HOCKEY: Hockey Australia has announced a 27-man Olympic men’s hockey squad, the group of athletes that will prepare for the Olympic Games competition in Rio de Janeiro next August.
From the 27, 16 names will ultimately be submitted to the Australian Olympic Committee in July for nomination to the 2016 Australian Olympic Team.
More than half of the squad are vying for selection to their first Olympic Games while, at the other end of the experience spectrum, Olympic gold medallists Jamie Dwyer and Mark Knowles are aiming for their fourth Olympics. For Fergus Kavanagh and Eddie Ockenden, both dual bronze medallists, Rio 2016 would mark their third Games.
Three athletes have been promoted to the senior national list from the 2015 Development Squad roster. They are Tasmanian Josh Beltz, New South Wales’ Flynn Ogilvie and Victoria’s Andrew Philpott.
Beltz, 20, has been training as part of the centralised program in Perth this year and made his senior international debut for the Kookaburras in the gold medal winning Oceania Cup campaign in October. He was part of the tour party that played a three-match series against India prior to the recent World League Final.
Similarly, Ogilvie, 22, has been training in Perth following his international debut in late 2014. He was part of the bronze medal winning squad at the 2014 Champions Trophy and is a 2015 Oceania Cup gold medallist. He is one of four squad members from Wollongong, joining Kieran and Blake Govers, and Tristan White.
Philpott, 25, was a member of the Kookaburras’ 2014 national squad, winning gold with the team at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. He returned to Melbourne following the Games to complete his medical studies. He remained part of Hockey Australia’s national development squad during that time.
Head Coach Graham Reid said, “I’m excited about the group we’ve selected. It’s a really good eclectic mix of a lot of different types of player and different personalities that will challenge one another and put pressure on each other.
“We have the young players who have stood up this year, most recently in winning the World League, and a group whose significant experience will be hugely important in our development between now and the Olympic Games.”
Outlining the incredibly detailed process the selectors undertook, Reid explained, “There was a lot of information to collate and lots of options. We started from scratch, assessing every player as if we’ve never selected them before, removing the familiarity that can come with knowing someone for a number of years. It’s been an exhaustive process; our selection panel has met almost every day since we returned from India.”
The squad contains the four athletes shortlisted for the International Hockey Federation’s annual awards titles, Hockey Stars 2015: Mark Knowles and Chris Ciriello (shortlisted for Player of the Year), Blake Govers (shortlisted for Rising Star of the Year) and Andrew Charter (shortlisted for Goalkeeper of the Year). Voting is open to the public and closes on 20 January.
The squad will begin training in the first week of January following the Christmas break, coming together for a camp before 20 athletes head to India in mid-January to compete for their franchises in the month-long Hockey India League.
Their Olympic preparation will take in the annual Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia in April and the Champions Trophy in Argentina in June. A series of home test matches are also expected to be confirmed shortly.
Hockey Australia has also named its 11-man 2016 National Development Squad. Two development squad athletes – Tristan Clemons and Jeremy Edwards - have been awarded full time Hockey Australia scholarships to enable them to train with the senior Olympic squad.
2016 Olympic Men’s Hockey Squad
Name (Hometown) Previous Olympic Games
Daniel Beale (Brisbane, QLD)
Joshua Beltz (Hobart, TAS)
Kiel Brown (Toowoomba, QLD) 2008 (Unused ‘P’ accredited reserve athlete in 2012)
Andrew Charter (Canberra, ACT) (Unused ‘P’ accredited reserve athlete in 2012)
Chris Ciriello (Melbourne, VIC) 2012
Tom Craig (Lane Cove, NSW)
Matthew Dawson (Central Coast, NSW)
Tim Deavin (Launceston, TAS) 2012
Jamie Dwyer (Rockhampton, QLD) 2004, 2008, 2012
Matt Gohdes (Rockhampton, QLD) 2012
Blake Govers (Wollongong, NSW)
Kieran Govers (Wollongong, NSW) 2012
Jeremy Hayward (Darwin, NT)
Fergus Kavanagh (Geraldton, WA) 2008, 2012
Mark Knowles (Rockhampton, QLD) 2004, 2008, 2012
Tyler Lovell (Perth, WA)
Trent Mitton (Perth, WA)
Eddie Ockenden (Hobart, TAS) 2008, 2012
Flynn Ogilvie (Wollongong, NSW)
Simon Orchard (Maitland, NSW) 2012
Andrew Philpott (Melbourne, VIC)
Matthew Swann (Mackay, QLD) 2012
Glenn Turner (Goulburn, NSW) 2012
Jake Whetton (Brisbane, QLD)
Tristan White (Wollongong, NSW)
Dylan Wotherspoon (Mulwillumbah, NSW) [QAS athlete]
Aran Zalewski (Margaret River, WA)
2016 Hockey Australia Scholarship Holders (in addition to above)
Tristan Clemons (Bunbury, WA)
Jeremy Edwards (Hobart, TAS)
2016 Hockey Australia National Development Squad
Kiran Arunasalam (Doncaster East, VIC)
Chris Bausor (Perth, WA)
Scott Boyde (Chandler, QLD)
Tristan Clemons (Bunbury, WA)
Tim Cross (Melbourne, VIC)
Jeremy Edwards (Hobart, TAS)
Casey Hammond (Bundoora, VIC)
Leon Hayward (Darwin, NT)
Kurt Mackey (Lauderdale, TAS)
Tom Wickham (Adelaide, SA)
Matthew Willis (Tamworth, NSW)
Hockey Australia
