AN independent review into the Hockeyroos, a side featuring Gerringong's Grace Stewart and Mollymook's Kalindi Commerford, has found a "dysfunctional culture" existed within the elite women's hockey program, with the damning report resulting in coach Paul Gaudoin falling on his sword.
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Gaudoin made the shock announcement to quit on Wednesday night after Hockey Australia received the results of the independent review.
HA has decided against releasing the report publicly.
Instead, it has distributed a statement detailing its response to the review, and also the 29 recommendations from Sport Australia and the Australian Institute of Sport.
The dominoes have been quick to fall since explosive allegations of bullying, body shaming and homophobic behaviour within the Hockeyroos' set-up emerged late last year.
High performance manager Toni Cumpston quit in January after stating she had lost the support of the HA board.
Cumpston regularly butted heads with a significant portion of the player group who were unhappy with her abrasive approach.
Assistant coach Steph Andrews and selector Sharon Buchanan were the next out the door.
But the most notable exit was Gaudoin, who was appointed coach in late 2016 and was just four months away from leading the Hockeyroos into the Tokyo Olympics.
Gaudoin had been widely criticised for missing a series of player meetings.
His decision to axe stars Rachael Lynch and Georgia Morgan from the 2021 contract list caused an even bigger storm, with a chunk of the player group threatening to strike over the shock omissions.
Hockey Australia said the independent review had been "confronting and distressing".
"Broadly the review found a dysfunctional culture within the national women's high performance program that is not conducive to athlete wellbeing or sustained on-field success, and identified numerous areas for improvement," Hockey Australia said.
"While we have made a considerable investment over the last three years, including efforts to implement changes since the Rio cycle, this has not been enough to prevent rupturing of the squad's cohesion, particularly with the uncertainty rendered by COVID-19 and the delay of the Tokyo Olympics.
"The process of this review has seen us all reflect seriously over the past months about what we could do better.
"The findings have been shared with the players and we will work with them to make changes to design and implement a cultural transformation program."
Assistant coach Katie Allen has been appointed interim head coach, with HA set to find a permanent candidate quickly to lead the team into the Olympics..
Some of the review panel's recommendations that Hockey Australia supports:
- The need to ensure an effective leadership model is implemented across all aspects of the high-performance program, including coaching, support staff and across the playing group.
- Striking an improved balance with the demands of the high-performance program and life outside of hockey.
- Ensuring engagement at every level from the board, senior management, coaches, support staff and players is safe and respectful.
- Improvements in a range of governance areas to ensure greater oversight and the tracking of culture of both men's and women's programs.
- Embedding a culture of mutual respect and trust between all participants in the delivery of the high performance program.
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