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Kookaburras eliminated in Olympic quarter-finals by the Netherlands
Connor Bennett
Editor
15th August, 2016
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It is time for an Australian hockey league to rival our other leagues. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch)
Connor Bennett
Editor
15th August, 2016
3

It’s all over for the Australians in the men’s hockey. The Kookaburras have lost to the Netherlands in the quarter-finals in a bitterly disappointing ending to a fairly lacklustre tournament.

Conceding 49 seconds into the match, it was always going to be hard for the Kookaburras to come back from there.

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They have been down on form and confidence in the past few games, and only just managed to scrape through to the quarter-finals. Considering the tournament they’ve had, it was entirely foreseeable that the Kookaburras would go out at this stage. They just didn’t look like they had the right stuff from the very first time they took to the pitch.

One of the best sides in the tournament, the Netherlands showed why they were one of the highest-rated teams coming into the tournament, making the number one ranked side in world hockey look second rate.

It was a dominating performance from start (quite literally) to finish, and they are now through to the semi-finals. The Australians will have to go back and ponder what could have been.

Once again, they lacked the punch in attack that has made them Champions Trophy holders.

Despite four goals on the board, it was actually the Dutch defence that won them the game and dominated the contest. Their orange wall of defence refused to give the Kookaburras an inch throughout the entire game.

Even when giving up a pair of penalty corners, the Netherlands defused it with ease and swamped the Australian offence.

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With the few chances they had, Australia lacked that execution and final delivery that the Dutch were delivering up the other end.

It simply hasn’t been there for the Kookaburras during this Olympics. They entered the tournament as one of the favourites, but a few controversies in the build-up to the Games and some setbacks early, it wasn’t going to be.

What did you make of Australia’s men’s hockey team going out early Roarers?

Australia – 0
Netherlands – 4
Bakker 1′
De Voogd 28′
Verga 32′
Van Der Weerden 49′

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