Lachlan Sharp

Hailing from Lithgow in NSW, Lachlan Sharp grew up playing hockey at his local club. When he was 13 years old he joined the Ryde Hockey Club and made the commute three times a week to attend training with his dad.

In 2016, Lachlan was selected to play in the U21 team 'The Burras" and competed at the Hockey Junior World Cup in India, where the Australian team finished in fourth place.

A year later, Lachlan made his senior international debut with the Kookaburras at the World League Final and brought home a gold medal.

Shortly after, the attacker scored the winning goal in the final of the 2018 Azlan Shah Cup helping the team achieve another gold medal finish.

In 2018 aged 24, he made first Commonwealth Games team claiming yet another gold medal on home soil, and later that year won the 2018 Champions Trophy in the Netherlands. 

Lachlan's streak of success continued into 2019 with the Kookaburras winning the FIH Pro League and then with the NSW Pride as they claimed victory in the Hockey One tournament.

Lachlan made his Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 and scored two goals, including one in the 3-1 semi-final win against Germany. The Kookaburras reached the gold medal final for the first time since 2004 but unfortunately fell short to Belgium in a dramatic penalty shootout, coming away with the silver medal.

In the wake of the Tokyo Olympics, Lachlan was in the Netherlands playing domestic hockey when he was involved in a serious cycling accident that left him with a concussion.

The concussion led to continuing symptoms, seriously disrupting Lachlan’s international career.

“What I’ve learned is to know the importance of a concussion,” Lachlan said.

“There’s more and more information coming out, but I was so unaware. I didn’t know how serious it was; how to look after it; how to manage it, or how to return to training and play.

“I’ve had ‘hammy ‘niggles, and you think to yourself, ‘I can push through it without having so much of a break’. I tried that approach when I first had my concussion ... I was having slight headaches ... so I kept pushing through them until they disappeared.

“However, they gradually became worse and worse. It’s been a challenge.”

After a series of setbacks, Lachlan sought help from Melbourne chiropractor Brett Jarosz, who has worked with several AFL players.

“He’s changed my life for the better,” Lachlan said. “He nailed down the exercises I needed to do to improve.”

At the Paris 2024 Olympics Lachlan 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). Lachlan scored Australia's first goal in the match against Belgium.

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

Away from the hockey field, Lachlan, who worked in the Lithgow coal mines before relocating to Perth as a full-time member of the Kookaburras squad, is completing a bachelor of commerce, accounting and taxation at Curtin University and working as a business analyst.