Australia coach Geraint John is keeping calm despite a disappointing start to his team’s Olympic qualifying campaign.

Australia leave the Gold Coast leg of the 2014-15 IRB World Sevens in equal seventh place after exiting at the quarter-final stage on Sunday.

John’s men, who won two of their pool matches on Saturday before losing to Fiji, missed out on a semi-final berth with a nail-biting 12-10 loss to South Africa.

Chasing a place in the consolation plate final, the Thunderbolts crumbled when leading 17-5 against Argentina, conceding two late tries to fall 21-17 to the Pumas.

This year’s series doubles as a qualifier for the 2016 Olympics, where rugby sevens will be played for the first time.

The top-four nations at the series’ end will get an automatic berth to Rio but John admits his team has a long way to go if they’re to achieve that goal.

“It’s only one of nine tournaments,” John said.

“That’s the nature of a game at a Sevens tournament… you just don’t know what’s around the corner.

“You can’t afford to be off your game.”

John said he will continue to look at ways he can strengthen his squad ahead of the series’ next stop in Dubai in December.

Promising back Allan Fa’alava’au will return for the Dubai tournament after missing out on the Gold Coast due to eligibility problems while Afa Pakalani and Lausi Taliauli could also be available.

“We’ll always look to see if there’s better players about but if they’re not available, they’re not available,” John said.

“I’m not going to make any excuses either, the players that we’ve got are the players that have been contracted, it’s my job to work with those players.”