Australia men's hockey coach Ric Charlesworth has called on his players to raise the bar ahead of the Champions Trophy, which gets underway in Germany on Saturday.
Australia men's hockey coach Ric Charlesworth has called on his players to raise the bar ahead of the Champions Trophy, which gets underway in Germany on Saturday.
The No.1 ranked Kookaburras are looking to win the week-long competition, which features the top six teams in the world, for a third successive year.
Charlesworth's side won the World Cup for the first time since 1986 in March but face a huge test in Monchengladbach where they take on Olympic champions Germany, England, the Netherlands, Spain and New Zealand.
The Kookaburras beat the Germans 2-1 to win the World Cup final in India but Charlesworth warned his players complacency will not be tolerated.
Kiel Brown, Liam De Young, Rob Hammond, Mark Knowles and Grant Schubert, who all played key roles in the Delhi success, have been left out of the squad with the focus very much on building for the London Olympics.
"This is a different group of players, there are seven or eight new faces from last year's Champions Trophy and a number of changes from the World Cup, it is about building depth and experimenting further," Charlesworth told AAP.
"The team has to constantly evolve and change and we have to have more depth, the Olympics in London are only two years away and if we don't look ahead we will be making a mistake.
"The message has to be that players cannot rest on our laurels and we have to be keep looking to improve to stay ahead because the world game is so strong."
The Kookaburras warmed up for their opening game against New Zealand on Saturday with a 10-3 thumping of Belgium and an 8-2 hammering of England. Despite those comfortable wins, Charlesworth was frustrated with the defensive performance against the Belgians.
"We showed some good penetration in attack but I didn't like the fact we let in three goals and we have to tighten up," Charlesworth said.
The veteran coach, who guided the Hockeyroos to Olympic gold in 1996 and 2000, admits the scheduling of the season has been bizarre, with the Champions Trophy sandwiched between the World Cup and the Commonwealth Games.
But he believes the heavy workload is a good thing and welcomes the pressure of being the team to beat.
"The season has been topsy turvy with the main event at the start of the year and although the Champions Trophy and the Commonwealth Games are important, it is about hardening our squad for London," he said.
Ian McCullough
AAP
