Coach David Bell questioned the adequacy of player development before the Sydney Olympic triumph after the Hockeyroos crashed to their worst finish at a World Cup in 16 years.

Bell's comments came before Argentina won its first World Cup crown by narrowly overcoming five-time champion the Netherlands 4-3 on penalties in the gold medal play-off at Perth Hockey Stadium.

The South Americans finally ditched their tag as bridesmaids in major tournaments by rebounding from a heartbreaking equaliser in the second last minute of regulation time which locked the scores at 1-1.

Bell was left lamenting Australia's misfiring strikeforce in its 2-0 loss to China in the bronze medal playoff which ended its World Cup defence on a sour note with a world No.4 ranking.

"You can't go through games without scoring goals, it is mathematically impossible unless there is extra time," Bell lamented.

"I think that is what has punished us in the last two games."

Despite being in charge for the last two years, Bell called for more time to develop a winning unit as Australia's gold medal defence at the Athens Olympics looked increasingly shaky.

He suggested not enough was done to develop the next group of players with so many set to retire at Sydney 2000.

"Without a doubt leading into 2000 where there was a huge focus on the Hockeyroos team and rightly so as it was a home Olympics," Bell said.

"But I would still question whether we did enough to develop the next group coming through."

The Hockeyroos have not beaten Argentina and the Netherlands since the Sydney Games and dropped their last two encounters against China.

But Bell and captain Katrina Powell both agreed the host nation had not shown the necessary desperation in their last two matches.

"I wonder if in Australian hockey we like to look pretty, we don't do maybe the desperate gutsy just get the ball in the back of the net anyway you can (kind of things), we maybe try to be too pretty," Powell said of the scoring problem.

"We don't have the answer."

The answer may well be a 29-year-old based in the Netherlands who was ineligible to represent Australia after failing to meet the selection criteria by not playing in the national hockey league this year.

Former world player of the year Alyson Annan has not played for Australia since last year's Champions Trophy but her attacking brilliance would immediately close the gap between the Hockeyroos and the top sides.

She is expected to make an announcement on her international future soon.

Meanwhile, Powell said there had to be a major review of the team's performance after finishing out of the medals in a major event for the first time in 10 years.

"There needs to be answers as to what has gone wrong, it maybe that we are just inexperienced, it may be that the old strikers need to be kicked out," she said.

"We have have only been together for two years you can't after that small amount of time to turn around and say that is not working,because we haven't given it enough time to work."

"This is only the second time I have competed at a major tournament and not finished with a medal, and they have both been this year.

"We will do whatever it takes to win in Athens and if we have to wait until then we will."

Bell said several players had been well down on form at the tournament but that youngsters Sarah Taylor and teen striker Susannah Harris had shown they belonged at the top level.

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