The Hockeyroos are out to prove a point at the women's Champions Trophy in the Netherlands.

Coach Adam Commens says there's a deep resolve amongst his team to put in a good showing at the June 25-July 3 tournament after they failed to qualify for last year's event despite finishing second in 2009.

But he admits they have a big task ahead of them as they set their sights on making the final four.

The three-times Olympic gold medallists and six-times Champions Trophy winners have slipped to sixth in the world rankings and face a difficult job to make it past the group stage this time around.

World No.2 Netherlands and world No.3 Germany, along with New Zealand, join Australia in the pool of death, with only two teams progressing to the final four.

"Certainly not being involved last year does generate a bit of determination to prove a point," Commens said before the team flew out of Perth on Monday.

"We were second in the tournament in 2009 and to then not gain direct qualification for the tournament after is quite a ridiculous situation.

"But that's how the rules worked out and we weren't able to attend.

"I don't think we have unrealistic expectations for this tournament.

"We're ranked sixth in the world and we will be playing teams ranked significantly higher than us in our pool.

"For us to get a result against them would be fantastic.

"But we have to be realistic and look to do as well as we can in those early matches and get our result against NZ.

"If we happen to get over the Dutch or Germans then we put ourselves in a good position to go through to the next phase of the tournament."

Commens heaped praise on Hockeyroos captain Madonna Blyth, who is on track to notch her 200th appearance during the tournament.

"She's the captain of the team and has been consistently our best player this year," Commens said.

"She's a great ambassador for the sport and really leads by example on the field.
"It's a great achievement for her to reach 200 matches and I can see many more matches in the years ahead for her."

The Hockeyroos will warm-up for the Champions Trophy with a 4 Nations tournament in Germany from June 16-19.

Justin Chadwick
AAP