Mark Hager has picked his first Kookaburras squad with some notable headlines: disgraced star Tom Craig has retained his spot, while the current tranche of players sees only one Australian over the age of 30.
While Craig, 29, has kept his berth in the Kookaburras men’s programme, there is no place for Jake Whetton or Tom Wickham.
Eddie Ockenden, Aran Zalewski and Andrew Charter have already announced their retirements.
“It’s exciting, it’s a new beginning for this group and we’ve picked 17 players that we feel very comfortable with, having seen how they’ve performed recently in 2024,” Hager said.
“The next four years to the LA 2028 Olympic Games, and also further to Brisbane in 2032, was a big factor in our decision to name an initial squad and a wider squad with a range of experience and ages so we can bring them along in the journey.”
Anand Gupte, the Canberra defender, has earned a full-time call-up nearly two years after playing his first international match. Cooper Burns and Liam Henderson earn selection as does goalkeeper Jed Snowden.
A statement added that Hager is looking to add seven further players to his squad.
Meanwhile, Craig will be next available in March following his international ban.
“Tom’s learned a lot of lessons over the last six months, he’s very remorseful and I believe he’s grown as a person,” Hager said.
“Tom’s a very talented hockey player, and I know he’s now working on the other side of being a high performance athlete, which is really crucial.
“We can learn from his experiences and I know he’ll bring the lessons he’s learned back to the group.”
Kookaburras: Josh Beltz, Hayden Beltz, Tim Brand, Cooper Burns, Tom Craig, Nathan Ephraums, Blake Govers, Anand Gupte, Jake Harvie, Liam Henderson, Jeremy Hayward, Tim Howard, Craig Marais, Lachlan Sharp, Jed Snowden (GK), Corey Weyer, Ky Willott.
