Today’s announcement takes the number of athletes selected to 219 of an expected 450.

At his fourth Olympics Tasmanian Ockenden will co-captain the side with Aran Zalewski.

“It’s special and humbling to join those great hockey players who have represented Australia at four Olympics,” Ockenden said. “It doesn’t feel like it’s my fourth - I’m still excited to make it and excited about the challenge and opportunity ahead.

“We have a really strong squad - some really good players missed out on selection so our depth is huge in the Kookaburras at the moment. We’ve got a good mix of experience and some great young guys coming through with plenty of enthusiasm, so we’ll be confident - we just have to make sure we’re playing our best when we get over there and when it gets to crunch time.”

26-year-old Stephanie Kershaw from Townsville was ecstatic to be named for her Olympic debut after injury ruled her out of Rio contention.

“I’m over the moon and beyond excited,” Kershaw said. “It means everything to make this team. It’s obviously a different experience this time around, but I’m grateful for the opportunity and that the Olympics are still going ahead.”

“This Hockeyroos squad all have our common goal to win a gold medal. It’s a really talented group, so it will be awesome to see the kind of performances we can put out in Tokyo.”

Kookaburras head coach Colin Batch welcomed today’s announcement.

“Being at our best when we need to be is what it’s all about,” Batch said. “Our first aim is to qualify for the quarter finals and we cannot underestimate that. We come up against a determined host country first up who will be nicely acclimatised and very eager to perform well in front of their home crowd, so each match generates a different set of circumstances. We’re not looking too far past that first match against Japan.

“We have a really committed squad and of course this team announcement brings some elation but also some disappointment in the group. Some players have played well recently and not been selected. We have had limited international matches but the importance and value we place on our daily training environment is also a major part of our assessment.”

Kookaburras and Hockeyroos Selected for Tokyo 2020