PAIN RELIEF

Olympic agony driving on the Kookaburras

AUSTRALIA may be the No.1 men’s hockey side in the world, but they reckon there is more to life than numbers.

The Kookaburras take on South Africa in their Commonwealth Games opener on the Gold Coast today in the knowledge they are on the road to a higher peak – the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The pain of missing a medal at the Rio Olympics cut deeply and captain Mark Knowles said the team would not be fooled into assuming that dominance in non-Olympic years translated into excellence when it truly mattered.

“In 2017 we went through and worked out what type of team we were,’’ Knowles said.

“We classed ourselves in an emerging category which people found really hard to understand because we were the No.1 side in the world.

“That ranking was a bit false because the previous era had built up so many points.

“We have worked through that phase. The next step is good and we are on our way to greatness, which is what we want in the lead-up to Tokyo.

“At the moment we class ourselves as a good team even though we are No.1 in the world.’’

Coach Colin Batch, who mentored New Zealand at Rio, felt the Kookaburras’ performance was a sign of a downward spiral for the side.

“I think world hockey saw the Australian team being off the pace at the end of Rio, disappointment there, and it would take some time to rebuild,” he said.

For his team to become “great”, Batch said they must win tournament after tournament as India did when they won six straight Olympic golds between 1928 and 1956.

The Australian squad has been revamped since Rio and those who remain, such as veteran Eddie Ockenden, have brought vital lessons.

“(There are) a lot of different ideas from Colin from our previous coaching so the guys that were around, we have embraced the changes,” Ockenden said.

“We are going in a fantastic direction so we have to jump on board with those ideas as quick as we can and teach the younger players about what it is like to be a Kookaburra.”