EVEN without their four key strike weapons, the Kookaburras have maintained their international supremacy with an extra-time victory in the final of the Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia.
The world champion Australians went into the tournament without nine first-choice players, including the potent quartet of Jamie Dwyer and Des Abbott (injured) and Eddie Ockenden and penalty corner-striker Luke Doerner (unavailable), but still prevailed to illustrate the depth of their 30-man national squad.
In their first international tournament of the year, the Kookaburras exhibited some rust in their early matches but improved steadily to claim the title.
Australia and Pakistan were tied at 2-2 at full-time after a see-sawing final yesterday.
The teams remained deadlocked and headed for a penalty shootout until the 13th minute of extra-time when the Kookaburras earned one last penalty in the circle, and corner specialist Chris Ciriello slotted home the golden goal.
"We were a bit disappointing in the final; we didn't play as well as we ha,d but we still deserved to win as we had the better of the chances," national coach Ric Charlesworth said.
"We hadn't played for six months, since the Commonwealth Games, so we were rusty, and we were easily the least-experienced team there."
This tournament begins a long international season for the Kookaburras, who will tour Europe in July, play the Oceania Cup Olympic qualifier in October, and finish up defending their title at the Champions Trophy in Delhi in December.
The European-based players are expected to return for the next two tournaments, although four-times world player of the year Dwyer is not expected to be available until October, after undergoing knee surgery last month.
Despite his team's dominance last year, Charlesworth has vowed to change things this year to keep rivals wrong-footed on the run into next year's Olympics.
"Last year is done now, and we are only looking at how we can improve because there is no doubt the other teams have been studying us to try and figure out how to beat us," he said.
"We need to keep evolving and that's what we are in the process of doing. There's a lot of areas that need attention. We are on steps one or two of the 10 steps to the Olympics."
Meanwhile, Britain, which has designs on the Olympic gold medal that the Kookaburras will chase in London next year, bounced back from a lethargic start to beat New Zealand 4-2 and finish third in Malaysia.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING: AFP
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