Hockey quintet heading to Hawkes Bay

Five NSWIS hockey players have been included in the Hockeyroos side heading to April’s Hawkes Bay Cup in New Zealand.

The selections came following a week-long camp in Canberra and are headlined by Olympians Mariah Williams and Emily Smith, with the Rio duo joined by Jocelyn Bartram, Kate Hanna and Kaitlin Nobbs.

Hockeyroos head coach Paul Gaudoin said to Hockey Australia, “The camp was an excellent opportunity for us to look at both our national squad and the development squad as we looked to select an additional four new players to the senior squad for 2017.

“We made the selection for Hawkes Bay with the purpose of giving some of our newer squad members the opportunity to gain experience at an international level.

“We hope that seeing such a young side in action at Hawkes Bay will help us in make the crucial team selection for the World League semi-finals, which is a qualifier for the World Cup in 2018.”

The team flies to New Zealand at the end of March to contest the Hawkes Bay Cup from 31 March – 9 April.