Aussies gear for Games
The Kookaburras and Hockeyroos will unleash near-fullstrength squads in their final Olympic tune-ups on home soil, with Aran Zalewski and Brooke Peris set to celebrate big milestones in Perth.
The Kookaburras and India will face off in five Tests in the space of eight days, starting with Saturday’s clash that will mark Zalewski’s 250th game for his country.
The Hockeyroos are hosting China, Japan and Australia A in a series that runs April 20-28.
The matches, all in Perth, will be both sides’ last chance to play in Australia before heading overseas to prepare for the Paris Olympics.
“We’re excited to play at home and excited for these matches, they’re an important step in our journey to Paris,” Hockeyroos coach Katrina Powell said.
Kookaburras coach Colin Batch described India as a “massive challenge”, noting he would give players a chance to shine throughout the series as Olympic selection pressure heats up.
The Kookaburras, determined to go one better after Zalewski captained the side to a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics, have started the year with seven wins from eight games.
Tom Craig and Tim Howard will miss the matches in Perth with injuries, while Hockeyroos Penny Squibb and Grace and Tatum Stewart are also sidelined.
The Hockeyroos’ quest for their first Olympic medal since 2000 begins with a match against South Africa on July 28.
The Kookaburras’ Olympic campaign starts against Argentina on July 27.
The Lions have rejected claims there is a split in the camp following last year’s end-of-season trip Las Vegas, with football manager Danny Daly declaring Brisbane players are “fully united” and co-captain Harris Andrews insisting he’s at the helm of a “tight group”.
Last season’s beaten grand finalists are in damage control following reports of a rift between players after messages and photos from the trip that were on a WhatsApp group chat were accidentally uploaded by a player to iCloud from his Apple phone.
The partner of the player accessed the group chat, and shared it with the partners of other players who were on the trip, which led to some relationships ending.
The incident and alleged rift have been seen as reasons for the Lions starting the AFL season with three successive losses ahead of Friday’s clash against North Melbourne.
However, Daly said the trip “was not the reason why we are zero and three at the minute” and there wasn’t a “divide among our playing group”.
“This group is fully united as a playing group, and fully focused on turning our season around,” Daly said.
“The trip has nothing to do with our on-field performance, and we will not be using it as any type of excuse as such.
“We produced an impressive pre-season campaign that ended with two pre-season game wins. We’ve had some strong performances in those games, we’ve had some good patches throughout the first three games of this year, and we’ve had some not so good performances in quarters throughout this year. And as a playing group, we just need to get our consistency up over a four-quarter period.
“We still have 20 games to go, and we are confident our playing group will find their best form.
“This group has been through a lot of highs together and a lot of adversities together, and we have full confidence that they will continue to stick together.”
Daly also rejected claims of crisis meetings over Easter, but said he had spoken to Brisbane co-captains Harris Andrews and Lachie Neale.
“I quickly spoke to our leaders over the phone. There was no meeting,” he said.
Andrews was adamant the Lions would “stay bonded internally”.
“We’re such a tight group up here.,” the star defender said.
“We spend a lot of time with each, so as a group, there’s certainly no fracture or anything at all. There was never any tension at all.
“As a group we’re certainly united and we’re all in this together. We can’t really control what other people say.
“I feel like I’m really in touch with the group and really confident that everyone’s on the same page.”
Daly also denied that players’ relationships had ended with their partners because of incidents from the Vegas trip.
He also said there were “some issues” the club did not need to be “aware of”.