Reserves named for Kookaburras and Hockeyroos Olympic teams

Kookaburras Head Coach Colin Batch and Hockeyroos Head Coach Katrina Powell have announced the athletes who will head to Tokyo as reserves for the upcoming Olympic Games.

Defender Josh Beltz and forward Tom Wickham have been named the Kookaburras’ two reserve outfield players, while Tyler Lovell will join the team in Tokyo as the backup goalkeeper to Andrew Charter.

For the Hockeyroos, defender Madison Fitzpatrick (sister of fellow Hockeyroo Savannah) and midfielder Greta Hayes have been selected as the reserve outfield players for the Hockeyroos, with Jocelyn Bartram named the reserve goalkeeper.

For previous Olympics, reserves could replace a player in the team of 16 if they are injured or suffer an illness.

However, for Tokyo 2020 teams will be “entitled to reconstitute their teams ahead of every match, according to a timing and process to be determined on a sport-specific basis”.

This means that while the number of players for matches will remain at 16, teams will have the ability to pick from their reserves prior to each match with the exception of the reserve goalkeeper.

This approach has been introduced by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Sport Department for these Games to deal with any potential COVID-19 impacts and the particular operational and other demands on teams.

The Kookaburras open the Tokyo Olympic hockey competition in a blockbuster against hosts Japan on Saturday 24 July (10.30am AEST).

The Hockeyroos’ first match is against Spain on Sunday 25 July at 11am AEST.