WA Juniors Set for Senior Australian Hockey Debuts

Western Australian hockey talents Jake Harvie and Aleisha Power are in line to make their senior Australian debuts after being named in Hockey Australia representative squads this week.

Harvie received a call-up for the Kookaburras’ International Festival of Hockey squad where he will be joined by fellow WA athletes Tristan Clemons, Tom Wickham and Aran Zalewski.

Australian men’s coach Colin Batch said the thought process behind removing Harvie from the Sultan Johor tournament to link-up instead with the Kookaburras was based on his rapid recent development.

“Jake Harvie is a really exciting player from WA,” Batch said. “He didn’t play in the Junior World Cup last year but he’s progressed since then. We’re really keen to see what he can produce.

At 20 years of age, Clackline raised Aleisha Power is set to follow in the footsteps of fellow WA rookie Georgia Wilson in making a debut for the Hockeyroos in 2017, after the latter played for Australia at this year’s World League Semi-Final in Belgium.

Wilson has been included in the Hockeyroos team for the International Festival of Hockey which will be held in Bendigo and Melbourne from November 6.

2016 Olympian, Kathryn Slattery will join Power in the three-Test series with Japan, which starts on November 15 in Adelaide.

Hockeyroos coach Paul Gaudoin said Power made a strong impression between the sticks at last year’s junior titles in Chile.

“Aleisha Power was Goalkeeper of the Tournament at the Junior World Cup last year,” he said.

“She’s a very athletic and a strong goalkeeper and we think she’s someone to keep an eye on for the future.

In other Hockey news:

The Burras squad currently contesting the Sultan Johor Cup in Malaysia has suffered its first defeat of the tournament after losing 2-1 to Great Britain today.

The Australian junior squad which contains three Western Australians, had earlier defeated USA and Japan to open their title defence.