Never mind the brouhaha over "suck on that": Sam Kerr is the darling of the nation, and after banging in four goals against Jamaica to steer her side into the knockout phase of the Women's World Cup, she will stay that way for some time.

She has become the first Australian player, male or female, to score a hat-trick or better at a World Cup.

Her coach, Ante Milicic, says, quite simply, that she is an inspirational leader with whom it is a pleasure to work.

Kerr herself simply shrugs and smiles, declaring that she loves scoring goals and just wants to keep on doing so, citing Tim Cahill as her inspiration.

Like Cahill has been for the Socceroos, Kerr was the difference for Australia in this game, as she has been so often in the past.

Australia could have won their group, finished second, third or even been eliminated depending on results, so her stellar performance played a massive role in determining the Matildas' immediate future.

Her first two goals were trademark headers, the second two all about hard work and opportunism.

Kerr simply said: "It feels good, any time I score it feels good. The most important thing is the victory and we got second place. Without even knowing the score [in the other games] tonight I knew that every goal would count.

"And I actually wanted more than that after myself, being my selfish self. I knew every goal would count and I'm just happy we could get that second spot

"I'm obviously pretty excited I could score and help the team out. I feel relieved.

"Something like that, breaking records is something I'll look back at on the end of my career. It's an amazing feeling, I feel pretty honoured just to score at a World Cup.

"To do three or four is an amazing feeling and I guess that's something I will tell my kids when I get older.

"But right now, we're focused on Norway straight away."

How on earth did she get to be so good in the air, she was asked. Where did that hang time come from given her lack of inches compared to most of the defenders who mark her?

"I'm just naturally gifted," she joked.

"I'm not a religious person but if I was I'd say I'm blessed with it. I grew up watching Timmy Cahill

"I practice them a lot but I'm also gifted. They're are my favourite goals so I'm pretty stoked with those two."

Only two players in the history of the women's game have scored more goals in a single match, Americans Alex Morgan and Michelle Akers, who notched five in one game, so Kerr is in rare air indeed.

Not that she was that bothered - she didn't even produce any of her trademark back flip celebrations.

"The most important thing like I always say is the team. I actually wanted more, I was trying to get them to cross it in more, play quicker. I just wanted to get more goals because we didn't know what was going on in the other game, so it was just get as many as we could. I felt that there were more goals in it and I wanted to score more."

She is a hard taskmaster, particularly where her own performance is concerned. Asked if that was her best game for the national team, she stopped and thought.

"Maybe goal-based, but I thought I lost the ball. I am a hard critic of myself, but I am always happy with headers, they are my favourite type of goal. Like I said, who cares who scored, we won the game and finished second in the group."

Milicic said: "That's the kind of team we are. We call that 'classic Sam'. I think a header's a classic Sam as well.

"She's an inspirational leader. We, as an Australian footballing community, should be thankful that we're witnessing one of the best players in the world live.

"I'm very fortunate to work with her and coach her, and in the end she got her rewards and she fully deserved that. You know Sammy's all about goals."

Now Norway awaits in the south of France with a quarter-final berth at stake.

"I have heard Nice is beautiful," said Kerr. "We are excited, we have played Norway a few times. They are a good European-based team which we haven't played too much in the past, so focusing on ourselves is the main thing."