FIH Pro League will help Ireland get 'well prepared' for Olympic Games, says Michael Robson ahead of first game against the Netherlands

After Ireland are idle on Sunday, action resumes on Tuesday (February 13) where Ireland take on Australia at 12pm, before Ireland have their third game in the series on Thursday (February 15) when they take on Spain at 12pm.

The first half of the India phase of this Pro League season finishes on Friday (February 16) when Ireland play hosts India at 2pm.

The five nations will then relocate to Rourkela, India, and that series will commence on Monday, February 19.

Prior to departing for India, Irish midfielder Michael Robson believes competing in the Pro League for the first time will provide the perfect preparation ahead of this summer's Olympics in Paris.

"When we were in Valencia we were seeing pictures online of the crowds in the stadium in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela and it was something to enjoy in terms of the atmosphere," he said.

"We're just delighted to get going and can't wait to play India over there. That's the game we are most excited about. Superb preparation, playing against the top eight teams in the world. It will certainly be a steep learning curve.

"It will get us really well prepared for the run up to Paris 2024. We'll be able to enjoy the Pro League and just soak up the atmosphere. The stakes and pressure were massive in Valencia. The stakes are huge in the Pro League too but the expectations are probably not as high. We are going to stick to the process and see what we can achieve performance-wise.

"We are going to focus on our own performances and how we want to play. In Valencia we didn't get bogged down with the opposition or with the end result. We've worked a lot on our deep defence, we certainly feel very comfortable in it, but it's not something we want to default to. We still want to be on the front foot and play with the ball.

"Certain circumstances occur in match situations. But if there's one goal in it, we're pretty comfortable with our backs to the wall . We've got good structures in place and we trust that."

Fellow Irish midfielder Daragh Walsh believes the opening game against the Netherlands will act as “benchmark” to see where they are as a squad.

He stated: "We have one or two players who play in the Netherlands and there's a few of us in Belgium but there aren't as many that our lads have experience of playing against at club level. We are aware of their qualities and that opening match will be a great benchmark for us as a squad.

“It's going to be a big ask to stay up in this League and in order to do that we will have to target certain games. We'd be looking to get positive results against Argentina and Spain. Spain are definitely who we are most familiar with as we usually play them 5-6 times a year. Spain tend to win most of them so at this stage we probably are owed a victory over them. They are a top-quality side, it will be difficult, but doable."