The wash-up from the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships has caused a ripple in the Australian press. The final medal tally saw Australia nab only six gold to the USA's 26. Compared to the 1999 Pan Pacs, where the Aussies won 13 gold to finish on even keel with the Yanks, the papers are asking whether the flippers are falling off our Dolphins? With no Grant Hackett, no Libby Trickett and an injured Stephanie Rice, are the Delhi-bound Dolphins' days of dominance over?

Well, the short answer is no. Aside from their sensational Pan Pacs 1999 result, the last time Australia truly exerted dominance in the pool was probably 1956, where the Australian team led by Murray Rose, Dawn Fraser and Lorraine Crapp finished with eight gold to the USA's two. Since then, Mark Spitz's seven gold in Munich 1972 and Michael Phelps' eight gold in Beijing are individual manifestations of a larger-scale US streamlining success.

The Australian swim team is far and away Australia's most successful at the Olympics - and so they have a precious place in our sporting imagination. But on paper, the Yanks have had our measure for much longer than the past week. At the Beijing Olympics, the US finished with 12 gold to our six. In Athens we fared better, but still "lost": US 12 to Australia seven. In Sydney it was US 14 to Australia five. And at the last Pan Pacific Championships in 2006, admittedly with a less than full strength Australian outfit, Australia managed only two gold medals.

So we must be careful in reading "poor performance" into the recent results. The rivalry with the US is a strong one: who could forget Ian Thorpe touching out Gary Hall Jr in the 4x100m at the 2000 Olympics and playing air guitar on pool deck, mocking Hall's pre-race suggestion that the Americans would smash the Aussies like guitars? But rivalry or not, getting beaten by the US is not a shameful result.

There is plenty to get excited about. Fourteen-year-old Yolane Kukla came away with valuable experience and three commendable individual fourth places. Sophie Edington, the 50m backstroke world record holder, performed to form and won gold in her pet event, as did Marieke Guehrer in the 50m butterfly. Emily Seebohm, still only 18, was sensational with two gold, three silver and one bronze. Rice will have her work cut out regaining the 200m IM crown from Seebohm when she returns from surgery.

It is perhaps worth noting that all these gold medals were won by the girls. We're still waiting for the next Michael Klim, Ian Thorpe, Grant Hackett, Daniel Kowalski, Kieren Perkins or Geoff Huegill on the men's side of the lane rope. Ironically, Huegill, now ranked third in the world in the 50m butterfly, is among the best placed to fill his own shoes. He is joined by Nick D'Arcy, ranked 2nd in the World in the 200m butterfly. To see D'Arcy mix it with Phelps in the 200m fly was a promising sign of what appears to be a more mature athlete - in and out of the water.

But more than individual performances, I wonder whether what the Dolphins are really missing is the strength of leadership so brilliantly displayed by the likes of Grant Hackett during his career? Along with Libby Trickett, Hackett had a way of inspiring, encouraging, exciting and motivating. The impact of strong leaders can too easily be dismissed in sports regarded as ‘individual.' We all know the important role played by the Captain of the Australian cricket team or the captain of a footy side in lifting, organising and motivating their troops on the field, but team morale in "individual" sports is also fundamental to successful teams- including the Dolphins. The smallest margins can decide races, so every conjured emotion and attitude counts.

The new leadership group of Pat Murphy, Sophie Edington, Geoff Huegill, Andrew Lauterstein, Leisel Jones and Marieke Guehrer is a mixture of youth and experience, but without the charismatic talisman of Hackett. If, over the next couple of years, Hackett's flippers come to be satisfactorily filled, it is then that we can look forward to more Aussies smashing the Yanks like guitars.