The Hockey Tasmania Board has announced the Tassie Tigers and Van Demons squads for the Australian Hockey League in October. The list of 40 athletes make up two of the strongest Tasmanian squads in recent years and marks the first time in 7 years that Tasmania has fielded representative squads made up exclusively of Tasmanian’s.
The Tigers squad features an array of athletes with experience at the highest levels, with Kookaburras stars Eddie Ockenden, Jeremy Edwards, and Josh Beltz, as well as dual Olympian Tim Deavin, and National Development Squad Members Kurt Mackey, Keiron Arthur, and Jack Welch.
Head Coach of the Tassie Tigers and Chair of the Hockey Tasmania High-Performance Committee, Glenn Freeman said: “It is a great result that all squad members are Tasmanian.” “We have shown over the years that Tasmania continues to produce talented athletes across all age groups and the number of nominations for these teams continues to increase.” “An example of our recent success is highlighted by our Under 21 team winning its first National championship earlier this month.”
The Under 21 championship winning team, featured National Development Squad member Jack Welch, who was named player of the tournament. and has produced a number of other emerging Tigers stars, such as Sam McCulloch, Linden McCarthy, Hayden Beltz, Gobindraj Gill and Oliver Smith.
The Van Demons will also feature a number of up-and-coming athletes with Futuroos Philida Bridley and Julia Gunn joining a list of experienced Van Demons campaigners. The emergence of young players is a credit to Tasmania’s development pathways, with Glenn Freeman stating that creating these pathways ensures the sport’s future. “It will be great to have the Tigers and Van Demons playing in front of a home crowd for the first time since 2011.” “It is still very much the early stages of the 2018 campaign and we do acknowledge that we have a bit of work to put in, which is a message that has been pushed to all of our nominated athletes,” Freeman said. “However, a whole new format in 2018 makes it exciting.”
The AHL’s new format now features a home-and-away league model and modified rules aimed at making the game more exciting. The tournament begins on 6 October, with games played weekly across Australia, with the finals being played from 25 – 28 October at a location that is yet to be decided. Tasmania will host two games of this year’s tournament, with the men and women playing ACT on Saturday 6 p>October and NSW on Sunday 14 October.
SQUAD MEMBERS
Tassie Tigers (22-player squad)
Kieron Arthur, NWG
Benji Austin, NWG
Hayden Beltz, DiamondBacks
Joshua Beltz, DiamondBacks
James Bourke, NWG
Tim Deavin, Derwent/Tamar Churinga
James Dick, University
Jeremy Edwards, OHA
Gobindraj Gill, NWG
Nicholas Leslie, OHA
Kurt Mackey, OHA
Samuel McCambridge, OHA
Linden McCarthy, Derwent
Sam McCulloch, Canterbury
Eddie Ockenden, NWG
Jayden Pearson, University
Benjamin Read, University
Billy Shaw, Derwent
Oliver Smith, OHA
Jack Welch, DiamondBacks
Alistair White, NWG
Grant Woodcock, DiamondBacks
Team Officials
Head Coach – Glenn Freeman
Assistant Coach – Andrew McDonald
Team Manager – Iain Meaney
Van Demons (18-player squad)
Ashleigh Arthur, NWG
Phillida Bridley, DiamondBacks
Maddison Curtis, Canterbury
Evelyn Dalton, OHA
Jean Flanagan, OHA
Nicole Geeves, DiamondBacks
Julia Gunn, OHA
Ruby-Rose Haywood, DiamondBacks
Madeleine Hinton, University
Louisa Jacobson, NWG
Jemma Kenworthy, Canterbury
Samantha Lawrence, West Devonport
Sarah McCambridge, OHA
Sofie McLeod, OHA
Blair Patten, Canterbury
Nellie Paynter, OHA
Jessica Tremayne, Derwent
Eliza Westland, Derwent
Team Officials
Head Coach – Ilene Carr
Assistant Coach – Brett Withington
Team Manager – Greer Wells
