Queensland Blades and under 21 representative Jake Whetton

The Under 21 Men's Hockey Championships hits off in Tasmania today, as the curtain raiser to the Olympic Games.

The Championships will be played in Hobart at The Tasmanian Hockey Centre and is sure to be action packed with all states and territories competing.

Keep your eyes and ears open during the tournament for the announcement of ticket sales for the much anticipated Men's Hockey Champions Trophy 2012 that will be held in Melbourne from December 1-9.

There will be pre-sale tickets available for a short period before they're open to the public, so first in best dressed for a chance to be involved in this once in a life-time experience.

But back to the Under 21's and Western Australia is the defending champion, after taking out last year's title in front of a home crowd.

This year however, there remains just six of last year's team with the 2012 line-up younger and less experienced.

National League player for the WA Thundersticks and Australian development squad member Aran Zalewski will captain the team and is expected to play well in midfield.

Other senior players to watch include strikers Brodie Sarre and Frank Main and defenders Brad Clarke and Mat Lim.

NSW finished second in 2011, defeated in the final by WA 2-1 in extra time, with Brenton Osbourne scoring the Blues only goal at the 64 minute mark.

Players to watch include Liam Alexander, Matthew Willis, Matthew Dawson, Luke Noblett, Joshua Walters and Flynn Ogilvie

Queensland will be looking to improve on last year's third place finish and win the national title for the first time since back to back championships in 2008 and 2009.

National league players with the Queensland Blades to look out for are Jake Whetton, Daniel Beale, Kane Posselt, Simon Borger, Jake Farrell and Robert Bell.

But they will miss Dylan Wotherspoon who is out injured.

With five senior representatives in their line-up however, Queensland are looking formidable on paper.

The Sportscover Victorian under-21 team will be looking to emulate its 2010 championship winning form after finishing a disappointing seventh last year.

Forward Adam Seccull is expected to fire in attack and lead his team to a successful tournament finish.

National league players for Victoria include Seccull, Tyler Cowley, Jayshaan Randhawa and Johan Durst

Australian Development squad members include Lewis Matthews, Oscar Wookey, Durst and Cowley

The ACT has a young side with a strong defensive unit that will be led by Pat kier. Other players to watch include youngster Lewis Shepherd, Jack Wallace and James Lawrence.

After a successful 5th place finish in 2011 the Northern Territory men are looking to break into the top four and play finals hockey at this year's championships.

Jeremy Hayward, Tarrant Hami-Jones, Jamie Hullick, Stewie Bryson, Adam Luck, Stevie Tonkiss and Daniel Robertson are players to watch.

The Tasmanian men have turned over 50 per cent of their playing group from 2011 but are confident of a strong performance in front of a home crowd.

Captain Jeremy Edwards and Vice-Captain Billy Shaw are expected to play key roles and imports Max Cerulus, goal keeper BJ Bruton and forward Alex Phimmanarch have been added to the line-up.

South Australia has finished 4th in the competition at the previous two championships and are looking to forge ahead this year.

Australian under 21 representatives Ed Chittleborough and Cameron Joyce are expected to play well alongside others to watch in captain Scott Germein, Chris Wells, Harry Gill, Cameron White and Daniel Pena.

SA has two imports in Benjamin Craig from NSW and Joshua Mynott from Queensland.

Source: Hockey Australia