From Day 9 yesterday, the Men’s Kookaburras aspirations of going one better for gold at Paris 2024 unfortunately came to an end in the Quarter-Finals at the end of the Netherlands, 2-0. Yes, the first half or first two x 15 mins weren’t bad for a start with both teams being scoreless as they had plenty of opportunities to strike a few through the net against one of the best Top 2 hockey teams in the world. We also thought they can cause them a huge storm, having done so back in February earlier this year during the Indian FIH Pro League mini-tournament. But then series of silly mistakes, poor attacking execution and poor discipline ultimately forced their hand to the Dutch with 2 x 2nd half goals en route to their semis berth v Spain on Wednesday at 10pm AEST – one via penalty corner in the 3rd x 15 mins followed by an open strike in the last 15.
Now we’ve just seen the same with the women’s Hockeyroos side just now on Day 10 also from the Quarter-Finals who lost by one goal to China 3-2 – despite a really improved 2nd half play where they did their best to save the match but it was too little, too late unfortunately. They got away with the early goal which was so far, so good – especially when they dominated the last 2 x 15 minute plays by sharing the possession with China after half-time.
It’s just a shame they’ve been inconsistent play across the pitch, such as the ill-discipline for the most part including the last few mins under presssure that allowed China to cash in & hold them accountable with goals coming their way. The Hockeyroos surrendered an early 1-0 lead into a 3-1 trail behind China ahead of half-time and then a 2-3 loss in the end by a single goal difference as they cannot play any further now much like the Men’s Kookaburras in this Olympics tournament.
Instead, China will be waiting their next opponent for the semi final come Wednesday night when Belgium v Spain to round off today’s Women’s Quarter-Final day at 4am AEST tomorrow. Hats off to head coach and former Hockeyroos player Alyson Annan with the win, who knows how to get a good sniff of the Hockeyroos, having won a few times over them time and time again as we’ve seen back in April 2024.
For now, Hockey Australia will need to look at both the men’s and women’s teams performances very closely soon enough and see where they will go from there over the next 3-5 years. As said, there were some signs of promise prior to the Olympics that they can both thrive against the world’s best where a Top 3-4 finish would be the bare minimum – no pressure.
But both of their own early QF exits now meant that the Kookaburras and Hockeyroos are still far from the very best that they’re trying to accomplish when you look at the likes of both the Netherlands & Belgium. Looks like we won’t be seeing Colin Batch & Katrina Powell back in the dugout as their respective men’s and women’s teams coaches going into 2025.
