experienced players. However the squad chosen was done so with a view to build depth and continue experimenting with structures and players. Likewise, many of these players have had a heavy load recently and not long ago returned from playing a season with their European clubs,” said Charlesworth.

Although the likes of three time world player of the year Jamie Dwyer is still in the squad, notable inclusions in the 2010 Champions Trophy team competing in their first major tournament include Chris Ciriello, Tim Deavin, Trent Mitton, Jason Wilson and Joel Carroll.

Deavin and Mitton only made their international debuts in May, while Ciriello, Wilson and Carroll have been in the national squad for some time and will be looking to cement their spot in the team.

Given that the World Cup was played earlier this year and several key players have only recently returned to Australia after completing their seasons with their European clubs, Charlesworth says it has been difficult to prepare for the 2010 Champions trophy, however it formed an important stepping stone towards the Kookaburras assault at the 2012 London Olympic Games, and it was with this in mind that he picked such a young squad.

“Our sights are firmly set on the London Olympics, everything we have done and everything we will continue to do will have this is mind. We will only have 10 days together as a team before we leave for Europe which makes it difficult to prepare,” said Charlesworth.

Prior to competing at the Champions Trophy the Kookaburras will play two test matches against Belgium before their first match of the Champions Trophy against New Zealand on Saturday July 31.

Australia is the most successful Champions Trophy team in the world, having won a record ten gold medals and 27 medals overall.

Having won the 2008 & 2009 gold medals, they will be looking to win three championships in a row for only the second time in Australian history after the Kookaburras also won the Champions Trophy title from 1983-1985.

Although 19 players will travel to Europe, the Champions Trophy squad will be reduced to 18 players prior to the beginning of the tournament.

The Kookaburras will depart for Europe on Monday 19 July.

– Hockey Australia