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HOCKEYROO Claire Messent has announced her retirement from international hockey after 73 appearances for Australia.
The Victorian midfielder informed national coach Adam Commens prior to the recent national squad selection for 2015.
Calling time on an international career that began in 2006, Messent, from Berwick, said the motivation that once drove her to don the green and gold had declined and she would always be honoured to call herself a Hockeyroo.
“I have recently found that the passion and drive that are required to play at this elite level have started to wane,” Messent said.
“It has been an honour and a privilege to play for the Hockeyroos over the years, and I have many fond memories since debuting in 2006.”
Messent, 29, scored 20 goals for the Hockeyroos and was part of the 2013 Oceania Cup-winning team that wrenched the continental championship from Kiwi clutches for the first time since 2005.
It was a period in which she played a part in several notable successes, including a gold medal at the 2012 Champions Challenge that earned Australia’s place back in the big league, the Champions Trophy, and gold at the World League Semi Final tournament that sealed the Hockeyroos’ place at the 2014 World Cup.
Reflecting on the high points of her international career, Messent said: “The 18 months that followed the Olympic Games in 2012 were some of my most memorable as a Hockeyroo.
“We won the Champions Challenge and won back the Oceania Cup.
“That one was particularly memorable because I was one of the takers in the shoot-out in the final.
“It was a period in which we won everything we entered, except the World League Finals in Argentina, which we still made the final of.
“Playing in Argentina has always been a highlight.”
Aged 21, she made her debut against Argentina in August 2006, opening her goal scoring account against the Netherlands in the same tournament in the USA.
She represented Australia at the 2007 Champions Trophy, three Oceania Cup tournaments, the 2010 World Cup qualifier, 2012 Champions Trophy and the 2013 World League Semi Final and Final tournaments.
Her last appearance for the Hockeyroos came in a 5-1 defeat to the Netherlands in the final of the World League in December 2013.
An ankle injury at the start of 2014 kept her sidelined for three months and ruled her out of World Cup selection before a torn hamstring in September put paid to her Champions Trophy ambitions.
Messent is undertaking her graduate year in nursing at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and is hoping to pursue a dual nursing and paramedic career while continuing to play club hockey.
