Kookaburras co-captain Jeremy Hayward embracing new-look feel to squad ahead of FIH Pro-League and World Cup

Kookaburras co-captain Jeremy Hayward says the national team’s regeneration is giving him fresh energy as his side steel themselves for a 2026 campaign capped by a World Cup. With the Australians revitalising their team on the fly ahead of August’s World Cup in Belgium and The Netherlands, Hayward said the changing of the guard had put a spring in his step. In the past two years, national team stalwarts Eddie Ockenden, Aran Zalewski, Jake Whetton, Andrew Charter and Daniel Beale have all retired. Ockenden was the most-capped Kookaburra of all-time and Whetton and Zalewski were both in the top 10; between the quintet, they amassed an astounding 1490 international caps across their career. It has created space for the next generation to show their wares ahead of the World Cup, starting with their FIH Pro-League campaign which began with an eight-game slate in Hobart against Pakistan, Spain and India and will restart in Europe in June and July. 33 year-old Hayward, the national team’s current longest-serving player, said the injection of youth was keeping him feeling young. “As the longest-serving, these young guys are coming in with renewed energy, and it’s rubbing off on me, the way they go about it,” he said. “They’re coming into training excited, they’re ready to go, they’re raring, happy, making noise, and it’s giving me energy. “I’ve got things to do to prepare my body a bit more than them, but they bring an enjoying atmosphere to training.” With eight games separating the Kookaburras from the World Cup, there is a healthy contingent within the squad still somewhat inexperienced by international standards — but Hayward said they were learning quickly. “Ric Charlesworth once said you need roughly about 30-50 games to feel comfortable at the top level and it looks like by the time we get to the World Cup, this age group are going to have around that,” he said. “This selection for the World Cup is going to be quite tight. It’s going to be interesting. There’s going to be some good players who are going to miss out. “But from our youngest member and our most inexperienced member, there’s going to be a contribution throughout the team.” Hayward, who is co-captain alongside Joshua Beltz and Tim Howard, said while the past greats were irreplaceable to an extent, they had imparted a lot of wisdom during their careers which still stuck with the current squad. “They’re not players you can replace, but players have been underneath them for a while, and they’ve taken traits and ideas off them as well,” he said. “They’re still in contact with most of most of players and other people get the chance to step up and take their opportunity — payers like Tom Craig and Tim Howard, they’re stepping up, myself and Beltzy are together, but we’re not doing it just us two. “There’s other players that are also contributing, Nephy (Nathan Ephraums) and Blake (Govers), there’s all these guys that are growing as we progress.” The Kookaburras won seven out of eight games in the Australian leg of the IHF Pro-League in February, their lone loss a shoot-out defeat to India. When they return to action in mid-June, they will play eight games in 15 days before a six-week break will prelude the World Cup, where they will play Ireland, Spain and South Africa in Pool C. “For me, the games are the fun bit, the things you look forward to. 19 games, it doesn’t sound that much, but on the body, it can be taxing, so I’m just trying to stay fresh and free,” Hayward said. “You always aim to win the tournament, you want to win every single game you play. However, if you ask me after the tournament and we’ve lost the final, I’m not going to retire and quit just because we lost. “What is success? Just reaching our potential — we don’t know what that is. That’s the best thing about it.”