Immense desire for Olympic gold could prove to be Kookaburras biggest obstacle
DO the Olympics simply mean too much to the Kookaburras? Are the Games to them what Augusta was to Greg Norman, a goal you are so obsessed by that it almost melts your inner self.
DO the Olympics simply mean too much to the Kookaburras?
Are the Games to them what Augusta was to Greg Norman, a goal you are so obsessed by that it almost melts your inner self.
This question is hanging heavily in the air after the Kookaburras 1-0 loss to Belgium which followed a narrow win over New Zealand and a loss to Spain.
Those teams are sixth, eighth and eleventh in the world, honourable performers but no ones idea of hockey super powers.
The big boys, Germany and the Netherlands, are lying in wait on the other side of the draw and likely to meet them far earlier than either team wanted.
With two goals in three games the Kookaburras look a ghost of the rampaging machine they can be.
The Kookaburras are an immensely committed outfit with a split personality.
On rankings they are the No.1 side in the world, a whopping 341 points ahead of the second placed Netherlands.
It is a gap reminiscent of the world golf rankings when Tiger Woods was in his prime.
No margin between any other teams in consecutive positions on the ladder is anywhere near 341 points.
And they have earnt it too by trampling all in their path between Olympics when the very sight of them makes opponents tremble.
But during the Olympics they rarely play their best, having won just one gold medal, in Athens in 2004.
In the last two Games they have led at halftime in their semi-final and then been run down by Spain then Germany.
It was heartbreaking stuff, so galling that it prompted them to hire three sports psychologists who got them to ask brutal questions of each other over a periods of weeks, months and years.
Mentally, they were stripped apart and rebuilt for these Games.
It is too early to write them off because they have the talent to roar back.
But it must happen quickly. They looked timid and lacking confidence in each other in last night’s loss to Belgium.
That was precisely the mindset that saw them lose the last two semi-finals.
It’s time for the Kookaburras to get angry. To play strong and aggressively and trust each other.
They have put four years of incredible toil into these Games. They owe it to themselves to lift a gear.
Originally published as Immense desire for Olympic gold could prove to be Kookaburras biggest obstacle