Australia's Rachael Lynch is glad the Olympics has been put off so she can get back to nursing.

The 33 year-old, who has earned 222 caps for Australia, worked as a nurse one day a week alongside her hockey programme. 

But now Tokyo has been postponed it means she is 'completely free to work' and help out on the front line at Perth's Fiona Stanley Hospital.

She told The Sydney Morning Herald: "I had hoped that it would get postponed. I'd been getting quite frustrated in the lead up to that, I knew that I wanted to be at the hospital and working and also distancing myself from the other hockey girls in our program.

"There's a lot of full-time nurses that can't put themselves forward...I'd rather be making myself useful than sitting at home.

"I just feel like I can help there, just because COVID is happening doesn't mean all the other illnesses have stopped so - the hospitals are busier than ever and our intensive care unit is already full."

The Hockeyroos were told on Monday that their schedule was being put on hold. 

She added: "The perspective of what's going on in the world and the real-life things, you just can't connect any sort of sadness or disappointment with sport given that that is going on."