Eddie Ockenden will feature in a fifth Olympics for the Kookaburras as Rosie Malone omission shocks

A player who has played all bar one game for the Hockeyroos this year isn’t going to Paris in a shock call as a veteran star heads to a fifth Games.

The exclusion of Hockeyroos gun Rosie Malone from the squad for the Paris Olympics has overshadowed a record-breaking achievement from Kookaburras stalwart Eddie Ockenden, who will become the first Australian hockey player to compete at five Games.

Ockenden, now 37, made his Olympics debut in Beijing as a 23-year-old and will be the second-oldest player in the Australian line-up, shaded only by goalkeeper Andrew Charter, who is also 37.

But amid celebrations for Ockenden, there remain questions over the omission of 26-year-old Malone, who failed in her appeal to the National Sports Tribunal after she was informed she hadn’t made the squad.

As part of the announcement, the Australian Olympic Committee confirmed the Hockeyroos squad was “subject to an ongoing appeal by a non-nominated athlete” and changes would be “communicated in line with that process”. Malone wasn’t even named as one of three reserves.

Rosie Malone was left out of the Hockeyroos Olympic squad. Picture: Simon Watts/www.bwmedia.co.nz @bwmedianz

It was a shock selection call from Hockeyroos coach Katrina Powell given Malone has featured in all but one of Australia’s international games this year and at the end of 2023 was named among just five finalists for the International Hockey Federation’s player of the year award.

Powell has instead picked six first-time Olympians in her 16-player squad, with three off to a third Games, and she backed the rigorous” selection process.

“This is our best 16 players who we believe will give us the best chance of being successful in Paris,” she said.

“They provide flexibility and the versatility that’s required for the structure of an Olympic Games.

“We certainly like to play with speed, skill and variety and this group provides it. We’ve got world-class players spread throughout our whole group, in all of the lines surrounded by talent and then we have some dogged determination in there as well, so it’s a really great mix.”

The Hockeyroos won gold in 1988, 1996 and 2000 but have missed the podium since, including a crushing quarter-final loss to India in Tokyo after going unbeaten through the pool games.

Kookaburras coach Colin Batch has nearly 3000 games of international experience among his 16-players including Ockenden, who has played 445 internationals.

“Eddie is an incredible athlete, an incredible person, he’s like a good bottle of red wine isn’t he? He just keeps getting better and better,” Batch said.

Eddie Ockenden is off to a fifth Olympics. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

“Heading towards his fifth Olympics is a marvellous achievement and I know he wants a bigger goal and that’s not just being in the team, he wants success in Paris.”

Ockenden said going to the Olympic was the “coolest thing” for all hockey players as he eyed off a fifth trip.

“It’s always a really exciting feeling knowing that you’re going to go to the Olympics,” said Ockenden, who will notch his 450th cap in Paris.

“Every Olympic campaign has had its own differences and its own feeling.

“You want to take some lessons from the past and try and improve and use your experience to your advantage.

“But going to the Olympics is the coolest thing that we can do as hockey players.”

The Hockeyroos have been drawn in Pool B with Argentina, Great Britain, Spain, USA and South Africa, while the Kookaburras, coming off a silver medal winning performance in Tokyo, will take on Belgium, India, Argentina, New Zealand and Ireland in their pool games.

AUSTRALIAN HOCKEY SQUADS FOR PARIS

HOCKEYROOS: Alice Arnott, Jocelyn Bartram (gk), Jane Claxton, Claire Colwill, Rebecca Greiner, Stephanie Kershaw, Amy Lawton, Kaitlin Nobbs, Brooke Peris, Karri Somerville, Penny Squibb, Grace Stewart. Tatum Stewart, Renee Taylor, Mariah Williams, Grace Young. Reserves: Maddison Brooks, Aleisha Power, Hattie Shand.

KOOKABURRAS: Josh Beltz, Tim Brand, Andrew Charter (gk), Tom Craig, Matt Dawson, Blake Govers, Jake Harvie, Jeremy Hayward, Eddie Ockenden, Flynn Ogilvie, Lachlan Sharp, Corey Weyer, Jake Whetton, Tom Wickham, Ky Willott, Aran Zalewski, Reserves: Johan Durst, Nathan Ephraums, Tim Howard.