Stars abound for Tigers

THE Tassie Tigers have launched their Hockey One campaigns with the naming of strong men’s and women’s 20player squads yesterday.

The women’s squad, led by former Hockeyroo Amelia Spence, is arguably the most talented Tasmanian women’s hockey has put together with a host of stars returning,

Spence, along with goalkeeper Holly Bonde, Emily Donovan and Hannah Richardson, haven’t played for the side in their past two campaigns.

Their returns have been further bolstered by the selection of three imports, Canadian Commonwealth Games star Caashia Karringten, Czech international Katerina Lacina and Dutch under-21 representative Esmee Broekhuizen.

Coach Luke Doerner says players of the calibre of Premier League’s Ashleigh Arthur and Julia Gunn can consider themselves unlucky to have missed out.

“Selection for this squad was always going to be difficult with only 20 spots available and while those girls will be disappointed, we’ve ended up with a strong squad,” Doerner said. “Our key strengths are our midfield group and defensive line, which will allow us to play a quick and attacking brand to set up scoring opportunities and be tough when we don’t have the ball.

“The whole group has bought into the process, been doing extra sessions to prepare and they have come a long way in the last two months.”

The men’s squad will be once again led by Eddie Ockenden and appear well placed to add to their gold medal (2014) and bronze medal (2015, 2018) campaigns in recent years. Kookaburra Jeremy Hayward joins the group to give the Tigers the most potent penalty corner battery in the nation, while Josh Beltz, Jack Welch and Tim Deavin add international experience to each line.

“I reckon we’ll stack up really well and be one of the title favourites going in,” Tigers star James Bourke said.

The Tigers teams have an opening-round bye before opening their Hockey One campaigns with a doubleheader against the Adelaide Fire on October 5 at the Tasmanian Hockey Centre from 5pm.