Renee Taylor

After a stellar 2015 season where Renee Taylor's team, the Queensland Scorchers, won the prestigious Australian Hockey League Championships, Renee was dubbed one to watch.

The defender debuted with the Hockeyroos in early 2015 in a Test series against China. She then went on to play her first major international tournament at the 2014-15 World League Final in Argentina.

In 2016, she was a member of the talented Australian side that took bronze at the Junior World Cup in Chile and in 2017 she secured the gold medal at the Oceania Cup.

The 24-year-old made her first Commonwealth Games team in 2018, where the Australian side claimed the silver medal on home soil. She backed this up with another silver medal at the 2019 FIH Pro League tournament.

Renee made her Olympic debut at delayed Tokyo 2020 Games in 2021. An undefeated group stage for the Hockeyroos was followed up by a tense quarter-final loss against India, which ended 1-0.

The result inspired the Hockeyroos to work even harder and in 2022 they collected bronze in the FIH Women’s World Cup and silver at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. They were undefeated in the pool games in Birmingham and after defeating India in a penalty shootout in the semi-final, they went down to England 2-1 in the gold medal game.

In 2023 the Hockeyroos finished third in the Women’s International Pro League, before clinching a place at the Paris Olympics by winning the Oceania Cup series against New Zealand.

At the Paris 2024 Olympics Renee and the Hockeyroos opened their tournament with three-straight wins against South Africa (2-1), Great Britain (4-0) and the United States (3-0).

A draw with Argentina (3-3) and a win against Spain (3-1) closed the group stage, with the Hockeyroos advancing into a quarter-final against China. Coached by Australian Olympic champion Alyson Annan, China prevailed 3-2 to end the Hockeyroos' campaign.

After the Games and 139 caps for her country, Renee announced her international retirement. Renee was renowned for her technical ability and game awareness, her relentless, mistake-free effort and her potency from penalty corners.

Away from the hockey field, she was working as a legal assistant and studying a double degree in law and commerce, majoring in accounting.