WA Diamonds Select AHL Squad
Hockey WA has selected a final 18-athlete WA Diamonds squad for the 2013 Australian Hockey League Championships, which gets underway next month.
This year the Australian Hockey League Women Championships are being held in Hobart, Tasmania from the 27th September – 5th October.
WA Diamonds have been one of the most successful teams in the history of the Australian Hockey League. Retirements though to Hockeyroos pair Fiona Boyce and Hope Munro, coupled with long term injuries to Kate Hubble and Jayde Taylor has seen Head Coach Jason Butcher look to rebuild the squad.
Announcing the squad, Jason Butcher said “We are definitely closing a chapter on a significant era in the Diamonds proud history. We have had a high number of key players retire and some priority players not make themselves available for selection. With last year’s AHL group finishing 4th and our U21s finishing 5th this year, we know we are in a transition phase with our list and we know we have a lot to do but we are very confident in our direction and in the commitment of this team, we are certainly looking forward to the challenge”
“We have selected a group with some quality leaders and some real character, a group that has a seasoned steel about it. We are also keeping one eye on the future and we are looking forward to seeing young stars Kyra Flynn and Rachel Frusher make their debuts as part of the process of regenerating our list.”
The WA Diamonds squad had played in a five game series against International opponents Malaysia last month. The team will now look to put the finishing touches on their preparations in the coming weeks.
“The selection process we have undertaken has been very inclusive and very thorough, the commitment from our extended playing group has been outstanding as has the work done by our selection panel and chair of selectors Mal Cowan. Our main focus can now shift to developing ourselves into a very competitive team and preparing for the tournament.”
The squad contains nine WAIS scholarship holders who are as listed; Kobie McGurk, Ashleigh Nelson, Kate Denning, Kathryn Slattery, Penny Squibb, Caitlin Pascov, Kyra Flynn, Rachel Frusher and train-on member Erin Flynn.
-HockeyWA
