The 62-year-old leaves the team after six years in the role, during which time he led them to World Cup and Commonwealth Games titles, the London 2012 Olympic bronze medal and four Champions Trophy golds, but said it is "the right time to reassign my priorities".

"I am no longer keen on spending up to three months a year away and overseas as one must do as the national coach of the Kookaburras," Charlesworth admitted.

"I have long believed that coaches can stay too long.

"The Kookaburras are in good shape and can be further refreshed by a new head coach as they head towards the Rio [2016] Olympics."

Under Ric Charlesworth, Australia won the hockey World Cup for the first time since 1986 ©AFP/Getty Images


Under Charlesworth, himself an Olympic hockey silver medallist and widely regarded as the best hockey player of his generation, the Australian men regained the number one spot in the world rankings in 2010, the year they also won the World Cup and Delhi Commonwealth Games.

In leading the squad to that World Cup victory, Charlesworth became the first person to win the men's title as both an athlete and a coach, as well as the first person to have all three titles to his name if you add the women's World Cups won by the Hockeyroos, who he coached to two consecutive Olympic gold medals in 1996 and 2000, under his watch.

Charlesworth also led the men to an unprecedented fifth consecutive Champions Trophy, his fourth as coach, just four months after the London 2012 Games.

Meanwhile, he is credited with helping to introduce some of hockey's most significant developments, including positional flexibility on the field, and the application of video and performance analysis.

Equally, he lobbied for the change that saw tied knock-out matches decided by an eight-second one-on-one shoot-out as opposed to penalty strokes and was a key figure in the development of the nine-a-side format that spawned the International Super Series.

Charlesworth has also worked as the high performance manager of the New Zealand cricket team, technical advisor to the Indian hockey teams and a performance consultant to the Fremantle Dockers Football Club.

Ric Charlesworth also led the Australian men's squad to an unprecedented fifth consecutive Champions Trophy title ©Getty Images


Cam Vale, chief executive of Hockey Australia, paid tribute to Charlesworth, but admitted the national governing body is sad to see him go.

"Ric's working life as an elite athlete, elite coach, federal politician and doctor is remarkable and is unlikely ever to be repeated," he said.

"Although I have only worked with Ric for a short time, he is without doubt one of the greatest coaches in Australian sporting history and on behalf of every athlete and official who has worked with him, I say thanks.

"It's incredibly rare in coaching sport, particularly at the very top level, that someone gets the opportunity to make such a decision for themselves.

"This is Ric's decision and his decision alone.

"TheBoard and I were keen for Ric to continue beyond the Commonwealth Games but we respect his decision."

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