WAIS Athletes Named in Kookaburras’ 2014 Senior Squad
Hockey Australia has announced the 30 athletes who will make up the 2014 Australian men’s national senior squad and the 10 that will comprise the national development squad.
The squad was announced at the same time as the 18 athlete squad to compete at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup was named.The national senior squad is the group of athletes from which the final squad for the World Cup will be selected.
Continuing WA’s strong historical representation in Kookaburra outfits, five WAIS scholarship holders were named in the senior squad, with; Fergus Kavanagh, Kiel Brown, Trent Mitton, Tyler Lovell and Aran Zalewski all included.
The 10 man development squad contained a further three WAIS athletes, with; Craig Boyne, Tristan Clemons and Nathan McGuire nominated.
New inclusions in the 2014 senior list include Australia’s Junior World Cup captain Daniel Beale (Brisbane, QLD), who after making his senior international debut in March 2013 went on to win the Oceania Cup and compete at the World League Finals with the Kookaburras. Beale’s young Burras teammate Jeremy Hayward (Darwin, NT) also makes the step up from the national junior squad while Nick Budgeon (Hobart, TAS) and Andrew Philpott (Melbourne, VIC) are promoted from the national development squad.
Like Beale, Philpott picked up a gold medal at the 2013 Oceania Cup while Budgeon stepped in to replace the injured Chris Ciriello ahead of the World League Finals.
Matthew Butturini is included, however, will not be available for World Cup selection due to a long term knee injury.
The national senior squad will continue to be supported by the national development squad, which provides athletes with exposure to international hockey and development opportunities as part of a pathway into the senior group. Athletes from the development squad – and the national junior squad set to be named in July – are not precluded from being called up to the senior squad at a later date.
-HockeyAustralia
