Rebecca Greiner double leads Hockeyroos to dominant win over Great Britain

The Hockeyroos have got off to a blistering start in London, defeating Great Britain 3-0 in the opening match of the final stage of Season 5 of the FIH Pro League.

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With a little over a month until the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the Hockeyroos have made no secret they're refining their Australian style of play at the League in Europe, and it paid off at Lee Valley Hockey Centre this afternoon.

In a great matchup between World Number 5 England and the World Number 4 Hockeyroos, Australia dominated across the pitch in the first quarter, earning five penalty corners to Great Britain's none. 

But it would take until the second quarter before Australia could make it count. With a great lead-in from Darwin's Brooke Peris, Tatum Stewart sent it flying towards the target before a great save by the English goalkeeper saw it deflect to the left, where Peris was poised to finish it off. 

Rolling in behind the keeper, the Hockeyroos took a well-deserved lead and carried the momentum into the rest of the match.

As Alice Arnott, Steph Kershaw and Kaitlin Nobbs combined superbly on attack throughout, Great Britain's downfall would soon come in the third and through the magic of Rebecca Greiner, scoring two goals within the space of six minutes.

"Penny Squibb found some great passes to me!" Rebecca said post-match.

"I was very thankful for that but what a team performance. It's really nice as a midfielder/striker, sometimes you get those opportunities and sometimes you don't but when you get them you have to make the most of them and I'm really happy."

The pressure from 13 penalty corners for the Hockeyroos to Great Britain's two, plus a missed penalty shot, was the difference in this match. 

The result made it a special milestone to remember for WA's Karri Somerville who brought up 50 caps for the Hockeyroos.

"It does feel good. To be honest, each game is just so exciting to play. To be able to play one is amazing, but to be able to play 50 is just so so good," Karri exclaimed.

"I think I'm pretty lucky. In the sense that sure I've only played 50 games but I've got to go to quite a few major tournaments so I'm really excited that I've made it this far. It's always a big year, Olympic year, so really excited to see what comes."

Reflecting on the 3-0 result after some good performances, but also some losses, in Belgium, Karri and Rebecca said the side's building well to Paris.

"The team is definitely very happy. I think we put out on the park what we were hoping to display and it was a really good team performance. I think one of our objectives was to be really connected and to really want the ball as a group and I think we did that," Rebecca said. 

"We're putting those final touches together and we're really starting to have everything fall into place, so that's been really nice."

The Hockeyroos face a swift 22-hour turnaround before they take on World Number 3 Germany tomorrow at 7pm AEDT.

Match Details
Hockeyroos v Great Britain
Hockeyroos: 3 (Brooke Peris 22' (PC), Rebecca Greiner 39' (FG) & 45' (FG))
Great Britain: 0 
At Lee Valley Hockey & Tennis Centre, London

Hockeyroos: 1. Claire Colwill, 2. Rosie Malone, 3. Brooke Peris, 5. Grace Young, 6. Penny Squibb, 13. Hattie Shand, 14. Stephanie Kershaw, 18. Jane Claxton (c), 19. Jocelyn Bartram (gk), 21. Renee Taylor, 24. Mariah Williams, 4. Amy Lawton, 11. Alice Arnott, 15. Kaitlin Nobbs, 20. Karri Somerville, 22. Tatum Stewart, 29. Rebecca Greiner
Unused substitute: Aleisha Power (gk)