The 2008 Hockeyroo pre-olympic squad for Beijing was announced today and it’s super-dooper to see 3 Victorians in the mix.
Hawthorn’s superstar and experienced goalie Rachel Imison is well and truly in contention, while Waverley’s Renee Trost and Greensborough’s Rachael Lynch will be in line for their first Olympic experience.
Frank Murray has said, “The current players in the squad have done the work and they all deserved to keep their spots. But in saying that, we still have a lot of work in front of us and need to get better if we are to win a gold medal in Beijing.”
Congratulations to the all the girls who will head over to Perth into lock down to prepare! We hope to get the inside scoop from Hockeyroo Assistant-Coach Toni Cumpston in the coming days…
2008 Hockeyroos squad:
| Name |
Date of birth |
Position |
2008 AHL team |
| Nicole Arrold | 7.11.1981 | Defender | Canberra Strikers |
| Teneal Attard | 16.3.1985 | Defender | OAMPS Queensland Scorchers |
| Wendy Beattie | 18.9.1980 | Midfielder | OAMPS Queensland Scorchers |
| Madonna Blyth | 30.11.1985 | Midfielder | OAMPS Queensland Scorchers |
| Toni Cronk | 27.3.1980 | Goalkeeper | NSW Arrows |
| Casey Eastham | 19.3.1989 | Midfielder | NSW Arrows |
| Suzie Faulkner | 16.3.1979 | Striker | OAMPS Queensland Scorchers |
| Emily Halliday | 5.4.1979 | Defender | SmokeFree WA Diamonds |
| Kate Hollywood | 28.5.1986 | Midfielder | NSW Arrows |
| Nikki Hudson | 6.7.1976 | Striker | OAMPS Queensland Scorchers |
| Rachel Imison | 16.12.1978 | Goalkeeper | Victorian Vipers |
| Fiona Johnson | 12.4.1983 | Midfielder | NSW Arrows |
| Angie Lambert | 1.2.1981 | Defender | OAMPS Queensland Scorchers |
| Shelley Liddelow | 30.6.1984 | Striker | SmokeFree WA Diamonds |
| Rachael Lynch | 2.7.1986 | Goalkeeper | Wrest Point Tassie Van Demons |
| Kobie McGurk | 20.8.1985 | Defender | SmokeFree WA Diamonds |
| Hope Munro | 14.6.1981 | Midfielder | SmokeFree WA Diamonds |
| Ashleigh Nelson | 5.3.1987 | Striker | SmokeFree WA Diamonds |
| Megan Rivers | 10.10.1980 | Striker | NSW Arrows |
| Rebecca Sanders | 9.7.1982 | Defender | NSW Arrows |
| Emma Stewart | 11.7.1983 | Defender | OAMPS Queensland Scorchers |
| Renee Trost | 12.10.1980 | Midfielder | Victorian Vipers |
| Kim Walker | 14.12.1975 | Midfielder | SmokeFree WA Diamonds |
| Melanie Wells | 7.10.1977 | Midfielder | OAMPS Queensland Scorchers |
| Sarah Young | 19.10.1981 | Midfielder | Canberra Strikers |
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April 9th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Two keepers! BOOM!
Well done girls. Freeeeeeeeeeeakin sweet.
April 9th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
PS: “Super-Dooper”? What are you nick a kindergarten teacher?
April 9th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
A little surprised to see there wasn’t a bit of a shake up after the AHL but I guess thats not Franks style.
A big Congratulations to all those selected and good luck in the leadup to the games!
April 9th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
3 little ducks went out one day…over the hill and far away…mother duck said quack, quack, quack quack……
blah blah etc etc.
April 10th, 2008 at 9:01 am
congrats to the 3 Vic girls selected but it pales in comparison to those selected by the two current powerhouse states of Qld (8) and WA (6).
it’s a sad indication of where Vic women’s hockey is at that the Vipers finish second last at AHL and seemingly we do not have strong groups coming through the U18′s or U21′s.
maybe the years of neglect for girls and women’s hockey is finally catching up with Victoria? WHEN WILL THE HV BOARD ACT TO STOP THIS DEMISE?
April 10th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Could not agree more Terry…I think that hopefully we will see more talent coming through the clubs from a playing and coaching perspective.
April 10th, 2008 at 11:34 am
having a look at who made the national development squad there are 4 VIC girls in Kary Chau, Stacia Joseph, Claire Messent and Sarah O’Connor. I believe there are some bright prospects for vic womens hockey perhaps in the next 2/3 years when players like Hanah Cohen, Danielle Schubach, Hana Peake and Stephanie Riordan gain more experience.
April 10th, 2008 at 11:35 am
thats rubbish.
April 10th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Seriously, someone has got to something about Victorian Women’s Hockey, it is a DISGRACE…. and my comments are not restricted to the quality of players. Clubs, Coaches and Selectors have got to take some responsibility.
