The Dutchmen will travel to Australia without Duco Telgenkamp, but with Jorrit Croon and Justen Blok. In playing city Sydney, the Olympic champion will work through four Pro League matches between February 4 and 9. Boris Aardenburg, Daan Bonhof and Olivier Hortensius could make their international debut there.
National coach Jeroen Delmée has selected 24 players for the first official duels of this calendar year. Telgenkamp, who missed many league games this season due to a concussion, remains at home because he is not match fit. The same goes for Teun Beins and David Huussen. Because Delmée wants to travel to Sydney with two goalkeepers – Maurits Visser and Derk Meijer – there is no place for Hidde Brink, the least experienced goalkeeper of the training group.
Croon and Blok are working toward their official comeback in the Orange. Both Olympic champions have been part of the Dutch national team’s training group again since early January. Croon missed the period from September through December due to a long-term ankle injury. Blok took a break because of personal circumstances.
Daan Bonhof (pictured in the middle) at the national team training. Photo: Willem Vernes
The potential debutants and the India-goers
Aardenburg, Bonhof and Hortensius do not yet have caps behind their names. Bonhof and Hortensius have been training with the Orange since September. Aardenburg joined the training sessions ten days ago and was thus immediately promoted to the competition squad. Missing from the group are Thierry Brinkman, Jip Jansen, Floris Wortelboer and Lars Balk. They are currently active in the Hockey India League. Max de Bie is rehabilitating from an ankle surgery, Pepijn Reyenga and Joep Troost both suffered concussions in the fall and are not yet fit enough. Jonas de Geus took a break after his golden summer to focus on his social career.
The Dutch will play in Australia twice against the host country (Feb. 6 and 9) and twice against Spain (Feb. 4 and 7). The Netherlands met both countries at the Paris Games. The Aussies were defeated there in the quarterfinals by the eventual tournament winner (2-0), Spain in the semifinals (4-0) and the group stage (5-3).
The selection for the Pro League in Australia
| Player | Club | Caps | Goals |
| Boris Aardenburg | Pinoké | 0 | 0 |
| Bram van Battum | Kampong | 4 | 1 |
| Koen Bijen | Den Bosch | 70 | 30 |
| Justen Blok | Rotterdam | 75 | 4 |
| Timo Boers | Den Bosch | 6 | 2 |
| Daan Bonhof | Pinoké | 0 | 0 |
| Miles Bukkens | Pinoké | 5 | 2 |
| Jorrit Croon | Bloemendaal | 152 | 14 |
| Thijs van Dam | Rotterdam | 119 | 23 |
| Luke Dommershuijzen | Amsterdam | 8 | 0 |
| Pepijn van der Heijden | Rotterdam | 3 | 0 |
| Steijn van Heijningen | Rotterdam | 56 | 6 |
| Tjep Hoedemakers | Rotterdam | 58 | 19 |
| Olivier Hortensius | Rotterdam | 0 | 0 |
| Guus Jansen | Rotterdam | 8 | 1 |
| Derk Meijer (k) | Rotterdam | 14 | |
| Floris Middendorp | Amsterdam | 45 | 1 |
| Joep de Mol | Orange-Rood | 159 | 3 |
| Terrance Pieters | Kampong | 79 | 16 |
| Tijmen Reyenga | Orange-Rood | 51 | 6 |
| Lucas Veen | Bloemendaal | 3 | 0 |
| Casper van der Veen | Bloemendaal | 2 | 1 |
| Derck de Vilder | Kampong | 75 | 6 |
| Maurits Visser (k) | Bloemendaal | 39 | 0 |
by Hockey.nl
