Hockeyroos determined to put ‘toxic culture’ of the past behind them with Paris Olympic performance

A culture of bullying and insults from coaches blight the Hockeyroos’ recent past and co-captain Jane Claxton says this Hockeyroos’ squad is determined not be affected by unfair criticism about the past.

Hockeyroos co-captain Jane Claxton says the current group of players refuse to be defined by the failings of previous administrations after the Olympic team penned a rousing public defence of their culture.

The shock decision by coach Trinny Powell to overlook talented striker Rosie Malone for the 17-person Olympic squad opened up a wave of criticism and allowed past failures to be prosecuted.

A 2021 report into the Hockeyroos revealed a toxic culture of bullying and horrific insults by coaching staff that led to major changes in the program as Powell took over from coach Paul Gaudoin only two months before the Tokyo Olympics.

It is understood Malone, a finalist for the international player of the year last season, had simply been overlooked on form issues after a relatively poor 2024 season, but Malone has since complained coach Katrina Powell was biased against her.

The omission of Rosie Malone raised questions. Picture: Simon Watts/www.bwmedia.co.nz @bwmedianz

Other strikers including young star Alice Arnott went past Malone in the last few months, with her single position as a striker counting against her for one of three reserve slots who could come into the Paris team in case of injury.

Claxton, one of four co-captains, told this masthead the group had come too far under Powell to simply sit back and cop the wave of “heartbreaking” and unfair criticism.

That statement posted by the current Olympic team read in part: “We believe that we are building a professional, welcoming and understanding culture that supports each other throughout the highs and lows of a high-performance environment”.

Claxton said after the group saw the narrative building the core group drove the decision to come up with a defence of the current team and its coaching group.

Hockeyroos players headed to Paris; Karri Somerville, Tatum Stewart, Jane Claxton and Kaitlin Nobbs. Picture: Will Russell/Getty Images

“We kind of sat down as a group after probably a week of going through a lot of media turmoil and us not being able to say much because the selection was actually embargoed,” the veteran Hockeyroo said.

“We thought, “We don’t want our culture to be tarnished through this process and people kind of putting something that happened before our time in the Hockeyroos onto this current group.

“The last three years in this program have been probably the most enjoyable out of my career, because of how supportive everyone is of each other with all the increased understanding we’ve had over the pressures of elite sport on each individual, and how that shows up.

“So that was the driving force behind it and none of the leaders really introduced it. It came from the current group. They said we want to stand up for change and be vocal about how proud we are of what we have achieved heading into Paris.

“That narrative put out there isn’t reflective of the current group. So it was pretty cool to see how strongly a lot of the girls felt about having a voice and not just sitting back and letting everything hit you.”

The Hockeyroos are ranked fifth in the world but a silver medal in the 2022 Commonwealth Games, bronze in the 2022 world cup and excellent Pro League performances in the past 12 months have them brimming with positivity.

In Tokyo as Powell had only months to bring together a shell-shocked group the Hockeyroos won all five pool games before crashing out at the quarter final stage, their fifth Olympics without a medal.

Originally published as Hockeyroos determined to put ‘toxic culture’ of the past behind them with Paris Olympic performance