CHAMPIONS FEEL THE HEAT OF COMPETITION
THE Australian men’s hockey team has claimed a perfect five gold medals from five Commonwealth Games appearances but the competition is getting tougher, according to captain Mark Knowles.
After the announcement of the GC2018 hockey draw last week, Knowles provided his insight into the men’s competition.
“The Commonwealth Games are getting harder every time we play,” he said.
“The standard of hockey through the countries five to 15 in the world has got so much better.”
The Kookaburras pool includes New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and Scotland.
“Our pool is really difficult, we have three big rivals in New Zealand, Canada and South Africa,” he said.
“They will be a good challenge for us, they are teams with a lot of aggression physically.
“Then you add in that (UK) influence with Scotland, they’ll bring a different type of flair.”
In Pool B, India and England will be expected to advance, but any of Pakistan, Wales and Malaysia can cause a boil over.
“There could be some dark horses in Pakistan, but on current form India and England are the two strongest teams in that group,” said Knowles.