Hockeyroos in early Olympic chess game with New Zealand
Murray Wenzel |
A direct path to the Paris Olympics will be on the mind of Hockeyroos coach Katrina Powell in New Zealand.
Both Australia’s men and women will continue their Pro League campaigns in Christchurch from Saturday, playing two games each against Great Britain and the host nation.
A feature will be an Australia-New Zealand double header on Tuesday, ANZAC Day.
For the women it will be an entree to August’s Oceania Cup, which will double as an Olympics qualifier.
New Zealand won that duel four years ago, forcing the Hockeyroos to beat Russia in a last-chance qualification series to join them in Tokyo.
Powell has overseen dramatic change at the overhauled program since then and that’s continued since losing to England in last year’s Commonwealth Games final.
Five of the seven debutants blooded in eight Pro League games will feature at Nga Puna Wai Hockey Stadium for the second-ranked side.
New Zealand and Great Britain have both only played four Pro League games but have just one win between them.
“Olympic qualification is always in the back of minds and playing against New Zealand now is an opportunity to test those waters for when we come back here in August,” Powell said.
“The Pro League is its own beast and you focus on what’s in front of you, but there’s definitely an eye on the Oceania Cup.
“It’s exciting to have some new blood and relatively inexperienced players.
“We have been experimenting a little bit in the Pro League so far and trying to solidify our team.”
The Kookaburras will be wary of the British too.
A core of the side played for England, who led Australia 2-0 in the Commonwealth Games semi-final before falling short of what would have been a tremendous upset.
Long-time goalkeeper Andrew Charter will play his first Test since January’s World Cup.
“It’s going to be an extremely tough series,” he said.
“The last time we played England, or Great Britain, was in the semi-finals of the Commonwealth Games so there’s a little bit of bad blood there,” Charter said.
“And with New Zealand coming off an impressive World Cup performance, these are going to be really hard games.”
Queensland’s Joel Rintala will debut for the Kookaburras, who have managed just two wins and two draws from their eight Pro League games.
PRO LEAGUE SCHEDULE
* Saturday, April 22 – Hockeyroos v Great Britain
* Sunday, April 23 – Kookaburras v Great Britain
* Tuesday, April 25 – New Zealand v Hockeyroos, New Zealand v Kookaburras
* Friday, April 28 – Great Britain v Hockeyroos
* Saturday, April 29 – Great Britain v Kookaburras
* Sunday, April 30 – New Zealand v Kookaburras, New Zealand v Hockeyroos.
AAP
