Former Hockeyroo Kathryn Slattery eyes a return to her home turf

Former Hockeyroo Kathryn Slattery has revealed her desire to play in the Lower Great Southern Hockey Association, if local hockey returns later this year. Slattery who played for Manypeaks and Tigers as a junior, said an opportunity to coach and play for her former club Peaks is a strong possibility. The 26-year-old is back on her family’s South Stirling farm helping with seeding and is leaning towards settling back down in the Great Southern for the immediate future. “We started seeding last week, it’s a bit dry but hopefully we will get some rain over the next week or so and we can get stuck into it,” she said. “I am just happy to be back with my family and on the farm with some open spaces. “At this stage I think I will stay down here and settle in. “It’s nice to be around family all the time so I think I will play down here from now on. “Before all this happened Manypeaks were looking for a coach so I might help out with that and play.” The South Stirling-raised striker began playing for Royal Antwerp Hockey Club in the Belgian Hockey League season, but that was later cancelled due to COVID-19. “The season expands over about 10 months,” she said. “I played the first half of the season and then the turf ices over through December and January so I came back for a bit. “I flew back over and we had just got back into it, I think we played two, three games then COVID-19 hit. “The season was put on hold so I flew back home and then two weeks later the whole season was cancelled. I am talking to the club about next season but everything is a bit up in the air with travelling overseas.” Slattery made 91 appearances and scored 37 goals in the green and gold, including representing Australia at the Olympic Games in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. She walked away from international hockey in 2018.