TRANS-TASMAN HITOUT

It’s getting close. I mean really close. Down to days and not weeks before the 2010 World Cup kicks off on the 28th of this month. Each country is going about their business for preparation. Over in the Oceania part of the world the brother/sister nations of  Australia and New Zealand are having a small series of test matches.  The men are hitting out for World Cup practice while the women are getting ready for their WC qualifiers. Perth is a plethora of black and gold and green on any given night.

Every now and then you catch the sound of people shouting out “thut was funtustuc!” during the games.

For the guys, Perth’s weather is a good warm up (pun has been inserted) for the upcoming Indian weather. Here it’s roughly 32 to 37 deg, and New Delhi is looking to be around 31 at the start of the tournament.

The Hockeyroos are looking good with three wins from three games, while the Kookaburras notched a solid seven to one win in their first over the Black Sticks. In the mix are the AIS (Aus A squads) for both teams and they have also proven victorious over the funny sounding tourists.

Teneal Attard has made a solid return to the Aussie Women’s team joining Fi Johnson and Sarah O’Connor holding the distinctive Blue Steel.  In the black, using Blue Sticks, Captain Krystal Forgesson, Ella Gunson and Jasmin McQuinn are leading the very young team on a great learning curve.

In the guys, recent G-Team members Graeme Begbie and Grant Schubert got to show off their new 2010 sticks joining the already steady brigade of Rob Hammond, Kiel Brown and Fergus Kavanagh in their warm-up games. These five are all crucial to the Kookaburra make-up creating a steady spine for the team at any given point in time. On the other side of the water based turf, Simon Child and Dave Green are prepping themselves for the upcoming months both supporting Blue Steels.

One more game to go with the Kookas and the Black Sticks this friday and then they are off leaving on a Jet plane on the weekend bound for India.

SPAIN 2 x KOOKABURRAS 1 x PERTH

I remember writing the last line of my last game blog saying that Spain will be a different team on the next game.  Well I was right, and I was right. Both teams came out and played a different game to the first, indeed the game was not quite the goal fest it was yesterday.  Actually until Australia opened the scoring with 5 seconds to go in the first, it looked like a nil all draw.

Both teams were playing long passing and over-head style hockey. The result was a lot of circle penetrations but more importantly a lot of mistakes and skill errors occurred.  The Aussie could be accused of being the biggest proponent of this as they were making some very uncharacteristic errors across the ground from all players on the field. Even the experienced players were not safe.

The Spanish also had their fair share of mistakes, turning the game into less of a quality match. I think the is a relative point as mentioned before, yesterday we were treated with some great hockey.

Spain was able to win a good amount of PCs and their first early in the second was a resultant goal.  The game bounced up and down with Australia pushing hard in wave upon wave, but unable to break the score. In the end the team from Spain struck with a reverse shot to take the lead.

In the final minute the Aussies had two cracks at PCs but unable to score, losing the game 2 goals to 1.

That’s it for now from the CTT squad teams until Melbourne. Remember it all happens in five days. If you cannot be there, we will be twittering live and match reports with photos as well.

Until then DC’s back to the office.

Photos: Daniel Carson | dcimages.org

KOOKABURRAS 8 x SPAIN 2 x PERTH

There’s now one week to go until the Champion’s Trophy kicks off in Melbourne. As a warm up for this event (actually a red hot heat pack), Spain and Korea have come to my little city here in Perth to play the Kookaburras and Australia A teams in friendly matches. Today will see all teams in action. And I’m coming to you live from the Stadium with the Aus A game v Korea in action right below me.

The main action and the completed game at time of writing is the Spain v Australia game. Two of the top teams in the world showing us their best hockey. Spain pulled no punches with their team list playing their best 11. Australia was without Fergus Kavanagh.

The game was a domination and complete control display by the hosts. Australia ran out winners 8 goals to 2 with the last goal coming with 2 minutes to go acting as a late consolation for the Spanish. Gryphon Great, Rob Hammond, was one of the early scorers putting the game firmly into the Aussie’s hands and was pivotal in setting up further goals with his deep penetrating passing into the circle.

In a game where eight goals were scored at least one person stood up with a bag, and that was Jamie Dwyer with a hat-trick. Other scorers were in the form of Doerner (PC), Butturini (PC), Abbot and Shubert.

The Spanish had no answers for the constant pressure and talk that the Aussie’s created. In contrast, the Spanish team were very quiet and were never really a threat once the Kookas broke away late in the first.

Expect a different Spanish team tomorrow when it all happens again.

EDIT: The final result of the Australia A v Korea game was a run and gun affair, with the young Assie A team coming out winners over CT qualifiers Korea 4 goals to 2.

DC out…

Photos: Daniel Carson | dcimages.org

Kookaburra’s Malaysian Tour 2009

Hi All

I thought this an opportune time to open “my blog account” with Gryphon Life and throw together a quick “wrap up” of the Kookaburra’s recent tour to Malaysia. A quick tour summary – 10 days, 7 training sessions, 5 test matches (which included a 6 hour return bus ride for the 3rd match) and a lot of meetings, pretty much summed up our tour!

Despite the relatively full schedule, I can’t for a second say we did it tough. If you have a spare second, Google – “The Palace of the Golden Horses”, that is the hotel where we stayed!!! Buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner… it was so tough ;o) The cheap shopping and abundance of sun was not lost on us either! Most of the boys took advantage and stock up on items for birthdays, Christmas and other special occasion. And the ladies think we don’t plan anything ;o)

All the fun and games aside though, it was a tour full of special milestones for a couple of Gryphon guys! Gryphon boy Jonathon Charlesworth registered his first cap for Australia, Fergus Kavanagh notched up his first cap as Captain of the Kookaburras and Brent Dancer managed to put the ball in the back of the net for the first time in international hockey! A big “tip of the hat” for the boys!

For all those that may actually be interested in the results of the hockey games, (I better put in a shameless plug for Hockey Australia) check out their website. Otherwise, know that we won the series 3-0!

That about sums it all up! If you want to know anymore about our tour/s, or what’s on the horizon for the Kookaburra’s, stay tuned to Gryphon-Life!!

It’s been fun, til next time – Keep it real!

Kiel Brown

Review – Australia v Malaysia Game 2

In what was a complete turn-around in result, Malaysia defeated Australia 1-0 at the Pines Stadium in Adelaide on Sunday evening, following their 1-8 loss the night before.

The stats tell a different story to the score, with Australia again dominating play and generating 19 Goal Shots and several PC’s, however converted none. Malaysia on the other hand earned 4 PC’s and generated only 2 Goal Shots, but converted one PC which was defelected off the Australian runner and had the Keeper going in the wrong direction.

Australia constantly pressured the Malaysian defence and a bulk of their counter opportunities came from this. In the final 15 minutes, they had numerous chances in front of net but the elusive goal did not drop, and resulted in the elated Malaysian men satisfied with their 1st victory over Australia since 1994. That’s 15yrs long years.

Both Teams are now in Canberra, ACT, to contest the 3-Nations Tournament, along with Canada and Australia-A, although victories and losses against Australia-A do not count to the tournament, as Aus-A cannot contest the final.