An 8-1 scoreline in the opening hockey match against the world number one ranked Kookaburras might not bode well for the Black Sticks men, in their four-game series

But the hosts had eight key players unavailable on Tuesday, fielding six debutants - while the Aussies were largely unchanged from their Tokyo Olympics campaign, where they claimed silver.

New Zealand could get three players back tonight - but defender Dane Lett doesn't think the gap's quite as big as the scoreline indicated - and he's backing his side to improve.



The match is set to start at 7pm at the National Hockey Centre in Auckland.