Kookaburras Downed by the Dutch

An undermanned Kookaburras team has suffered a heavy loss to old rivals the Netherlands overnight, going down 6-1 in game one of the Four Nations tournament in Monchengladbach, Germany.

With many key players missing from the line up, including Mark Knowles, Jamie Dwyer, Des Abbott, Luke Doerner, Rob Hammond, Liam De Young, Grant Schubert and AIS-WAIS athlete Graeme Begbie, the Kookaburras came up against a full strength Netherlands team lead by three time world player of the year Teun De Nooijer and were given a hockey lesson.

The game was well over by the half time break, with the Netherlands gaining a four goal lead at half time after completely dominating the first half.

On the back of some poor defence by the Australians the Netherlands continued to control the game in the second half, getting out to a 6-0 lead before Chris Ciriello got one back for the Kookaburras from a penalty corner late in the game.

The likes of Eddie Ockenden, AIS-WAIS athlete Fergus Kavanagh and Simon Orchard tried hard for the Kookaburras, but at in the end the game was never in dispute.

The Kookaburras must regroup quickly as they face world number two team Germany at midnight EST on Sunday 24 July.

– Hockey Australia