Australia’s best players will set aside their Olympic selection aspirations this weekend to focus instead on the Hockey One finals in Canberra.
Less than a year out from the Paris Games, prospective Kookaburras and Hockeyroos maintain securing domestic success is more important than tuning up for the Olympics, despite the men’s side looking to avenge their heart-breaking gold medal defeat in Tokyo.
NSW will battle the Tassie Tigers and Brisbane will take on HC Melbourne in the men’s semi-finals, while the women’s section has Brisbane facing Perth and NSW battling Canberra at the National Hockey Centre.
The winners will square off in grand finals on Sunday afternoon.
Melbourne striker Nathan Ephraums narrowly missed the Tokyo squad but impressed for the Kookaburras at the Commonwealth Games.
While admitting he’s got an eye on 2024 selection, he says his Melbourne side will need to upset in-form Brisbane first and foremost to keep their campaign alive.
“Any opportunity you get to impress and show off your skill set is a good one, you always keep that in mind,” he said.
“But for us at the moment it’s just about Hockey Club Melbourne, how you can perform, the better we play the better you play individually.
“That’s probably at the forefront of my mind right now.”
Experienced 95-cap Hockeyroo Rosie Malone agreed, with her Brisbane side needing to knock off Perth to try and set up a rematch of last year’s decider with NSW.
“It should be just in the back of people’s minds, what’s happening next year … the focus is really going to be about just winning this tournament,” she said.
“One thing our coach said … she said to all national players ‘I want you to be the best player for the team, not necessarily the best player in the team’.”
NSW Pride are the defending champions in both divisions with their men’s side looking to make it three titles in a row after another impressive regular season.
“It’s been great fun … we’ve got a good roster, we’ve got guys who have played with each other since we were 11, 12 years old,” said NSW striker Tom Craig.
“It’s been a challenge, a lot of the guys have been living in Perth and flying in and flying out, some guys flying in on game day and flying out the same day. That’s been hectic for them.
“It’s a great tournament and it’s exactly what hockey needs in Australia, something fans can look forward to.”
In the women’s bracket, Canberra will hope to use their home field advantage to try and break through for their first title, striker Kalindi Commerford said.
“Every season we want to make finals for the home fans … it’d be cool to be able to give back to the community that has given us so much,” she said.
By Alex Mitchell in Canberra
