Kookaburras and International Open squads named

The Australian men’s Kookaburras squad has been expanded as the team for the upcoming International Hockey Open is announced.

Five NSWIS athletes have been named in the team heading to Darwin for the International Hockey Open, where Australia will face Pakistan.

The selections are headlined by Rio 2016 Olympian Matt Dawson, who will be joined by fellow NSWIS athletes Ben Craig, Tom Craig, Flynn Ogilvie and newcomer Matthew Willis.

Willis is the most recent NSWIS inclusion in the Kookaburras squad after impressing head coach Colin Batch at the Trans-Tasman Trophy and a recent training camp.

“It’s the start of the new campaign for the Kookaburras; it’s a new coaching staff, a number of new players and some players who have been around the program for a little while but need to establish themselves or re-establish themselves in the squad,” Batch said to Hockey Australia on his selections.

“I believe the team we have selected will be able to show Darwin just why they are ranked number 1 in the world when they take on Pakistan in the four-game test. Hopefully, giving some our younger players more international experience will also help us make our team selection for the Azlan Shah Cup and the World League semi-finals.”

The International Hockey Open takes place from 28 March – 1 April.