Two named in national hockey squad

Great Southern hockey products Kathryn Slattery and Penny Squibb are among 20 athletes named to represent Australia A in next month's national development tour of Japan and China.

The squad, which will be led by national junior women's coach Craig Victory, has been selected from the national development squad, national junior squad and national training centres and will play 11 matches while on tour.

Slattery, a former Tigers and Manypeaks junior, and Tambellup's Squibb are two of the five WA players selected on the tour lasting almost a month, which is aimed at providing valuable international experience to the next generation of potential Hockeyroos.

The squad will depart Sydney on August 11 and arrive back in Australia on September 2 after matches against China and Japan, the fifth and 10th-ranked ranked sides respectively by the International Hockey Federation.

Slattery plays for the Wesley South Perth Hockey Club in Perth, while Squibb joins three fellow players from the Curtin Trinity Pirates on the trip.

Slattery and Squibb, who recently represented WA in the women's under-21 national championships, have also been named in the updated WA Diamonds squad ahead of October's Australian Hockey League competition in Brisbane.

They are among 24 players named in the current squad, which will be trimmed to 18 next month.

Former Albany resident Caitlin Pascov also remains in the Diamonds squad.

WA Diamonds head coach Jason Butcher said preparations were now reaching a crucial stage.

"We are now a month into our preparation so it's important for us to start narrowing our focus with a smaller group," he said.

"It was critical that we got our selections right and as a key part of this we wanted to broaden our options and have a more inclusive starting point to provide more exposure, more opportunity and a systematic challenge."