Australia’s victory in the Sultan of Johor Cup last month in Kuala Lumpur — its first since 2017 — has given the Burras a leg-up going into the FIH Junior men’s hockey World Cup. Despite being ranked No. 8 in the world, it will, definitely, be a serious title favourite.
Jay Stacy, Australia’s head coach, acknowledges the timely triumph and one that has provided the team with plenty of confidence.
Speaking to Sportstar after the team’s arrival to the city on Friday, the 57-year-old, a four-time Olympic medallist, said, “Absolutely, that helps a lot. When you beat Great Britain, India twice (in group stage and final) and Pakistan, who were very strong there as well, it felt great.”
Australia has had a perfect preparation, having qualified for the World Cup by winning the Oceania Junior Cup (January 30 to February 2) in Auckland followed by a European Tour and the triumph in the Sultan of Johor Cup.
Stacy said his team has been eyeing the World Cup since the start of the year. “It’s a big tournament and we’ve had our eye on this since the beginning of the year in the Qualifier in New Zealand. Then we had a European tour, then the Johor Cup as well. We’re building some confidence because in Australia we don’t train together. We have arrived from different parts of Australia. We start our preparations again and we hope to continue on from where we left off in Johor,” he said.
Pitted in Group-F with last edition finalist France, South Korea and Bangladesh, Stacy said the teams are unknown quantities and so it’s better that Australia stay focused on its own strengths. “The Group-F is a little bit unknown. We haven’t seen Bangladesh before. We know quite a bit about France but Korea is a little bit unknown as well. It’s more about concentrating on our strengths, and putting together some consistent performances,” he said.
For Australia, it has been 18 years and four editions, —it last won a bronze in 2009— since it medalled in the World Cup. Stacy said the team is ready now. “We’re as prepared as we possibly can. We didn’t go to the Junior World Cup in COVID time (2021).”
Penalty corner has been the team’s biggest strengths. It has three dragflickers in Grobbelaar, Dylan Downey (Downey and Toby Mallon are the co-captains at the World Cup), and Oliver Stebbings, who are pretty strong. Grobbelaar scored six goals through penalty corners in the Sultan of Johor Cup.
“Penalty corners are very important part of any team’s make-up. They need to have a strong penalty corner. And I think you’ll find most teams here at the Junior World Cup have a very strong penalty corner battery. We have drag flicking coaches back in Australia who they work with,” he said.
Stacy has sufficient coaching experience in India, having trained the Dabang Mumbai in Hockey India League (HIL) in 2017 and now he has been appointed the head coach of the Kalinga Lancers team in HIL.
“U think my experience in India will help in how we understand the cultural importance of hockey in India. We’re very, very mindful of that and respectful of that,” he said.
Stacy, with 321 international caps, knows pretty well that this would, perhaps, be the best chance for the Burras to clinch a medal, a gold at that, having won it way back in 1997.
Published on Nov 21, 2025