The Australian men’s team has strengthened its line up as the Kookaburras continue the first phase of the next Olympic cycle under coach Ric Charlesworth, adding Graeme Begbie and George Bazeley to the official 2009 national squad.

The addition of Begbie and Bazeley came following the Kookaburras recent successful tour of Europe in which they defeated Germany, the Netherlands and England in the Hamburg Masters.

While Begbie looked extremely comfortable at international level, Bazeley also took another step forward on the tour, named goalkeeper of the tournament at the Hamburg Masters.

“Both players were on the edge of consideration for the national squad and their form during the European tour showed that they warranted elevation. I initially indicated that I wanted to include even more players in the national squad however budgets constraints meant this wasn’t possible,” said coach Ric Charlesworth.

Bazeley’s selection means that the squad now has four goalkeepers in Bazeley, Stephen Lambert, Ross Meadows and Nathan Burgers. However an injury to Lambert has called for another goalkeeper to be added to the squad.

In other positive news from the European tour, two time world player of the year Jamie Dwyer demonstrated he is still in fine form, named player of the tournament at the Hamburg Masters. 

The only downside for the Kookaburras came via a broken collarbone suffered by 2008 World Young player of the year Eddie Ockenden during a match against England.

However Charlesworth has already indicated that he is on the mend and will rejoin the national team shortly.

“We expect him to only be out for another three or four weeks. There is no need to rush him back but we expect that he will be able to participate in full physical training shortly,” said Charlesworth.

Australia 2009 National Squad: Ross MEADOWS, Nathan BURGERS, Stephen LAMBERT, Ian BURCHER, Joel CARROLL, Luke DOERNER, Chris CIRIELLO, Kiel BROWN, Mark KNOWLES, Liam DE YOUNG, Fergus KAVANAGH, Jamie DWYER, Rob HAMMOND, Mark PATERSON, Glenn SIMPSON, Simon ORCHARD, David GUEST, Matthew BUTTURINI, Brent LIVERMORE, Eddie OCKENDEN, Des ABBOTT, Grant SCHUBERT, Russell FORD, Eli MATHESON, Graeme BEGBIE, George BAZELEY.

Source: Hockey Australia