"I don't know how many I have or how many he has," he says.

"I think he's about 360 something and I'm on 340 something and we normally play 20 or 30 games every year so depending on how many I play I probably will catch him."

The vagueness typifies a player for whom team success has always outweighed personal achievements.

He may be a triple Olympian with two World Cup, two World League, three Commonwealth Games and seven Champions Trophy triumphs, but the 32-year-old Tasmanian still seems more happy reflecting on his early days at Cornelian Bay than world player of the year nominations.

Looking back on those experiences and ahead to a fourth tilt at an Olympic title during a rare visit home to Hobart, a humble national captain continually uses the words fortunate and lucky to sum up his upbringing, opportunities and longevity.

He even downplays his impact on all those successes.

"It's been a remarkable time and I've been very lucky to be in a very successful era in men's hockey in Australia and on reflection I'd like to think I'd been some part of that. But you do ask yourself 'would it be the same if I wasn't there?' They probably would have been just as successful but you just hope you can contribute.

"So when I look back and think we've had a good time and done really well, I just hope that I've been able to contribute to that."

Having burst onto the scene as a dynamic young striker at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Ockenden's value to the Kookaburras' side is evidenced by his conversion to a midfield workhorse and latterly a play-making defender. All of which would come as a surprise to the starry-eyed youngster accompanying his mum Angela to the Tasmanian Hockey Centre near their family home in Moonah.

"My first memories are not of the astroturf but playing on the grass at Cornelian Bay. Watching the first team of my club, North West Grads, I remember thinking 'These guys are awesome, they're so good. I'd love to play in this team one day.' I never thought I'd be good enough to play in the men's A-grade team.

"I remember playing school hockey in the morning then a club game after at Cornelian Bay but I'd spend the rest of the day at the hockey centre watching the club games and playing at the side somewhere with friends. They're really good memories because it's just down the road so I'd be there all day and then walk home. They were my Saturdays and such a good spot to be on the weekend."

Attending Mount Stuart primary and Friends schools introduced Ockenden to plenty of other sports, but hockey was destined to dominate despite one particularly testing time.

"I played cricket, a bit of tennis, athletics, basketball. When I was young it was always cricket in summer and hockey in winter and that was still the case until about 15 or 16 when I realised I liked hockey more.

"I ruptured my kidney playing hockey when I was 14. I was pretty small and it was pretty unlucky, but it was serious. I was in intensive care for a week. They didn't want to take it out so I was lucky I could keep it. I was only 14 and don't think you really realise the significance of it when you're young. I just didn't want to have an operation because I was scared of that.

"But that didn't put me off hockey. I haven't thought for a second since that something like that could happen again."

Ockenden, whose sister Lucy would go on to win an under-21 national championship with Tasmania and a senior national league title with Victoria, has not forgotten the early influences on his illustrious career.

"Marcus Richardson was my under-12 coach and he's a very good friend of mine now. He would have been 19 at the time and was in the North West Grads first team and was one of those guys that I just thought was a gun player, and he was.

"I was also training at the TIS when I was really young. Andrew McDonald was a really good developer of players. I think he saw potential and really helped me a lot in that age group between 15 and 19 and he's also been helping with the Kookaburras lately which is really good.

"Look at the talent we've had in the men's program. We've always had three guys in the national squad and that's all been under Andrew. He's had good talent to work with but developed those guys really well."

Ockenden has played alongside fellow Tasmanians Matthew Wells, David Guest, Tim Deavin, Jeremy Edwards and most recently Josh Beltz and Jack Welch in Australian teams and is motivated to maintain Tasmania's impressive commitment.

Next year's Olympic Games in Tokyo would be his fourth and, despite the Kookaburras' domination in other global tournaments, two bronze medals represent a disappointing return on the biggest stage.

Having captained his country to a Pro League victory over Germany in his home town in February, Ockenden said 2019 is predominantly about preparing for 2020 for the team.

"You win the Olympics in a certain year but really you win it in the 18 months leading up to that. Your preparation, learning, training and team building, you can't do that in just a few months."

The arrival of sons Oscar, 22 months, and Fedde in March inevitably shifted Ockenden's perspective but he's reluctant to look beyond the Olympics.

"I remember Mark Knowles retiring after the Commonwealth Games and I thought he loves it so much he's not going to retire. Of all people, I didn't expect to hear from him that he didn't want to do it any more. He was happy to finish but I don't feel like that now. I've always said that I wanted to play at Tokyo and then I don't know, I'll see how I'm feeling. There's no end date.

"Fatherhood has been really enjoyable. I've been very lucky to still be able to play for Australia and train really hard. It makes it difficult sometimes, but (partner) Louise has been great, and that makes it easier.

"I've been lucky enough to do something that I've loved for such a long time. It's hard to find a passion in life that you get to do so I'm very fortunate to have done that for 15 years. If I could find something close to that I think I'd be very lucky. At the moment I don't think I could find something that I could love as much.

"I'd love to work in sport because that's my passion and I love it.

"I want to live in Tasmania and it's a little bit limited with professional sports here but I think I've built up enough knowledge in leadership and team culture that I can go somewhere like that."

For the record, Ockenden is on 345 performances and Dwyer finished on 365.

But even that acknowledgement leads to more modest use of the L-word.

"It's pretty interesting because I've played nearly all my games with Jamie so that's pretty cool. I was lucky to be given an opportunity to start young. I've been lucky enough not to have any injuries, worked hard and my play has been good enough to keep getting selected and we play more games now, so there's a few factors there."