Five second-generation squad members from Southern Downs

Plenty of second-generation Australian squad members named by polocrosse selectors

Warwick player Sophie Wells competing for Queensland in junior girls at the Polocrosse Nationals. Picture: Lauren Cant/Champagne Photograph

POLOCROSSE: There are five second-generation Australian squad members in national polocrosse squads named in the aftermath of the recent nationals.

The McGrath sisters, Jordan and Keely, from the Warwick club, are children of Australian players along with Warwick pair Sophie Wells and Callum Brook, and Ryle Waugh from the Cunningham club.

Jordan and Keely are the daughters of Paul and Sally McGrath who have both played for Australia. Paul has played Test polocrosse and Sally played Test matches and in a winning World Cup team.

Sophie Wells is in her first Australian junior squad and is following in the footsteps of her father Kent Wells who has played for Australia and coached at national level.

Callum Brook is a second- generation Australian squad member as his father Charlie played Test polocrosse.

Ryle Waugh has played for Australia at under-21 level so is already a second-generation national player. Her father Allan played for Australia in Tests in Australia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

She will again play for Australia at U21 level on a tour to South Africa in July.

The five are joined in open, intermediate and junior national squads by Braydon Beck, Bree Thornton, Tori Sheriff (Warwick) as well as Cunningham pair Zac O’Leary and Lauren Sillitoe.

Three of the Hafey siblings from Tansey, Laura, Beth and Emma, are in national squads. Their father Justin played for Warwick club before the formation of a club at Tansey.

Other Queenslanders in the squads are William Taylor, Tom Sutton, Byron Davison, James Lee, Amy Moloney and Sydnee Johnson.

There are five Queenslanders in the open men’s Australian squad, Grant Carroll, Trent Collins, Beau Moore, Tom O’Neill and Andrew Phillips. Former Tansey player Matt Davison, who now lives in southern New South Wales, is also in the men’s squad.

While it is just under three years to the 2019 World Cup in Warwick, the players selected this week are the ones with the inside running. Each of the six squads comprises between 12 and 15 players from across the nation.

Collins and Sillitoe were the two Queenslanders in last year’s World Cup and have retained their places in the national squads.

There is no polocrosse in south-east zone this weekend with the Lockyer Valley carnival in 11 days.