Penalty corner expert Jeremy Hayward powered Australia to their fourth straight win in hockey's new Pro League, but there were plenty of late nerves before downing Argentina 3-2 at Sydney Olympic Park.
Hayward netted twice in a dominant opening quarter to give the Kookaburras the ideal start in front of a crowd of more than 3,000 on Saturday.
Blake Govers made it three on the stroke of halftime with another penalty corner rocket and it looked like being a walkover for the home team.
But Argentina hit back with two corner goals of their own in the second half and had other excellent chances to take the match to a shootout.
Australia now has 13 points from six games while Argentina has seven points from five games.
"We were caught by their bluff," said assistant coach Anthony Potter, who was in charge today while head coach Colin Batch observed from the grandstand high above the pitch.
"Argentina play a lot like their football team; they start off at slow pace then switch very quickly to a high tempo.
"We knew what to expect but we were slow to adjust."
Hayward was delighted with his early brace but lamented the late lapses that very nearly cost Australia.
"It was good to score from three corners but it's never acceptable to concede 10 of them," he said of the leaky Australian defence.
The Kookaburras could have had several more goals in the first half as Tom Craig carved holes in the Argentina defence but the last touch deserted them.
Argentina were without their own corner specialist Gonzalo Peillat, but Australia still needed three superb saves in as many minutes from Andrew Charter to thwart the visitors in the shadows of halftime.
Before the match, Kieran Givers - who played 126 games for Australia and announced his retirement this month - was honoured for his storied career in front of his home state fans.
The Pro League has a weekly home-and-away format featuring the world's top eight teams. Australia next hosts New Zealand on Sunday, while Argentina is at home to Spain in a fortnight.
The top four teams play finals in Holland in June.
