Wollongong’s Flynn Ogilvie is looking forward to experiencing a fresh challenge as international hockey prepares to enter a new era in 2019.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The new year brings the start of the FIH Pro League, a new international series five years in the making that will see the world’s top nations face off home and away in high-stakes fixtures throughout the year.
The home-and-away rounds will climax with a four-team finals tournament in the Netherlands in June and Ogilvie is confident the competition will help the Kookaburras reach new heights on the pitch.
“The games mean more,” Ogilvie said. “We’re playing one-off games against every country, so they’re big games.
“We don’t get to play teams like the Dutch or Germany or those sort of teams too often, so getting to play them at least twice every year with this Pro League would be great for us.
“It’s a change-up from us usually playing within Asia and against Asian teams, we get to learn a lot more about these European teams.”
The tournament will also provide the Kookaburras with the chance to rebound from last year’s third-placed finish at the World Cup, with the side facing semi-final opponents the Netherlands in their first match next month.
The Kookaburras entered the World Cup ranked number one in the world and Ogilvie concedes the side was disappointed not to take out a third-straight World Cup. However, he feels the Pro League will provide his team with the perfect opportunity to build on the lessons learnt in India in November and December.
“The World Cup gave us a lot of lessons and hopefully we can take that into this year. We play the Dutch in our first Pro League game, which will be a good test for us.
“We have a real young group, I don’t think a lot of us had played in big games like a World Cup semi-final.
“We took a lot from that, it’s about being consistent all the way through a tournament. You can’t drop off for one game, because that’s when you lose.”
Hockey players in Australia recognise that they are ultimately measured on their performances at the Olympics, and with Tokyo looming in just over 18 months time, the Pro League acts as an important springboard to launch the Kookaburras into 2020.
The tournament will play a role in the Olympic qualification process and Ogilvie, knows the team can’t afford to let performances slide in 2019 if they are to challenge for gold in Tokyo.
“The ultimate goal is Olympics, that’s in a year and a half now, so that’s getting pretty close.
“We want to play well this year, winning is not the be all and end all, but we want to keep improving. Hopefully we can take the lessons from the World Cup into the Pro League and we might make a few changes to try keep improving our game.
“Winning would be awesome, this is the first Pro League, but the big goal is the Olympics, so hopefully we can keep building to that next year.”