Kookaburras wary of resurgent foes
The Age
Friday November 27, 2009
AUSTRALIA might be the defending title-holder of the Champions Trophy, the biggest men's annual international hockey tournament, but Kookaburras coach Ric Charlesworth knows his team will have its work cut out if it wants to maintain bragging rights.Teams from Germany, Spain, England, the Netherlands and Korea will be doing everything they can to claim the silverware when the event begins at Melbourne's State Netball and Hockey Centre tomorrow. After putting his charges through another gruelling training session yesterday, Charlesworth said he was in no way expecting an easy ride to the final."I think each team is capable of beating each other and normally if you play in a World Cup or Olympics you have the best 12 to 14 teams or something, so there'll be some at a lower level and [here] you've just got the best six," he said. "We'll play each of them here. These are like the toughest games in your pool at the Olympics, but you've got five of them."Australia lost 2-1 to Spain in Perth last weekend, despite thrashing the visitors 8-2 in the first game. The reason for the loss was simple, according to the acclaimed coach. "The day before was a flattering result but the reality is we were pretty close and when you don't play well, you'll lose," he said."We were perhaps too relaxed and they were very determined, as you would be after the previous day." But any thoughts of revenge will have to wait until the re-match tomorrow week, with Korea the Kookaburras' first opponents at 3pm tomorrow. Charlesworth said it was sure to be a hard-fought, fast-paced encounter."They're very skilful, they're very fast and they're a terrier-like team and if you aren't alert and aren't on your game, then you can slip-up," he said. "We have to be very vigilant."The tournament will open with the top-ranked Germans and England at 1pm, while Spain and the Netherlands will meet at 5pm."England won the European championship, they beat Germany in the final and they overcame the Netherlands in the semis, so you've got to say that England are a team that you have to be very wary of," Charlesworth said.Considering England receives 40 per cent more funding than the Australia team, it comes as no surprise that it is on the improve, he added.
© 2009 The Age
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