Here is an example. The Under 15 girls finished near the bottom at the Nationals… so how many Under 15 girls did they select for the Under 18…Too many.
Marketing
April 10th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Good on you annon…
April 10th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
So as mentioned by jenkins (best thig brought up by anyone on this website for at least 3 weeks)…who are the best coaches in Victoria in the mens and womens comps???? We have some new ones and some who are getting a little ancient. Does the older coach have the edge over the new youthful coach? hockey is a changing game that needs a spice of vibrance from time to time…
We have the likes of thompson, merriman and coulson who are the young breed and the master coaches irvine, hills and McGill who have been around for donkeys…
Do the young ones have a chance to make a name for themselves???
This is an interesting topic…I am really interested in the comments…
April 11th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Harold Holt – I think you’ve been swimming for too long my friend cos you’ve largely missed the point on this one. It’s not just about the coaches, it’s about the structure of the pathway and competitions for girls. Coaches can only coach what is coming through from the entry level. If there’s nothing coming through, then what do they coach?
SM has said it before but have a look at AFL and netball and the way they go about their junior programs and you’ll find they’re light years ahead of hockey but the HV board seems to keep muddling through doing what we’ve been doing and not really giving a hoot then hoping that “we’ll be right”.
The warning signs have been there for a while and now poor results at nat champs are coming thick and fast in all age groups. THE HV BOARD NEED TO DO SOMETHING NOW!
April 11th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Underage teams seem to be a big problem currently in Vic. In recent years there seems to be a lot of controversy of these teams in both boys or girls. There are always kids who miss out on teams who some people think should get in, thats life. We play a sport were it is extremely subjective as to who is the better player. Its not athleticswhere it is first past the post.
We are at the stage now where there have been players who have missed out on spots to their clubmates who are collectively thought to not be as strong. This may be a good example of where a teams has been picked solely on trials. This shows objectivitiy in selection and illustrates that all are potentially equal at trials, or it could be that the selectors are not up to scratch.
I have not volunteered my time to select any state teams because I may watch one junior game a year and i dont think I would be a very good selector regardless of how many games I observed. My instincts seem pretty good on my lack of selection skills as i have never been asked to select any teams. HV need to make a concerted effort to get the best people to select every Victorian team. You may have to go a fair way down the list to get people to agree to do it, but this does not mean it is worth the effort. If you simply ask people to apply to be selectors you get a mix of people who care and want to give back, people who think they know what they are on about and feel they would do a good job and people with agendas.
I think we would get the best possible selectors by actually asking people and forcing them to say no and come up with reasons as to why they dont want to do it. It is a lot easier to say no to something if you are never asked to do it.
April 11th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Attention all Victorian Women’s Hockey Selectors…. Hockey at an elite level is a POWER sport.
It does not matter how good your stick skills are, if you cannot run and I mean run and you are not physically strong, then you are going to find it tough going.
We you see clubs, regional teams and state teams frequently select young girls who are just physically out of their depth, it makes you wonder about the Coaches and Selectors.
Marketing
April 11th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Could not agree with you more terry a was only looking at the issue from a different angle as we also need coaches that have experience to give our clubs a great chance. i am from a small club and have found that we are seriously lacking coaches that can help at the top level and at grass roots level. i think Vic hockey needs a shake up…
June 18th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Good on you Kim, all that running around the shore of the Great Lake makes sense now, lol.
June 23rd, 2008 at 7:27 am
Has nikki hudson ever ever missed a player she was chasing and then whiped out? s
July 13th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Some very good points from all concerned particularly Terry/Declan.
One of the problems with Vic juniors(boys/girls) is that they think making the team and getting the gear is THE achievement.Ask them what is their major objective at the tournament and most would probably say “ground time”.Whatever happened to winning the tournament?
The Vic u/18′s men’s results and 7th placing this year was a discrace.Who picked that team of lightweights?Without the German exchange student who scored most of their goals they probably would have finished last.The u/18 girls weren’t much better.Closely followed by bottom four results for the U/21 men’s and women’s teams.
Unfortunately the selectors keep picking little players with no ticker.They’re fantastic at drills around hats,playing 6 on 6 and will never argue with anyone(except maybe the umpire).But how about doing some 50/100m time trials and bep testing before final selection.I would bet half the u/15,u/16 VSSSA and u/18 squads couldn’t run 5 k’s hard or for that matter do more than 9 on the bep test.
The NSW/QLD/WA underage teams are big hungry players.Look at the current Australian men’s team and they’re mostly tall strong players(except of course Jamie Dwyer,but he’s a freak).
Unless something is done now to identify and develop young talent the next 3-5 years for Vic underage rep teams is going to be very lean.Loosing to hockey minows like ACT/NT and Tassie will become more common than what is already starting to occur.
Stop saying we’re developing players for the future and pick teams that want to win and will run through brick walls to do it.
July 16th, 2008 at 10:46 am
i like hockey hehe