KEY POINTS:
The stakes could not be higher - neither could the odds for the New Zealand teams at next week's crucial Oceania Olympic qualifiers at Buderim, on Australia's Sunshine Coast.
For the Shane McLeod-coached, Ryan Archibald-led men's team, the equation is simple. Beat the Australians and pick up direct entry passes to next year's Beijing Olympics. Lose and return home to play the National Hockey League and then begin preparations for February's Olympic qualifying tournament at North Harbour's Crown Relocations Stadium and a one-in-six chance of claiming an Olympic spot.
In what was originally touted as three-test play-off with Australia, the Black Sticks were up against it. Now, with the entry of Papua New Guinea, New Zealand hopes are raised but only slightly.
If, as expected, New Zealand and Australia beat PNG, they will then meet in a one-off tournament decider.
That is a far better proposition, but one still heavily weighted in the hosts' favour.
Australia, ranked second in the world (and New Zealand ninth), have not been beaten by their transtasman rivals in 17 meetings since 2000. In their last meeting, at the World Cup in Germany, Australia won 7-1.
Goalscoring has been one of the strengths of the Barry Dancer-coached Australians. Last month in China, they beat the hosts 9-0 in the final and 6-1 in the round-robin.
Dancer is understandably keen to grab the short route to Beijing.
"Buderim is a dangerous tournament for us," said Dancer. "If we lose the final to New Zealand then we will have to win one of three qualifying tournaments early in 2008."
Not taking any chances, the team has been in Buderim all week while New Zealand men did not arrive until Thursday after a two-day camp in Auckland before departure.
The New Zealand women are not under the same pressure. They have been in Australia for more than a week spending their early training time in Brisbane to get more turf time after playing in Hong Kong where they lost to China and Korea before scoring a good win over India.
Again, they are well behind the Australians in recent contests.
In 31 matches since 2000, Australia have won 26, New Zealand three with two drawn. New Zealand's last win came earlier this year in the first of four home tests when they won 1-0 before losing the remaining three.
The long-time rivals drew 0-0 at last year's Champions Trophy in Holland.
With Oceania guaranteed two Olympic spots, the top two teams in Buderim will win through. Assuming New Zealand and Australia beat Fiji and PNG in pool play, the transtasman teams would qualify.
Australian women's coach Frank Murray. said: "We had a good tournament in China last month. We learnt a lot from that particularly that we still have a lot of work to do if we are to be successful next year."
Olympic Oceania Qualifiers
Buderim, Sunshine Coast, Australia
September 11
Australia v Fiji (women) 6.30pm (NZ time), New Zealand v Papua New Guinea (w) 8.30pm, Australia v PNG (men) 10.30pm.
September 12
PNG v Fiji (w) 6.30pm, Australia v NZ (w) 8.30pm, NZ v PNG (m) 10.30pm.
September 14
Fiji v NZ (w) 6.30pm, Australia v PNG (w) 8.30pm, Australia v NZ (m) 10.30pm.
September 16
3rd v 4th (w) 11.30am, 1st v 2nd (m) 4pm, 1st v 2nd (w) 6.30pm.
