An unprecedented five Tasmanian hockey players will be pushing their case for Olympic selection as Australia teams fine tune their Paris preparations this week.
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Hayden Beltz has been called up to join brother Josh plus Eddie Ockenden and Jack Welch in the Kookaburras' squad while fellow Hobartian Maddison Brooks leads the state charge in the Hockeyroos.
Both national teams are playing FIH Pro League fixtures across Europe in their penultimate selection tour just a couple of months out from the Olympic Games.
Hayden Beltz, 26, returns for the first time since competing in the FIH Pro League in Christchurch, NZ in April last year, one month after he made his debut for the national side against India.
"[Head coach Colin Batch] pulled me aside at training which was a bit of a surprise," he said. "Normally in the past, it's been to tell me I haven't been going! But this time he told me I was selected.
"It was a massive surprise and that's not to say that I think I've been far off the pace, I just think the quality of the squad at the moment is really impressive. I'm super excited and really grateful for the opportunity to play."
Brother Josh, 29, admitted it's a proud moment for the Beltz family.
"Some of the toughest matches I've had have been in the backyard against Hayden growing up!" said the Tokyo Olympic silver medallist.
"I'm obviously incredibly proud of him and I think he's been playing well for a long time, so I'm stoked he's getting his opportunity and it's always fun running out there together."
Batch said the call-up reflects the immense depth in the wider squad.
"Hayden's a really good player who deserves his selection," he said.
"We wanted to broaden our opportunities for selection going forward just in case we returned from Europe with a few injuries, and we want to have some updated knowledge on who's selectable going forward."
The Beltz brothers both play for Hobart club Diamondbacks. Josh has amassed 112 caps with Hayden up to seven. Diamondbacks teammate Welch, 26, has 38 international appearances while 37-year-old quadruple Olympian Ockenden, of North West Grads, holds the Australian record of 438.
Batch added: "We've got a lot of depth, there are a lot of good players in the squad and some good players are missing out so that's becoming reality and it's tough to get in and stay there so players need to keep performing."
Fresh from a five-Test clean sweep over India last month, the squad is primed to strengthen their impressive run-rate of 11 wins from 12 matches this season.
Sitting second in the standings, the Kookaburras get the next leg of Pro League season five underway against hosts Belgium in Antwerp on May 30, before taking on Argentina, Great Britain and Germany.
Brooks, 19, debuted in the FIH Pro League games in Hobart last year and has since become something of a regular selection for the Hockeyroos.
ROWING
Huon's Sarah Hawe will fly the Tasmanian flag as the Australian rowing team gets a crucial gauge of pre-Olympic form in World Cup II at Lucerne, Switzerland, from Friday to Sunday.
The team has qualified nine boats for the Olympic Games and three in the Paralympics and expects a crack international field to provide a clear idea of where those crews stand.
A dual world champion in the women's four, Hawe has again been named in the eight which she rowed at the last Olympics. The Huon sculler was in the crew which finished third in their heat, fourth in the repechage and fifth in the final in Tokyo.
Rowing Australia high performance director Paul Thompson said selectors had named a new-look four while Hawe teams up with Tasmanian coach John Keogh in the eight which won a world championship bronze medal last year.
"You can just see the quality of their rhythm and the quality of their rowing when they get it right," Thompson said. "The eight is looking really strong. There is some fabulous experience and physicality in the boat to really take the race on. This will be a really exciting boat to follow through its journey to Paris."
The women's eight's preliminary race will be in the early hours of Saturday morning (Tastime).
Joining Hawe in the crew are Katrina Werry, Lucy Stephan, Samantha Morton, Georgina Rowe, Georgia Patten, Bronwyn Cox, Paige Barr and cox Hayley Verbunt.