Ten members of the 2009 gold medal-winning team will line up against Canada, Italy and hosts Great Britain from May 27 – 30.

The Australians open their account against Canada on May 27 before facing Italy on May 28 and Great Britain in the final game of the preliminary rounds on May 29. The Finals will be held on May 30.

With the three medallists from the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing taking part alongside European Champion Italy, the tournament will be a good measure of how the Rollers are placed two months ahead of the 2010 IWBF World Championship.

Rollers Head Coach Ben Ettridge said the most important thing about the World Cup was having the Rollers team together to prepare for the World Championship.

“We had the tournament in Turkey 5-6 weeks ago, we now get to follow up again in Manchester so to have our group together so close back-to-back is excellent and hopefully it will help us keep moving forward toward the World Championship.”

After facing Canada in the final of the Paralympic Games in Beijing and playing Great Britain a number of times last year, Ettridge knows what to expect from the opposition.

“Canada is the reigning World Champion so it will be interesting to see how they approach this tournament,” Ettridge said.

“Realistically they’ve lost (star) Patrick Anderson so the depth of their team will be tested but you can never doubt their experience.”

“Italy has come back onto the stage this year after winning the European Championship. They missed the Paralympics but they’ve been a perennial powerhouse in European basketball for the last 10-15 years and we’ve got some more intimate knowledge of the Italian team as some of our men play in Italy. They’re a team that when they get on a roll they got on a very big roll so we have to be ready for that.”

“Great Britain, as always, they’re the home team. Home court advantage counts for so much… I think they’re a very dangerous opponent for us.”

The team will depart for the World Cup on May 24.

 

Rollers Paralympic World Cup Team
Name/Club/Classification

Dylan ALCOTT / University of Illinois, US / 1.0
Jeremy DOYLE / Wenty League Wheelkings / 1.0
Justin EVESON / Galatasaray, Turkey / 4.5
Michael HARTNETT / Lottomattica Elecom Rome, Italy / 1.0
Tristan KNOWLES / Valladolid, Spain / 4.0
Bill LATHAM / CD Once Andalusia, Spain / 4.5
John McPHAIL / West Sydney Razorbacks / 3.0
Grant MIZENS /  Wenty League Wheelkings / 2.0
Brad NESS / Lottomattica Elecom Rome, Italy / 4.5
Shaun NORRIS / CD Fundosa Grupo, Spain / 3.0
Tige SIMMONS / Brisbane Spinning Bullets / 1.0
Brett STIBNERS /  Wollongong Rollerhawks / 4.0

Head Coach: Ben Ettridge
Assistant Coach: Craig Friday
Assistant Coach: Tom Kyle
Physio: James Rahme
Manager: Leigh Gooding