After the Tokyo Olympics had been run and won, Eddie Ockenden had plenty of time to chew over the time-worn adage passed from retired athlete to ageing athlete. You’ll know when it’s time.
But even as the hours ticked by slowly in quarantine, and the Kookaburras’ co-captain tried to bury the Australian hockey team’s heartbreaking defeat on penalties in the gold medal match, there was no distant murmur of a lady warming up her vocal chords.
Eddie Ockenden in Adelaide ahead of his 400th game for Australia.Credit:Getty
“I thought about that [adage] after the Olympics … we had two weeks of quarantine and you had plenty of time for reflection,” Ockenden said.
“And plenty of people do say you’ll know when it’s your time …. but I just haven’t felt that at all.”
So Ockenden kept playing and just over a year later, the 35-year-old Tasmanian entered the history books for Australian hockey – and sport in general – by playing his 400th international game last weekend.
The veteran defender had broken Jamie Dwyer’s record for most games (365) as a Kookaburra in 2020 and, in a 7-4 win over India in Adelaide, became the first Aussie to join world hockey’s elite 400-club. Normally one to shy away from the spotlight, Ockenden allowed himself to embrace the moment, with family and ex-teammates having flown in for the occasion.
Daniel Beale, Dylan Martin, Jeremy Hayward and Tom Craig of the Kookaburras pose in Eddie 400 shirts.Credit:Getty
“It was a pretty big weekend. It was a little bit daunting once I knew it would be coming up and the last few weeks I have been speaking to people and a lot of former teammates made the effort to travel,” Ockenden said.
Four hundred games for Australia is a phenomenal achievement and the question was soon raised: is that the most games by anyone for Australia, in any sport?
The answer? Almost, but not quite.
In major sports where an athlete is selected to play for Australia, the record appears to be held by former Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting, with a whopping 575 games for Australia in his 18-year career. Between debuting at 20 and retiring at 37, Ponting played 168 Tests, 375 one-day internationals and 17 T20 internationals.
Fellow cricketing legends Steve Waugh (493) and Allan Border (428) also played over 400 games.
MOST GAMES FOR AUSTRALIA
Hockey
Eddie Ockenden 400 (2006-*)
Madonna Blyth 342 (04-16)
Cricket
Ricky Ponting (575 – 168 Tests, 375 ODIs, 17 T20s) 1995-2012.
Steve Waugh (493) 85-2004
Allan Border (428) 78-94
Karen Rolton (170)
Basketball
Robyn Maher 374, Andrew Gaze 297
Rugby
George Gregan (139)
Rugby League
Darren Lockyer (59)
Soccer
Cheryl Salisbury and Clare Polkinghorne (151)
Mark Schwarzer (109)
Netball
Liz Ellis (122)
Ockenden’s 400-game mark then arrives, and then Robyn Maher’s 374 games for the Australian women’s basketball team, Dwyer and Madonna Blyth’s 342 games for the Hockeyroos. Andrew Gaze’s 297 games for the Boomers is also up there.
With more contact involved and club competitions dominant, football codes have lower levels for most international selection records.
Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting jokes after Waugh’s last Test in 2004.Credit:AP
For his part, Ockenden prefers to audit his almost 18-year international career by counting medals more than matches: one Olympic silver and two bronzes, four Commonwealth golds, two World Cup golds and seven Champions Trophies, so far. And as explained, he hasn’t finished yet either. That Olympic gold is not on the list yet.
“That’s really interesting … I haven’t really thought about it that wider side of it at all,” Ockenden says of his place in Australian sporting history.
“There’s not too much to it. I just like going to play the next tournament. There is always something to aim for in hockey, there’s a World Cup coming up in January and after that its 12 months until the Olympics.”
Ockenden as a young man playing in the 2008 Olympics.Credit:John Donegan
Ockenden debuted for Australia at the age of 19 in 2006, and has kept going … and going.
“It is a lot of games but it has felt relatively easy,” he said. “I have loved the games, I love going to training and travelling the world and all the fun stuff. But there is a lot of commitment and dedication I have put in as well.
“I feel pretty lucky I haven’t had too many problems with injuries and my body. I don’t get sore, I don’t get sore after training, I don’t take time off to recover, I would rather train and play. So, I feel lucky there and some of the hardest parts of my career are seeing teammates going through those struggles.”
Last Eddie …. Ockenden is still playing at the highest level.Credit:Getty
Sorry, did you say you don’t get sore? Most professional athletes at the age of 35 can barely get out of bed.
“I don’t think I use my muscles correctly, or I have strong bones or something,” Ockenden laughs.
“Yeah, not really. I don’t get so sore I have to manage my load or anything like that. I never miss trainings. I am lucky I don’t get sick much and those sort of things. If you were pulling up sore and finding it hard to get out of bed, then yeah it would be difficult to keep playing.”
As Ockenden’s teammates will attest, supreme fitness is a huge factor. The GPS unit on Ockenden’s back tells us he has run about 7km in each of the 400 games – which tallies up to 3200km, or Sydney to Perth – and all of that is high-intensity running. Often with four or five games in as many days.
“There is no real secret, I have just kept it relatively simple,” he said. “I love the game.”
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