Aran Zalewski

Midfielder Aran Zalewski made his international debut in 2011 against India in his home state of Western Australia. He scored on debut, in the 57th minute, a moment he marks as a career highlight. Ahead of the London 2012 Olympics Aran was selected in the men's national Olympic development squad.

Nick-named ‘Moose’, many of his Australian teammates believed Aran bleached his hair before every tournament, a rumour which he denied, saying his messy hair is a naturally occurring style.

Aran realised his Olympic dream when he was selected to make his debut at the Rio Games fresh off winning the 2016 Champion’s Trophy.

The Kookaburras' Olympic campaign kicked off with a 2-1 win over trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand but despite starting strong, the side then suffered back-to-back 1-0 losses to Spain and Belgium. Determined to claim their third straight Olympic medal, the Aussies then secured a 2-1 win over Great Britain which had Aran scoring in the 50th minute.

The side backed this up with a 9-0 victory over Brazil, setting themselves up for a quarter-final clash against the no.2 ranked side, the Netherlands. The Aussies quickly saw their hopes of a gold medal fade as the Dutch secured a 4-0 win, knocking the favourites out of the Olympic competition.

In 2018 Aran won gold with the Kookaburras at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. He then went on to co-captain the team to Champions Trophy gold in the Netherlands beating India (3-1 on penalties) in the final, scoring one of the goals in the penalty shoot-out.

Aran became a two-time Olympian in Tokyo 2020, where he and the Kookaburras claimed the silver medal after reaching the gold medal match for the first time since 2004. He scored in Australia’s opening game against Japan which they won 5-3, indicative of the rest of the Kookaburras group stage campaign, where they went undefeated up to the gold medal match.

In 2022, Aran scored three goals as the Kookaburras won gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, thrashing India 7-0 in the final.

It was an emphatic statement from a Kookaburras team that is near unstoppable when at the peak of their powers. The result continued the Kookaburras’ remarkable record of winning every Commonwealth Games gold medal since men’s hockey was introduced to the Games in 1998.

He was also among the goal-scorers at the 2023 Hockey World Cup in India, where Australia lost 3-1 to the Netherlands in the bronze medal match.

The Kookaburras qualified for Paris when they ground out a 3-1 win over traditional rivals New Zealand to retain the Oceania Cup in Whangarei.

Just months before his third Olympics in April 2024 Aran brought up his 250th cap for the Kookaburras in front of a packed home crowd, including family and friends against India at the Perth International Festival of Hockey.

Then at the Paris 2024 Olympics Aran and the Kookaburras defeated Argentina (1-0), Ireland (2-1) and New Zealand (5-0) in the group stage, which included losses to India (3-2) and Belgium (6-2).

Through to the quarter-finals, that's where their campaign ended with a 2-0 loss to the eventual Olympic gold medallists, the Netherlands.

Aran called time on his career in October 2024 after 268 international caps over 14 years.

"My journey with the Kookaburras is a reflection of the journey I took through my life and growing up in Margaret River as a kid with a dream and I was lucky enough to follow that dream and get to live it for such a long time," he said.

"I loved the simple things. I loved getting a bunch of guys together and trying to accomplish something and having a common goal to do something together that we would remember."

Aran has a bachelor of commerce from Curtin University and has been working part-time as a senior consultant with Deloitte in Perth.