Australia’s men’s and women’s hockey teams receive a rude awakening ahead of the Paris Games

Australia’s hockey teams are always a chance of a medal at any Olympic Games. But less than two months out from Paris, the Kookaburras and Hockeyroos have each received big wake up calls.

Australia’s rude awakening ahead of the Paris Olympics has continued with the Kookaburras and Hockeyroos both suffering second straight defeats on the European leg of the FIH Pro League.

Backing up less than 24 hours after their shock 5-1 loss to Belgium, the Kookaburras suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat to the world No. 7 Argentina.

The women’s team, the Hockeyroos, fared even worse with a 5-0 defeat also to Argentina.

But as Kookaburras defender Corey Weyer noted, it is much better to be learning valuable lessons now than in just over two months time at the Olympics in Paris where just one loss could cost them a medal altogether.

“It’s definitely not the result we’re after but they always say you learn more from a loss than a win,” Weyer said.

“We’d rather have those losses now when we get the learnings than a quarter-final in the Olympics or a must-win game that ends our campaign early. It’s good to get it out of the way now, I suppose, as long as we learn from it, which we will.”

Tim Brand was the lone goalscorer for the Kookaburras while Tasmania’s Hayden Beltz had his first start since earning the call-up to the national squad as he pushes for Paris selection.

“That’s the first time I’ve played Argentina,” Beltz said.

“They have a very different style of play, they’re very skilful in the circle and get the ball up and around your feet, so for me, it’s about how well I can defend in the circle and that’s something I think I’m reasonably good at and I’ve been working really hard to improve, so it was a good test for me.”

Penny Squibb played her 50th game for the Hockeyroos, but there was little else to celebrate as they struggled to convert opportunities against the Argentines.

“We had patches where we were definitely on top,” Squibb said.

“They played well, but I think we also allowed them to play well … It’s disappointing. But we’ll go away and we’ll review quite heavily and we’ll come out in the next game stronger and look for a better result.”

Both Australian teams have a day off before they play Argentina and Belgium again on Saturday and Sunday.

Originally published as Australia’s men’s and women’s hockey teams receive a rude awakening ahead of the Paris Games