A beefed-up crew has Will Lockwood optimistic about Australia's chances of winning Olympic gold in the men's coxless four for the first time in 20 years.
With the Rio Games in mind, Rowing Australia late last week named a new-look team ahead of upcoming World Cup events, featuring London Games silver medallists Lockwood and Josh Dunkley-Smith, Alexander Hill and Joshua Booth.
Booth is the only change to the crew that won silver at last year's world championships.
"We're still getting to know each other as a crew but it's been coming along really well," Lockwood told AAP.
"We've already been hitting some really good speeds."
The 27-year-old said the make-up was a lot different to the one that came second to Great Britain in 2012.
It was a "roll of the dice", he admits, but a tactical move he is confident will deliver results in Brazil.
"We went with a lot more brute force, a lot more horsepower," he said.
"I sit in the bow seat and the three guys in front of me are very powerful, big blokes. That immediately puts us on a level playing field with the strong countries like Great Britain and Italy.
"The Brits don't row particularly well but they're so strong and powerful. The crew that we had in London was a lot smaller, a lot more compact, and to be able to compete with them we had to row really, really well."
Australia hasn't won Olympic gold in the event since 1996 in Atlanta with the Oarsome Foursome - Mike McKay, Nicholas Green, James Tomkins and Drew Ginn - in the boat.
They also won four years earlier in Barcelona, but with Andrew Cooper in place of Ginn.
Lockwood is hopeful of repeating that success in 2016, given the crew managed to claim a world championship silver last year with limited preparation.
Dunkley-Smith was called in late to replace Alex Lloyd after he broke his collarbone while training on a bike.
"To get a silver medal last year with a crew that hadn't really rowed much together, and now we're going to have all this time ... I think a gold medal is definitely realistic for us."
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