Kookaburras coach Colin Batch has welcomed the pressure of going to India and coming back with their third World Cup win in a row.
Hockey Australia on Friday announced an 18-man squad, led by co-captains Aran Zalewski and Eddie Ockenden, for the 16-nation tournament later this month.
Favourites: Australia's Kookaburras are relishing the challenge ahead chasing a third straight crown.Credit:AAP
The men's national team is currently ranked world No.1 and meet England (7th), Ireland (10th) and China PR (17th) in the pool rounds.
Batch was wary of some of the upsets from the women's World Cup earlier this year, where Australia failed to medal and New Zealand didn't even reach the finals.
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But he insisted the men's team took confidence from taking out Commonwealth Games gold on home soil in April.
"You create your own pressure and intensity. Everyone that goes to a World Cup has an expectation to win and we're no different," he said.
"We only control the things we can and we did that very successfully in the Commonwealth Games.
"We had a home Commonwealth Games and were able to perform on the big stage, so we'll carry that through some of that experience."
Batch named six players from the triumphant Queensland Blades side that took out last week's Australian Hockey League (AHL) title, including star Corey Weyer.
AHL top-scorer Blake Govers returns from injury, as does experienced attacker Trent Mitton, but it's Weyer who adds new blood to the squad.
"We're very pleased with the way he developed this year. It's his first year in the squad, relocated to Perth, really enjoyed his time here," Batch said.
"But he knuckled down and made some good choices early on about his training. He was injured earlier in the year but found a way to go to another level."
The Kookaburras' first game is against Ireland on November 30.
Kookaburras squad: Daniel Beale, Timothy Brand, Andrew Charter, Tom Craig, Matthew Dawson, Blake Govers, Jake Harvie, Jeremy Hayward, Tim Howard, Tyler Lovell, Trent Mitton, Eddie Ockenden, Flynn Ogilvie, Matthew Swann, Corey Weyer, Jake Whetton, Dylan Wotherspoon, Aran Zalewski.
AAP
