Kookaburras steamroll Germans in final

An extraordinary second half fightback helped Australia secure back-to-back
Champions Trophy men's hockey titles with a 5-3 win over Germany in the final in
Melbourne on Sunday.

The Kookaburras trailed the world and Olympic champions 3-1 at halftime, failing to
capitalise on four penalty corner attempts.
But three goals in the opening 15 minutes of the second half - two of them penalty
corner flicks from Luke Doerner - stunned the Germans and ensured the Kookaburras
their 10th Champions Trophy gold medal.
Australia started superbly and had the lead inside two minutes when striker Des
Abbott found the net.
Then the Germans hit back with three goals in 11 minutes - one from Florian Fuchs, a
Martin Haner drag flick and another to Matthias Witthaus from open play - to
seemingly take a stranglehold on the match.
But with newly-crowned world player of the year Jamie Dwyer outstanding, the
Kookaburras launched a comeback in the second half and started to convert their
penalty corners.
First Liam de Young tapped in a rebound from close range, before Doerner found his
range with a drag flick on 41 minutes to bring his side level.
Nine minutes later, Australia had snatched back the lead when Doerner was on target
again.
The Kookaburras extended their lead with three minutes remaining, when Fergus
Kavanagh latched on to a long Doerner pass and flicked the ball over German keeper
Max Weinhold's head to delight the 5,000-plus crowd at the State Hockey Centre.
South Korea took the bronze medal, beating The Netherlands 4-2 in the third place
playoff.
Spain beat England 5-2 to secure fifth place.