Tasmania has retained its impressive three-pronged representation in the Kookaburras squad.
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In the first squad named since narrowly missing out on an Olympic title with a shootout loss to Belgium in Tokyo, a squad of 23 players has been named to be part of the Australian men's high performance program in 2022.
It includes the country's all-time appearance record holder Eddie Ockenden plus Josh Beltz, who were both in the silver medal-winning team in Japan, as well as fellow Hobartian Jack Welch, who had previously been part of the squad but missed out on Olympic selection.
The 24-year-old forward has three goals from his nine previous international appearances.
Beltz, 26, scored the fourth of his international goals during the Olympic tournament when he took his number of caps to 53.
Thirty-four-year-old Ockenden has dismissed any talk of retiring following his fourth Olympics, which have left him sitting on 380 appearances and 71 goals.
The selected athletes were all members of the 2021 Kookaburras squad but head coach Colin Batch has left four spots available which will be filled with new additions early next year.
Batch, the Kookaburras coaching staff and selection panel have had restricted opportunities to monitor the development of potential candidates for the squad over the past 12 months due to COVID.
The pandemic caused further postponement of the Hockey One League, restricted matches played in local leagues and prevented the Australian Under-21 Championships from going ahead for the second successive year. These are all events that would have been used to gauge players' progress.
With the Kookaburras' next major tournament being the 2022 Commonwealth Games in July, Batch will use selection camps early next year to determine which players will fill the vacant four spots.
"Post an Olympics there is always a thorough assessment of our national squad and where we see ourselves looking ahead to the Paris Olympics," Batch said.
"At this stage we are naming 23 players who we believe are capable of being in Paris in 2024.
"There is strong competition within the squad but we also expect there will be younger players knocking on the door and some of them will join us once we have time to assess the next group coming in.
"We hope to finalise the squad early next year."
Veterans Matt Swann, Tyler Lovell and Trent Mitton all retired this year, having amassed a combined 532 international appearances between them.
Despite the vast amount of experience exiting the squad, Batch is excited by the prospect of injecting new faces into the group and providing opportunities for players eager to be part of the set-up.
Before Tokyo, the Kookaburras had played just six internationals in 16 months.
Batch says coming so close to Olympic gold is huge motivation for the squad heading into this shorter Olympic cycle.
"It is always really competitive to get into the final team whether it's Commonwealth Games, Olympics or other tournaments. That's the way it should be," said Batch.
"There is some disappointment from the ones who don't get selected but for the guys that competed in Tokyo, they gained a lot of experience from that.
"We didn't quite achieve the ultimate in Tokyo so that's got to be a driving factor leading up to Paris."
We didn't quite achieve the ultimate in Tokyo so that's got to be a driving factor leading up to Paris
- Kookaburras head coach Colin Batch
The squad will assemble in Perth on December 1 for the first time since their Tokyo campaign. With less than 250 days until the Commonwealth Games, Batch says there is catching up to do.
"Some of the players have gone straight back into training, some have been playing in Europe and some have had an extended break from hockey since the Olympics," said Batch.
"When we resume training on December 1 we have to reconnect with each other. It will be nice to be back together and then we will have a short break over Christmas before getting stuck into training in preparation for the Commonwealth Games.
"We're still somewhat restricted with our travel so until that becomes clearer we don't have any matches confirmed prior to Birmingham yet. But that's how we've operated in the past 18 months so we're getting good at having to adjust and adapt to it."
- Kookaburras 2022 squad: Jacob Anderson (Mackay, QLD), Daniel Beale (Brisbane, QLD), Josh Beltz (Hobart, TAS), Tim Brand (Chatswood, NSW), Andrew Charter (Canberra, ACT), Tom Craig (Lane Cove, NSW), Matthew Dawson (Killarney Vale, NSW), Johan Durst (Melbourne, VIC), Nathan Ephraums (Keysborough, VIC), Blake Govers (Wollongong, NSW), Jake Harvie (Dardanup, WA), Jeremy Hayward (Darwin, NT), Tim Howard (Wakerley, QLD), Dylan Martin (Wagga Wagga, NSW), Eddie Ockenden (Hobart, TAS), Flynn Ogilvie (Wollongong, NSW), Lachlan Sharp (Lithgow, NSW), Josh Simmonds (Melbourne, VIC), Jack Welch (Hobart, TAS), Corey Weyer (Biggera Waters, QLD), Jake Whetton (Brisbane, QLD), Tom Wickham (Perth, WA), Aran Zalewski (Margaret River, WA)