Western Australians in world lacrosse championships
9 Western Australians are now in San Diego ahead of the 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championships, with the pressure on to reclaim a podium spot after losing out in 2018 and 2014 from consistently finishing in the top 3.
The Western Australians join teammates from Victoria and South Australia in the Australian team — the Sharks — who will play against 30 teams from around the world including the mighty USA team that has dominated over the 14 championships since 1967.
The 30 teams are split into 6 pools of 5, with the top 5 nations — including Australia — in Pool A. Pool A also includes the United States, Canada, Haudenosaunee and England.
Other pools include teams from Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, South America and New Zealand.
The Western Australian contingent is:
- Isaac Cahill (Attack) Subiaco Lacrosse Club
- Ashby Dennis (Defence) Subiaco Lacrosse Club
- Thomas Graham (Midfield) Bayswater Lacrosse Club/Norway
- Brayden Panting (Midfield) Wembley Lacrosse Club
- Lachlan Walker (Midfield) Wanneroo Joondalup Lacrosse Club
- Matthew Wood (Midfield) Wembley Lacrosse Club
- Ryan Spark (Goalkeeper) East Fremantle Lacrosse Club
- Jaesaya Bidwell-Barton (Alternate) Subiaco Lacrosse Club
- Glen Morley (Assistant Coach) Bayswater Lacrosse Club.
The Sharks left Perth on Sunday 11 June 2023. The championships are from 21 June to 1 July 2023.
The world championships are held every 4 years.
Despite having only a small fraction of the playing pool of other countries, Australia has traditionally punched above its weight in international lacrosse. It has played in the championships since their establishment in 1967 when it came second. Australia also came second in 1982 and 1994, and has consistently finished in third spot.
Only in the 2014 and 2018 tournaments has Australia finished outside the top 3, finishing fourth after tough bronze medal games against the Iroquois Nationals (now Haudenosaunee).
The dominance of the US team is clear, having won 10 times, with Canada having won 3 times and being beaten by the US 7 times.
For 2023, the 107 game schedule is split between the University of San Diego’s Torero Stadium (which will host the majority of featured tournament games with a capacity of 6000 spectators) and San Diego State University’s newly constructed 32,000 seat Snapdragon Stadium being the site of the opening and closing ceremonies, opening game, semi-finals and medal games. All remaining games are on San Diego State University’s campus among 4 adjacent fields.