Kiwi striker Chris Wood has pledged his allegiance to New Zealand's Olympic football campaign at Tokyo this year, but needs sign-off from his English club, Burnley.
Wood became the first NZ player to score a Premier League hat-trick - and only the third player ever to score three goals in the first half - when Burnley beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-0 over the weekend.
In the process, he became the club's all-time leading scorer in Premier League, with 44 goals.
The Aucklander has told The Project he's keen to take the field for the OlyWhites at the Olympics in July/August, after scoring against Egypt at the 2012 London Games.
Last week, the NZ men were drawn in a favourable pool with Honduras, Romania and South Korea at the Olympic tournament.
"I'm definitely ready and willing," he says. "The able part will depend on come down to my club.
"Unfortunately, it's out of a FIFA window, so I'll have a big chat to my club at the end of the season and just my point of view across.
"Hopefully, we'll have a positive outcome and I'll be there."
Wood admits his three-goal haul against Wolves was "a dream come true".
"I've dreamt about that day for a very long time and didn't think it would ever happen. Scoring in the Premier League is hard enough, let alone three in one game, especially for little old Burnley.
"It's an extremely difficult way to do it and I'm over the moon about it."
Burnley have battled to avoid relegation all season and broke a three-game losing streak against Wolves to edge nine points clear of the bottom three teams.
"We dropped off and made sure we won," he says. "It's been a rough couple of weeks, to be fair, and we needed the win vitally.
Wood tells The Project his passion for football saw him bullied as a kid in rugby-mad New Zealand.
"But I was also six foot (1.83m) at the age of 14, so when they tried to bully me, I would go onto the rugby pitch and have a little go at them," he chuckles.
Wood's family have been massive Chelsea supporters through the generations - sister Chelsey, a former NZ age-group representative, was named after the London club, although Wood has never scored against the Blues.
"I've only played them three times, so hopefully, in the future, there's a few goals against them."
