Orchard replaces injured Whetton in Australian hockey team

Raipur, Nov 27 (IANS) Australia were forced to bring about another change to their squad for the Hockey World League (HWL) Final, as they replaced forward Jake Whetton with Simon Orchard here on Friday. This is their second change in as many days after Dylan Wotherspoon replaced injured Blake Govers on Thursday. Ahead of Saturday’s opening encounter against Belgium, Queensland’s Whetton was ruled out with a quad tear, meaning he will miss the chance to play in what would have been his 100th international appearance.

“Whetton will be replaced by Simon Orchard. The New South Wales midfielder made his return to the side in the recent Test series against India following a period of time off as he addressed mental health concerns, something which he wrote about in his well-received blog on anxiety,” a Hockey Australia (HA) release said on Friday. The Kookaburras’ have been camped with Belgium, who they face on Saturday, and Great Britain (Sunday) and Canada (Tuesday). The quarter-finals commence on Wednesday.