The Hockeyroos have slipped to their lowest world ranking, and their coach admits they will need to improve quicker than expected to win an Olympic medal.
Hockeyroos’ coach Adam Commens admits his young side need to punch above their weight and experience to be Olympic Games medal contenders after slumping to their lowest world ranking.
Australia’s women’s hockey team are world No.7, with New Zealand’s surprise bronze medal at the Champions Trophy pushing the Hockeyroos down a notch from the sixth place they expected to hold.
The Hockeyroos finished sixth at the Amsterdam tournament which finished at the weekend.
But on the complex ranking formula, they fell down another rung as New Zealand jumped ahead of them by earning more points.
In a frank appraisal of where his rebuilding team sits, Commens admits it’s likely to be two to three years before the Hockeyroos are cemented among the world’s elite again.
But he says an Olympic medal next year is not out of the question – it will just require his side to reach new levels in time for London.
“You need 30 to 35 players pushing for that (selection) door but, if you’re really honest with where we sit, we probably don’t have that amount of excellent, experienced international players,” Commens told AAP.
“What we do have is a young group of 30 that have the potential to become a great international team, but it’s going to take us two or three years in reality to build that experience across the broader group.
“I know the Olympic Games is only 12 months away and I think, with some efficient work, we can be thereabouts.
“But it’s probably going to come down to some really good performances at the right time at the Olympics if we’re going to be pushing for the medals.”
The Hockeyroos’ difficult Champions Trophy campaign has given them another headache – possible relegation from the 2012 tournament, the key lead-in to the Olympics.
Only the top five nations at this year’s tournament get automatic invitations to the the 2012 Champions Trophy, along with Japan who won a berth via the second-tier Champions Challenge.
Germany, China and Australia are vying for the remaining two spots to be decided by world hockey’s governing body.
The tournament in Argentina in January is considered a vital part of most teams’ Olympic preparations.
But Commens said the Hockeyroos have pencilled in a swag of matches already for the next 12 months, so a Champions Trophy snub would not prove a huge hurdle.
“It would be disappointing if we didn’t go there, but we can still create a preparation that would allow us to play the top nations enough times before we get to the Olympic Games,” he said.
[AAP]
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