Kookaburras captain Mark Knowles fit for Olympic purpose after injury almost scuppered Rio dream

KOOKABURRAS captain Mark Knowles has spoken of the fear his Rio campaign was over after suffering a foot stress fracture just months from his third Games.

Australian Men's Hockey captain Mark Knowles will compete at his third Olympic Games.

KOOKABURRAS captain Mark Knowles has spoken of the fear his Rio campaign was over after suffering a foot stress fracture just months from his third Olympic Games.

Knowles will be selected in the side that starts its campaign against New Zealand on Sunday (AEST) having made rapid progress in the past week.

But Knowles admitted on Thursday as he battled foot soreness he had believed he might need to withdraw from the Kookaburras squad.

The inspirational leader has spent the past four years winning every tournament available but is aware Rio redemption was the only prize that mattered.

He wants to right the wrongs of Australia’s bungled 2012 campaign after letting slip a semi-final lead to Germany and is only now confident he will get there.

“It’s all good. I played a full game against Germany on Sunday and trained on Tuesday and then played against Ireland,’’ he said.

“It’s such a relief to get through Sunday and for everyone to feel like it’s normal again having me back there.

“Relieved and happy are my two words. I was (scared) after so much work in London, that was the biggest thing for me.

Knowles is ‘100 per cent’ again after suffering a foot stress fracture.

“We have got to a place where we are very, very good and I didn’t really comprehend how bad it would be (to miss out) until I was struggling the week before we were leaving.

“That was when it hit home, I was thinking, ‘How can I get from zero to 100 per cent?’, that was my biggest fear.

“But the preparation here has been better than I thought it would be so everyone is good about it.”

Knowles stayed at home while Australia won this year’s Champions Trophy as his wife had their third child.

But what Australia’s hockey hierarchy was also concealing was his worsening injury issue.

“It is a little bit unknown when it started. I got a hit on it in May against Great Britain, I went into a boot and then went back to training when the guys were at the Champions Trophy,’’ he said.

“It got sore and then I got a knock on it at training the first day.

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“It has been a disrupted preparation for me but I didn’t want to drift away from the guys. It was really important to stay involved and I have been able to get some run back in my legs, which has been good.”

The 2014 world player of the year says at 32 he has no inclination to retire yet, loving the high of leading the world’s most dominant hockey team.

“I want to continue playing, I really love the competitive nature of it and training,” he said.

“Look at Jamie (Dwyer), I am not sure where I will be at 37 but I have strong ambitions to play the Commonwealth Games in my home state in 2018 and the World Cup is in India in 2018 and then I will see where I go from there.”