What is Katrina Powell's vision for the Hockeyroos

The Canberran became the first female Hockeyroos head coach since 1978 in March 2021 after she stepped in on an interim basis for Tokyo for a team that included Orange's Eddie Bone. She will continue to head up the program all the way to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The reason she opted to take on the permanent gig - and relocate to Perth for it - came down to one thing.

"The way the athletes played in Tokyo was really promising and it showed the talent and the capability that this group has," she said.

"So it felt like a real starting point, Tokyo. I think that's pretty unusual, the Olympics as a starting point. It's usually an end of a cycle, but for me it felt like the start of something and so I'm really keen to take that on for Paris."

The exit of former head coach Paul Gaudoin on the eve of a review into the Hockeyroos program's "toxic culture" led Powell to the top job.

Powell wants to ensure it never returns to the same culture outlined in the report.

"Culture is not something that you can just do one session on and then, 'OK, everything's magically fixed'. It's something that you have to continue to work at, and stay on top of," she said.

"It's one that's based around building good relationships and trust. That basis of safety, of support of the people around you, wanting the best for you, that enables you to become the best person and the best hockey player that you can be. And that's the business that I'm in, that's what coaching, that's what teaching, that's what mentoring is all about."

The two-time Olympic gold medallist knows what it takes to be a part of a successful program as a player and has transferred those skills into her coaching mantra.

Powell said without a positive environment, players would find it hard to thrive.

"You have to want to get up in the morning and go do what it is you're doing if you want to be successful, and if you want to be involved in high performance," she said.

"So if that isn't there, that basic level of enjoyment, fun, wellbeing, then you won't get a high performance, you won't get outstanding performance so that fun is absolutely critical. Fun can be obviously having a joke in our group ... but also fun is about achieving, it's being fit, it's learning new skills, it's developing the person that you are."

Powell led Australia to a fifth-placed finish in Tokyo - despite being among the gold medal favourites - after winning all five of their group matches before an abrupt 1-0 loss to India in the quarter-final. Under the 49-year-old's vision for Paris 2024, she wants to refresh the group and address circle efficiency, in particular.

A similar make-up for the squad may be on the cards, as she confirmed no members of the Tokyo squad - as some had question marks over their desire for another Olympic cycle - had officially retired yet.

"We're looking to develop our whole way of play, but circle efficiency in particular," she said.

"We got plenty of goal-scoring opportunities but didn't capitalise on that, it's probably a key issue for the quarter-final and then why we didn't progress to the semis. We're looking to refresh the group. We've got two selection camps coming up ... to make sure that we can capture everyone and find a way forward with progressing our way of play."

Powell's next challenge is the FIH Hockey World Cup and the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

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