Australian hockey officials are optimistic captain Mark Knowles will be fit to take his place in the Kookaburras' World Cup semi-final clash in the Hague on Friday, having been cleared of a serious neck injury.
Knowles was taken from the field on a stretcher and in a neck brace late in the first half of Monday's 4-0 thrashing of India, which left the Australians undefeated in Group A, after a nasty head collision with the hip of India's SV Sunil.
The classy 30-year-old was taken to hospital for scans, but was quickly released after concerns over any structural damage were allayed.
Knowles is still suffering muscle soreness in his neck and has a headache, and so remains in some doubt for the semi-final, likely to be played against Argentina.
But team officials are confident the four-day break between the reigning world champions' last group match and their semi-final will provide sufficient recovery time.
Coach Ric Charlesworth's plans received a further boost with ace Jamie Dwyer (calf) and Matthew Swann (ankle), who both failed to finish the India match, also cleared of injury.
Australia have set the tone for the World Cup, racking up a tournament-high 19 goals while conceding just once in their five wins.
In the women's draw, Hockeyroos coach Adam Commens also received some welcome injury news with the experienced Ashleigh Nelson considered a strong chance to recover from a toe injury in time for their semi-final on Thursday.
Nelson is batting an injury to the little toe on her right foot, but teammate Casey Eastham is confident she'll be able to battle through the pain to take on the Group A leader - either the United States, Argentina or China.
"She's a pretty tough kid from the country, so I'm sure she'll be alright," Eastham told AAP.
"She's just icing it at the moment, doing everything to make sure she can play."
After drawing 0-0 with New Zealand in their final group game, the Hockeyroos endured a nervous wait before they earned a semi-final spot, relying on the Netherlands to down Korea in the late match.
Commens pointed to the fact that three of his players were not 100 per cent fit.
"We had a tough match against the Netherlands the other day, and are still feeling it," he said.
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