Hockey ACT partners with AIS and ACT government for Hockey Australia high-performance centre

Hockey ACT officials will give their first presentation to Hockey Australia on Friday as the high performance centre of excellence process enters the next stage of negotiations.

It can be revealed Hockey ACT has teamed up with the ACT government to build a case for the capital, but the biggest weapon in the proposal will be the addition of AIS support.

The national hockey setup has been based in Perth since 1984, but the agreement with the Western Australia government expires at the end of next year.

Western Australia is keen to keep the program, but Victoria, NSW, Queensland and the ACT have put forward proposals to snatch it away.

Chief executive Rob Sheekey will make his first presentation to the Hockey Australia panel on Friday, with three bidders to be short-listed for the next phase.

The sport's Canberra base at Lyneham is already considered a world-class facility, and it is five minutes from the AIS campus where athletes can utilise sports science and technology resources.

"I've been working with the AIS and government to put together a bid to make Canberra a reasonable opportunity or option," Sheekey said.

"We wouldn't have put in this effort if we thought it was going to be a waste of time.

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"I can't talk too much about the details of the submission, but we have worked with the AIS and the government on a tri-party agreement."

Hockey Australia hopes to settle on a decision by the end of the year. Expressions of interest closed at the end of June, with bidders now invited to present their case to an assessment panel, made up of two Hockey Australia directors, the high-performance director and two independent members.

The AIS campus at Bruce has been criticised by outsiders over the past decade after scrapping its scholarship program and instead directing funding to individual sports.

But Basketball Australia's centre of excellence has been a resounding success, partnering with the NBA as a global academy and continuing to produce international stars.

Basketball has given Hockey ACT a blueprint for what can work and the organisation wants to work with the AIS to producer players capable of winning Olympic Games gold medals.

The Canberra bid, however, will face stiff competition from other states who have more cash to splash on sports.

The Queensland government is keen to secure as much content as possible and have teams based in the state in the build up to the 2032 Olympics. Victoria is taking a similar approach ahead of the Commonwealth Games.

"But we see Canberra as the perfect location for high-performance teams," Sheekey said.

"It's in Perth at the moment. We're keen to get it back to the east coast if so we can get greater access to players and we hope that east coast location is Canberra.

"We're still in the very early days, but a lot of work has gone into it. There's nothing formal in the agreement, we're presenting our expression of interest outline.

"We believe we've got a really strong proposal. Something unique that we can put forward, so we're excited."

The long-term future of the AIS campus is still undecided, with the federal government yet to reveal redevelopment plans for the 64-hectare site.

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