Tambellup’s Penny Squibb returns from long injury lay-off to strengthen Hockeyroos side at Pro League series

Tambellup hockey star Penny Squibb will return to the national team after a lengthy injury lay-off, as the Hockeyroos head to Europe for their last big test before the Olympic Games in July. The Hockeyroos this week named a full-strength squad for their trip to the UK to play in the FIH Hockey Pro League series at the end of the month. With the Olympic selection deadline approaching, Hockeyroos head coach Katrina Powell will get the chance to put the whole squad through international competition before the Olympics start in Paris in two months. Squibb has had an injury interrupted 2024 but has recovered in time for the Pro League series in Antwerp and London from May 29 to June 13. Powell was delighted to have her WA star defender ready to return to competition, following a tough season where she spent time on the sidelines recovering from injury. “It’s really great to see her back. Penny’s been working really, really hard and she’s looking really good at training,” Powell said. “She’s one of our more positive players at the moment, which regularly Penny is. “But as you can imagine, being back at training after an injury, training is a thrill, which is not something you can always say and she brings a new energy to the group at the moment as well.” The 31-year-old is set to reach a personal milestone on the Europe trip, just two games away from her 50th appearance. It has been a long journey to 50 games for Squibb, who has endured a lot of personal ups and downs. Squibb has scored five goals during 48 caps for the women’s national team since making her debut in 2018. She cruelly was ruled out of the Olympic Games in Tokyo with injury but in 2022 won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games and bronze medal at the World Cup. Powell said the Pro League series with games against Belgium, Argentina, Great Britan and Germany was the ideal preparation for the biggest event of the year. “It’s certainly great to travel with the whole squad and provide them with I suppose their last-minute opportunity before Olympic selection, but also it’s a fantastic opportunity for us to play against a couple of teams that we will face at the Paris Olympics as well,” she said. “We expect teams to hold a few things back and not go all out to show what they’re doing but all the athletes will be going all out to show what they can do considering each country is in the same position as we are, so I think there’ll be a lot of exciting games to come in the Pro League in Europe.” The Hockeyroos first game is against Belgium on May 29 before they meet Argentina the following day.