SHE has scored 40 international goals but Anna Flanagan isn't a striker - she's a Hockeyroos defender.
So the obvious thing to ask the 24-year-old from Canberra is: "Are you playing in the wrong position, Anna?"
Flanagan cracks up before replying: "No, no not all. In our penalty corners we actually have three defenders up there so, no, I wouldn't call myself a striker."
However, she believes the defending champions' strike force are adept at foraging at the coalface and she's very happy to feed them productive passes to convert into goals all the way to the Rio Olympics, if she makes the cut.
They play the New Zealanders in the second semifinal today of the third annual Hawke's Bay Cup in Hastings, which is part of the HB Festival of Hockey.
"If we stick to our processes and our game plan with the speed skills throughout the team and end-to-end running then hopefully we'll be able to get on top of them," she says before the 6.15pm start at the Unison Hockey Stadium.
Asked what encapsulates the Australian national hockey team, she replies: "We're probably quite ruthless. We work really hard and we work together and I don't think we ever give up, no matter what the score.
"We try to create our own identity so when people watch us they really appreciate the brand of hockey we bring."
But she isn't getting too carried away just yet for a proud nation that has yielded three gold medals - 1988 Seoul, 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens.
Pivotal to their campaign to Rio is adapting to an attacking outfit that plays an attractive style of hockey.
Flanagan says because they have a well-trodden path to Olympics' ultimate glory that doesn't necessarily mean the Black Sticks, or any other nation for that matter, will have more hunger to scramble on to the top perch of the podium in Rio than the Aussies.
"It has been a long golden era of the Hockeyroos but we're trying to forge our own path and our own culture because to do it now it's so much tougher than before as any one of the top eight teams can knock off another on their day."
She says it is quite understandable to see not just a poker-faced coach Adam Commens but also wound-up players, considering the Rio Olympics is just around the corner.
"We're in the top three so I think out of pressure we want to perform. We've set ourselves a goal to get gold so, you know, with that there's going to be pressure to be able to perform if you want to end up on that podium in Rio."
Commens has 28 in his squad with "five or so still in the mix" from what she considers to be a competitive pool with some at home still in with a chance.
"I'm not sure if this exact team will actually go to Rio so it depends on how we perform in the next few months together," says Flanagan, rolling her left wrist to show tattooed London Olympic rings where they finished fifth after the Black Sticks pipped them 1-0 in pool play but eventually lost 3-1 to Great Britain in 3rd-4th playoff.
The Aussies have a collectively experienced defensive line up and yet she's only 24 years old with 164 caps but now that they are in the top three the level of expectation from within the squad and a country of high achievers has changed dramatically.
"I think the public will be critical [if we don't win] but I think we'll be more critical of ourselves if we don't achieve what we set out to do," says Flanagan.
Performing under pressure today amid the rich rivalry between the neighbours is crucial.
"We've beaten them for a few years in big games and yet they are always a tough opposition, putting us out of contention for medals in the London Games."
Flanagan says they have beaten Japan quite convincingly in the past but they have shown considerable improvement to the Hawke's Bay Cup.
"We do have that confidence that if we are putting our chances away as that's what we struggled with a bit before because we are creating opportunities from real good build ups but we're not scoring from them."
She doesn't think the rain will cause much disruption today although the games may not look so pretty.
Flanagan says the players and coaching stable have put themselves in the dock and undergone some serious cross examination on pulling themselves out of the doldrums.
A full-time player, she's working on building the profile of the sport, especially with females.
No doubt, "Team Flanagan" is also on the agenda as she tries to get her name out there through sponsorship.
The South Perth Wasps player is a versatile defender who made her debut with the ACT representative team in 2010.
She'll be playing for Northland in the NHL this New Zealand rep season.
"It'll be one season after the Olympics and there'll be a bit of time off so I thought why not keep playing hockey."
Her father, Fred, a retired career adviser and hockey coach, is here to support her and has trained her since she was 4.
"He comes to watch most of my games," she says of the ex-Junior Australian.
At one stage she played in a team with Fred coaching, mum Judy and sister Katie, 27, all playing in the same team.
"Dad got hit in the eye and it ended his career," she says, adding it didn't deter her from playing but instead fuelled her to strive for more.
Flanagan delved in myriad codes -- tennis and athletics were all up there in the competitive arenas at state level -- until she was 15, after catching the eye of talent scouts from 13.
"I was always the youngest in the team until I was in the under-21s so I've been around for a while," says the player who made the national hockey team at 17.
Tennis and athletics were more cutthroat in their individualism so Flanagan gravitated towards a collective existence to find more traction there.
"I loved winning so I was lucky to be in teams where my dad kept pushing me so, yeah, we were very successful from a young age," she says, revealing her sister is a genius who is carving a niche and "doing some amazing things" in international relations.
But the Olympic flame in Flanagan was set alight when she was only 8 at the Sydney 2000 Games.
"I was there at the stadium. I remember watching Kathy Freeman win 400 metres gold so that was a really inspiring moment for me."
The entire family watched her at the 2012 London Olympics but while it was a dream come true there's a sense of void that only a podium placing will go some way to filling.
"It still feels like the journey is just beginning and with Rio in sight I'm not really looking back but looking forward."
BOTH TEAMS
BLACK STICKS (shirt Nos): No 21 Georgia Barnett (Central GK), No 13 Sam Charlton (Midlands defender/midfielder), No 17 Sophie Cocks (Canterbury striker/midfielder), No 22 Gemma Flynn (Midlands midfielder/striker), No 2 Emily Gaddum (Central defender), No 23 Charlotte Harrison (Auckland striker), No 26 Pippa Hayward (Canterbury defender/midfielder), No 24 Rose Keddell (Midlands defender/midfielder), No 15 Julia King (Auckland defender), No 11 Rachel McCann (Canterbury midfielder), No 4 Olivia Merry (Canterbury striker), No 31 Stacey Michelsen (Northland midfielder/defender, captain), No 9 Brooke Neal (Northland defender), No 18 Kirsten Pearce (North Harbour striker), No 32 Anita Punt (Capital midfielder), No 8 Sally Rutherford (Midlands GK), No 16 Liz Thompson (Auckland defender), No 1 Kayla Whitelock (Central midfielder/striker).
Coach: Mark Hager.
AUSTRALIA (with shirt Nos): 1 Gabrielle Nance, 3 Brooke Peris, 4 Casey Sablowski, 5 Ashlee Wells (GK), 7 Jodie Kenny, 8 Ashleigh Nelson, 9 Anna Flanagan, 11 Karri McMahon, 12 Madonna Blyth (c), 13 Edwina Bone, 17 Georgina Morgan, 18 Jane Claxton, 19 Georgie Parker, 20 Kathryn Slattery, 24 Mariah Williams, 26 Emily Smith, 27 Rachael Lynch (GK), 30 Grace Stewart.
Coach: Adam Commens.
Manager: Davies Stephen.