WAIS Magnificent Seven Selected for World Cup Qualifiers

WAIS hockey scholarship holders have gained selection in both Ric Charlesworth’s Kookaburras and Frank Murray’s Hockeyroos squads for the up coming World Cup qualifiers against New Zealand.

Graeme Begbie, Kiel Brown and Fergus Kavanagh all earned call ups for the Kookaburras matches following good form in national colours in recent matches.

After experimenting with his squad over the past two weeks during international matches against Malaysia and Canada, Kookaburras coach Ric Charlesworth has today announced his World Cup Qualifier squad.

The squad will compete in a World Cup Qualifier event against New Zealand and Samoa in Invercargill, New Zealand from August 24-29.

The winner of the tournament gains direct access to the Hero Honda FIH World Cup in New Delhi, India from 28 February-13 March, 2010.

Each State and Territory is represented within the squad, with New South Wales and Queensland claiming the most representatives with four players for each State.

Highlights of the squad include 33 year old veteran Brent Livermore, who having played 306 international matches continues to close in on former player Jay Stacy’s tally of 319 games as the most capped Kookaburra.

The inclusion of 2008 FIH Young World Player of the Year Eddie Ockenden looms as critical for the Kookaburras. The 22 year old proved himself during last week’s matches against Canada where Ockenden returned for the first time since injuring his collarbone in June during a tour of Europe.

Despite being a member of the National Development Squad, Glenn Turner has proven himself capable of playing amongst the world’s elite, named in the World Cup Qualifier squad after performing well since debuting for the Kookaburras two months ago.

Notable absentees from the squad include striker Russell Ford and 2008 Beijing Olympic Bronze medalists David Guest and Eli Matheson.

Overall the squad has an age average of 25 with a match average of 93 games per player.

Four WAIS scholarship holders were included in Frank Murray’s Hockeyroos squad, with Fiona Boyce, Hope Munro, Ashleigh Nelson and Kim Walker all primed for action.

Following their recent silver medal at the Samsung Hockey Champions Trophy tournament in Sydney, the Hockeyroos have turned their attention to the qualifying for next year’s World Cup.

Hockeyroos coach Frank Murray has announced his squad to compete against New Zealand and Samoa in a World Cup Qualifier event in Invercargill, New Zealand from August 24-29.

A travelling squad of 19 athletes has been selected, with the final team of 18 players to be announced on August 24. This decision has been made to ascertain the impact that the Women’s Junior World Cup campaign has on players Casey Eastham, Emily Hurtz and Georgia Nanscawen who are currently competing at this tournament.

The travelling squad is extremely similar to the squad that competed at the Samsung Hockey Champions Trophy in July, with defender Heather Langham the only omission.

Veteran defender Kim Walker, who missed the Champions Trophy due to injury, returns to the Hockeyroos team while Victorian striker Claire Messent has also been named in the travelling squad.

Should the Hockeyroos be victorious at the World Cup Qualifier event, in which the Kookaburras will also be competing against New Zealand and Samoa at the same time, they will advance directly to the 2010 Women’s World Cup in Argentina from 30 August – 12 September.

The Hockeyroos squad remains quite young, with nine of the 19 players having only played 20 or less international matches.

– Hockey Australia