Jacob Whetton

Jake Whetton’s hockey career began at just four years old when he followed in his parents' footsteps and played for his local club, the Eastern Suburbs Tigers in Brisbane.

Nick-named “Whetty”, this Brisbane boy made his debut for the senior team in 2011 and was selected in the 2012 Olympic development squad ahead of the London Games but would have to wait another Olympic quad before making his debut. Since then, Jake has been an ever-present force in Australian hockey, claiming over 200 caps for the Kookaburras.

Jake was a member of the 2016 Coal Hockey India League winning team, the Jaypee Punjab Warriors, where he played alongside four other Australian representatives in the six-week league.

He made his Olympic debut at Rio 2016, as part of an evenly balanced men’s hockey team that boasted experience and new talent.

In 2018 the Queensland local helped the Kookaburras to back-to-back gold medals at the Azlan Shah Cup and Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. Later in the year, he went on to win a bronze medal at the 2018 World Cup.

Jake became a two-time Olympian in Tokyo 2020 as part of the Kookaburra’s squad that travelled to the Games. Australia breezed through the group stages undefeated and only lost to Belgium in a tense penalty shootout in the gold medal match, giving Jake an Olympic silver medal.

In 2022 Jake scored twice at the Commonwaelth Games as the Kookaburras won gold 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.

Jake was among the Kookaburras’ most reliable contributors at the 2023 Hockey World Cup in India, where Australia lost 3-1 to the Netherlands in the bronze medal match.

He scored as the Kookaburras qualified for Paris when they ground out a 3-1 win over traditional rivals New Zealand to retain the 2023 Oceania Cup in Whangarei.

In the same year, Jake was a member of the Brisbane Blaze team that won the Hockey One title, ending the domination of the star-studded NSW Pride side. The 3-1 over NSW in the final was a career highlight for Jake.

“It means so much to me,” he said. “You grow up as a little boy wanting to play for Queensland and I just hope we’ve done the Queensland support in hockey really proud.”

Selected for the Paris 2024 Olympics, a hamstring injury sustained in a practice match a week before the Olympic tournament wiped Jake out of the first four games of the group stage. He returned in the 3-2 loss against India that closed the group stage, but the Kookaburras had done enough to advance to the quarter-finals for a matchup against the Netherlands.

That's where their campaign would end with a 2-0 loss to the eventual Olympic gold medallists.

In December 2024 Jake announced his retirement from international hockey.

Jake’s trademark was the zinc cream he wore on his face during games – a mark of his admiration for the late Australian cricket star Andrew Symonds.