FIH Pro League, Kookaburras being run down so easily 5-1 while the Hockeyroos were snatched away at the last minute by both the men’s and women’s Belgian teams in Antwerp

Field Hockey is back for another while to bring down the 2023-24 FIH Pro League season across Europe for both our Hockeyroos and Kookaburras teams before Olympics time in Paris, France come late July-early August. It all began with back-to-back men’s and women’s matches against Belgium where the men were very much bruised by the hosts 5-1 whose good form up until then was unfortunately collapsed deep down despite equalizing for a bit earlier at 1-1 in the first quarter. Then we saw the Hockeyroos almost got it 2-1 after a tough, physical 2/3rds until a last minute penalty corner goal by Belgium gave them another lifeline going into the penalty shootouts after a full 60 mins at 2-2 all and again, we saw an unfortunate and unlucky end to see them fall short at the hands of the hosts once again 3-2.  We congratulate the hosts on their excellent performance with the men being too good and the women so resilient that made our Hockeyroos so difficult to maintain control on the pitch. For the Aussies, it’s going to be another tough next encounter ahead when they will both take on against the respective men’s and women’s Argentinian side later tonight. Our men should continue to take advantage of these early starts and build on it on the front foot rather than leave it so late where they struggled mightily under pressure whereas the Hockeyroos better watch their discipline other than scoring or else it will compromise their defense & also their momentum.