New look Kookaburras face massive FIH Pro League test

A Kookaburras squad featuring four debutants will get a stunning taste of international hockey as they come up against host nation India and recently crowned world champions Germany in a six-day FIH Pro League ‘mini tournament’ in Rourkela from 10-15 March 2023.

The 20-player Kookaburras squad comprises eight players with 10 international appearances or less for the team’s four matches at the impressive Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium.

Davis Atkin, Hayden Beltz (brother of Josh), Anand Gupte and Ben Staines are expected to make their Kookaburras debuts in the series. This follows Cairns born midfielder Jayden Atkinson who became the 437th player to represent the Kookaburras when he ran out in the recent Pro League mini tournament in Hobart.

23-year-old James Collins and veteran Jake Whetton are the other two inclusions to the Kookaburras squad from the one that recorded one win, a shootout loss and two losses in their mini tournament against Argentina and Spain.

Kookaburras Head Coach Colin Batch said the FIH Pro League provided the ideal platform to increase the squad’s depth and give players on the fringe a chance to impress.

“These matches give us an opportunity to expose some players who have been sitting just under the main team,” said Batch.

“If they play well, selection will be really tight. It’s one of those things…you want to be in the team, you want to be playing well, you want to keep developing otherwise you miss out on selection.”

The Kookaburras’ inexperienced contingent is set to be guided and led throughout the series by Eddie Ockenden, Aran Zalewski, Whetton, Josh Beltz, Tim Howard and Jake Harvie who have 1,186 matches of international experience between them.

Batch is looking for further improvement and an enthusiasm for the contest to come from the four matches, starting against Germany tomorrow night.

“This is another challenge for us. We didn’t have a big preparation leading into Hobart. With the short time span after the World Cup, the players needed a break and we still need to get fully committed to the Pro League,” said Batch.

“This group has had better preparation. India are always difficult to play at home so that’s a challenge in itself and of course we’re playing the world champions, so they are two great challenges.

“We have a squad who is eager to learn and play together as a team, so that will be the focus for us.”

“There are a lot of good teams around and that’s why the Pro League is so good, because you keep coming up against teams who challenge you in a different way.”

“We’ve got a good squad, we still believe in the players we’ve got, and there are players who will emerge out of these mini tournaments…so we want to expose players and give them the opportunity to shine on the international stage.”

India enter the mini tournament with a point to prove after failing to reach the quarter finals of a home World Cup.

For Germany, they return to India for their first internationals since winning hockey’s showpiece event, where they defeated the Kookaburras in the semi finals.

“Once India were knocked out of the running for the World Cup they performed pretty well in the classification matches,” said Batch.

“They’ve got nothing to lose here and have an interim coach so they’ll be a little bit unknown.

“Germany rose to the occasion at the World Cup. They were able to overcome some tough competition, so I expect them to be very tough to play against here.

“Both are very competitive nations so even though we have a different side from the World Cup, we’re looking forward to these matches.”

“Some other teams are ahead of us at the moment so we need to get better.”

With matches on all six days officially sell outs, an electric atmosphere is expected to greet the teams at the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium, which has a capacity of over 20,000.

“To have a full stadium will be a nice experience. We have some debutants here so for them play in front of a crowd this big and noisy will be a great experience,” said Batch.

The FIH Pro League is broadcast in Australia on FOX Sports, available on Foxtel and Kayo.

Kookaburras Squad for FIH Pro League India
1.Lachlan Sharp, 4.Jake Harvie, 7.Nathan Ephraums, 8.Johan Durst (gk), 9.Jacob Anderson, 10.Josh Beltz, 11.Eddie Ockenden, 12.Jake Whetton, 15.Jayden Atkinson, 16.Tim Howard, 17.Aran Zalewski, 18.Ben Rennie (gk), 19.Craig Marais, 20.Ky Willott, 21.Jack Welch, 26.James Collins, 33.Hayden Beltz, 36.Anand Gupte, 44.Ben Staines, 48.Davis Atkin

FIH Pro League 2022-23 Season - Rourkela Match Schedule
10 March - India v Germany
11 March - Kookaburras v Germany
12 March - India v Kookaburras
13 March - India v Germany
14 March - Germany v Kookaburras
15 March - India v Kookaburras
Matches start at 7:00pm local time (12:30am AEDT). Rourkela is 5 hours and 30 minutes behind AEDT.

Full FIH Pro League 2022-23 Match Schedule

Image courtesy of Odisha Sports