Kookaburras Finish Third at World League Semi-Final

Trent Mitton and Tom Wickham were on the scoresheet as Australia routed Spain 8-1 in Johannesburg to close out their World League Semi-Final campaign in third place.

With the Kookaburras squad featuring four Western Australians, Mitton and Wickham scored the final two goals for Australia in a one sided contest to determine third place.

The Aussies led 4-0 at half-time, through goals to Jake Whetton, Jeremy Hayward and Aaron Kleinschmidt, before piling on a further four after the main break with Spain recording a 59th minute consolation.

Kookaburras head coach Colin Batch said: “Obviously we had an outstanding game and it was nice to finish the tournament with a performance like that. Full credit to the players in the progress we’ve made in the tournament. It’s given us a lot of belief in the team going forward.

“We’ve ticked a few boxes in this tournament, qualifying for World League Final and the 2018 World Cup, which will give us a good structure going forward. It means a lot to us finishing third in the competition, obviously we would have liked to have played in the final but we’re happy with the bronze medal.”

Mitton and Wickham were joined in the Australian line-up by Tyler Lovell and Aaron Zalewski.

The Kookaburras will contest the World League Final in December.