The ADF men's team won silver in the Australian Hockey Country Championships in Goulburn, going to the NSW side 0-1 in the final in August.
The ADF side tried hard to respond, but against strong defence and with few offensive chances, they could not score.
"Queensland and NSW were the strongest sides and really pushed the team to play at their best," team captain Petty Officer Daniel Sekulich said.
Queensland got the better of the ADF side, winning their first game 3-1 in the pool stage, but ADF got its revenge in the semi-finals winning 1-0.
The competition pitted men's and women's ADF teams against WA, Victoria, SA, Queensland and NSW in a pool-style tournament.
The ADF women's side finished fifth overall in a strong field dominated by NSW and WA.
"Being pushed against some of the best female hockey players in the country with a brutal schedule of five games in six days was testing but rewarding," women's team co-captain Flying Officer Riley Kennedy said.
As the majority of the ADF teams hadn't played together often, they initially trained at Canberra's national hockey centre in the lead-up.
Head coach from the Canberra Chill briefed the players on strategy and gameplay before taking on some of the nation's best.
Petty Officer Sekulich said the tournament was fierce because the other teams regularly played together at a high level.
He said the men's team played consistently all week and maintained very strong defence, finishing with a goal differential of minus two.
Petty Officer Sekulich aims to improve the team's game fitness and personnel availability to go one better next year and get a gold medal.
"It's only my second tournament as captain and my highlight was being able to lead the guys to the final," Petty Officer Sekulich said.
"This was my time playing for the ADF side and I am lucky to have had the opportunity to represent at this level for so long."
Two Defence men were selected for the open Australian country team, along with two women in the under-21s.
