. He made his senior national team début in January 2008. He earned a gold medal at the
2010 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy
The 2010 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy was the 32nd edition of the Hockey Champions Trophy men's field hockey tournament. It was held from July 31–August 8, 2010 in Mönchengladbach, Germany.
Teams
Below is the teams released by the Internatio ...
and at the
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
and
2014 Commonwealth Games
The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...
, as well as a bronze medal at the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
.
Personal
Ciriello is from
Endeavour Hills, Victoria
Endeavour Hills is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Casey local government area. Endeavour Hills recorded a population of 24,455 at the .
Endeavour Hil ...
. In 2004, he worked part-time at
JB HI-FI
JB Hi-Fi Limited is an Australian consumer electronics and home appliances retail company. It is publicly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Its headquarters are located in Southbank, Melbourne, Victoria.
The company has 316 stores ...
and was in his first year at the Australian College of Natural Medicine where he was studying remedial therapy. That year, he lost because of his busy personal and sport schedule that included training up to six times a week, with some days having two practices. His father and grandfather were both hockey players before him, and he himself took up hockey at the age of 4. He now lives in Perth with his wife Heidi Ciriello.
Field hockey
Ciriello had a hockey scholarship with the
Victorian Institute of Sport
The Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) is the government-funded sporting institute of the Australian state of Victoria. It provides high performance sports programs for talented athletes, enabling them to achieve national and international succe ...
in 2004. In 2004, he was a member of Australia's U21 national team and competed at the qualifiers for the U21 Junior World Cup Oceania Qualifiers in New Zealand.
Ciriello plays for the Doncaster Hockey Club. He plays for the
Victorian Vikings
The Victorian Vikings are a field hockey team which participate in Australia's national field hockey league, the AHL. The team is mostly made up of amateurs who participate in the Victorian State League Division 1. Previous to being known as ...
. He played for the team in the first found of the 2011 season.
National team
In January 2008, Ciriello made his senior national team début at the Five Nations men's hockey tournament in South Africa. New national team coach
Ric Charlesworth
Richard Ian Charlesworth AO (born 6 February 1952) is an Australian sports coach and former politician. He played first-class cricket for Western Australia and international field hockey for the Kookaburras (the Australian national team), winn ...
named the veteran Ciriello and fourteen players who had less than ten national team caps between them, in a bid to ready the team for the
2010 Commonwealth Games
The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, f ...
. In 2009, he represented the country on a tour of Europe. He competed in the third match of the tour against England where Australia won 5–4. In the game, he scored a
hat trick
A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
. All three goals came off penalty shots during the first half. In 2009, he was a member of the national team during a five-game test series in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia against Malaysia. He represented Australia at the
2010 Commonwealth Games
The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, f ...
. In the gold medal match against India that Australia won 8–0, he scored a goal. His coach Ric Charlesworth described his performance at the Games as having "taken his game to a new level". In May 2011, he played in the Azlan Shah Cup for Australia. The Cup featured teams from Pakistan, Malaysia, India, South Korea, Britain and New Zealand. In December 2011, he was named as one of twenty-eight players to be on the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
. In February during the training camp, he played in a four nations test series with the teams being the Kookaburras, Australia A Squad, the Netherlands and Argentina.
Career highlight
In 2014, Ciriello showed why he is one of the most dangerous players in world hockey and one of the best drag flickers in the history of the game. The 'Big Dog', as he is nicknamed, slotted a hat trick of goals in both the finals of the World Cup and the Commonwealth Games leading Australia to victory. At the World Cup Cirello was the second highest scorer of the tournament with 7 goals while at the Commonwealth Games he led the field with 9 goals.
Glen Waverley, Victoria
Glen Waverley is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Monash local government area. Glen Waverley recorded a population of 42,642 at the 2021 census.
History
T ...
while his father Lou Ciriello coached year 10.
Ciriello coached a top tier group of young female athletes at Southern River Hockey Club, based in the south of Perth, WA.
Until recently, he was Analytical coach and Manager for the National Indian Men's Team based at Sports Authority of India Complex, Bangalore, India.