Drag and flick needed in Australian hockey

Hockey Australia have warned against a savage cut to their funding amid failures at #Rio https://t.co/PFUzQNuNqB

— Sandra Sully (@Sandra_Sully) August 16, 2016

By Nicholas Crawford

In the light of the poor performances of Australia’s field hockey teams at the Rio Olympics it is clear that a new approach is needed if Australia is to return to the pinnacle in Tokyo in four years’ time.

Having medalled at every Olympics since Atlanta 1992, the Kookaburras’ failure was particularly hard to take for a side ranked number one in the world, while the Hockeyroos also fell short of the world ranking of third.

Additionally the men entered the tournament having won the Champions Trophy in England earlier this year while the women finished second at the World Cup two years ago.

There are of course many uncontrollable factors in sport. The Hockeyroos had to deal with the absence of key player Anna Flanagan who was not selected after her suspension for a drink-driving offence. However for two sides with such pedigree it is reasonable to expect better performances.

The players themselves freely acknowledge this with Hockeyroos forward Georgie Parker taking to Twitter to apologise to her country for the lacklustre campaign in a statement that raises more questions than it answers.

It doesn’t help that the players feel so responsible to the public for their performance, a sentiment that goes some way to explaining the underwhelming performances of several high profile athletes at Rio. But Australia’s hockey teams clearly did not handle this as well as their competitors who often face the same level of expectations.

Despite being the number one side in the world leading in to the Olympics, a look at the Kookaburras’ roster does give some insight into how the team has arguably stagnated in the lead-up to Rio.

Boasting an average age of almost 29 and with several players well into their 30s the Kookaburras have seemingly failed to inject enough youth into the team, which may have ramifications long after Rio.

A change is needed now to give younger players a chance or else they risk falling further behind the competition if these youngsters are not adequately prepared for the rigours of international hockey.

While this might be harsh on a golden generation of Kookaburras who guided Australia to their greatest period of hockey success, the performances in Rio show that it is time the regenerate the squad looking forward to Tokyo in four years’ time.