Black Sticks greats state case for new game plan
Retired Black Sticks greats Ryan Archibald and Phil Burrows are concerned about the state of men’s hockey in New Zealand, arguing flaws in the pathway system are harming the national side.
The Black Sticks men and women were arguably New Zealand’s biggest disappointment at the Commonwealth Games with neither side able to medal.
Back-to-back shootout defeats stung the women’s side, who had to settle for fourth. The men failed to advance to the semifinals after losing their final pool game to South Africa – ultimately finishing fifth.
Burrows and Archibald, the two most capped New Zealand men’s players in history with a combined 670 tests, spoke with optimism about the Black Sticks women’s team.
Although they didn’t medal in Birmingham, the future was promising with a young, new-look squad, who had the ability to eventually challenge the world’s best with greater time together. Longserving co-captain Olivia Merry was the only player in the squad with over 100 caps.
They were both worried about the Black Sticks men, arguing a substandard domestic competition, deficiencies in the pathway system and a lack of investment in a strong under-21 or under-23 national programme was hindering progress.
Players were ill-equipped for the giant leap to international hockey and struggling from a technical and tactical perspective.
‘‘On the men’s side, I am really concerned we don’t have the talent coming through that’s necessary to compete at the highest level of international hockey,’’ Archibald said. ‘‘I don’t know if we have the development pathways in place at the moment in New Zealand to address that either.’’
Archibald and Burrows are wellplaced to comment on the game.
Brilliant performers over a long period of time for the Black Sticks, they remain invested in the sport.
Archibald is board chair of Auckland Hockey and board chair of the New Zealand Hockey Players’ Association.
Burrows has lived in Melbourne for the last six years and is embedded in the professional Australian hockey system. He is Hockey Victoria’s high performance manager and women’s head coach of Hockey Club Melbourne, who compete in Australia’s new premier competition, Hockey One.
‘‘I think maybe [Hockey NZ] have to delve into development, the pathway for the athletes a bit more to make sure we are getting a good wave of players coming through, otherwise it’s going to fall off a cliff at some point,’’ Burrows said.
‘‘There won’t be enough players or there won’t be enough talent around to actually get a good team together.’’
Burrows acknowledged the Australian system had greater financial resources and a far deeper player pool. In Victoria, they had launched under-16 Hockey Club Melbourne boys’ and girls’ teams, who had the opportunity to test themselves against rival state teams.
Those same opportunities didn’t exist in New Zealand, he said.
‘‘It’s so important, otherwise they just get disinterested. If there’s no pathway they could jump into another sport, especially at that age. They’re often doing two or three sports and this one isn’t really looking after me too well, but this one has got a pathway, I’ll just go into this sport.’’
With Hockey New Zealand chief executive Anthony Crummy off work after suffering a head knock while biking, HNZ high performance director Darren Smith was left to do the talking.
Smith, a former Black Stick and the interim coach of the Black Sticks women at the Commonwealth Games and 2022 Women’s World Cup, said Archibald and Burrows’ comments were fair.
‘‘I think their observations wouldn’t be far off. They’re two of our best, so their observations are going to have some validity to it.
‘‘The underpinning programmes need some work, certainly. Our Junior Black Sticks [under-21] programme needs work and we’ve got to start to look at that pretty hard, as do our national hockey championships or premier hockey league, or our national under-21 championships. What they look like needs work.’’
The Covid-19 pandemic, managed isolation regulations and lockdowns had been incredibly challenging for
Hockey NZ over the past 21⁄ years,
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Smith said.
Covid-19 had greatly impacted the Junior Black Sticks programme. The under-21 men were unable to attend the junior world championships in India in November-December last year.
There was some light at the end of the tunnel with Aaron Ford (Junior Black Sticks men) and Mitch Hayde (Junior Black Sticks women) confirmed as coaches earlier this month. The Junior Black Sticks programme would ramp back up again and remained a key priority.
‘‘We need a nice annual plan that gives the athletes access to some good training, some good domestic competition, some exposure to international competition, some exposure to elite training and exposure to strength and conditioning and the other aspects that get you ready to perform internationally,’’ Smith said.
‘‘We couldn’t provide some parts of it in the last two years.’’
Archibald stressed it was imperative there was an international element for the Junior Black Sticks and they had 10-12 games annually.
The under-21 stage was a critical step and Hockey NZ hadn’t put enough focus into it, he said.
‘‘In that really key development phase where you’re trying to prepare athletes for international hockey, the sport hasn’t invested in those programmes to the degree others countries are investing in it.
‘‘I really think that’s meaning when we select athletes for the Black Sticks they’re not ready to be international hockey players and they’re having to learn international hockey while they’re doing it.’’
Last year, Hockey NZ carried out analysis of its high performance programmes, led by former Sport NZ CEO and New Zealand men’s hockey captain Peter Miskimmin, titled Project Kahurangi.
Smith described the work as an under the bonnet look at their strategies and systems, what they could do better, and recommendations for the future – some of which they were already starting to implement.
Domestic hockey remained a concern for Archibald and Burrows and something HNZ needed to address.
This year, a North versus South series was held over four days in Hamilton in April, which was a ‘‘pseudo Black Sticks trial’’, Archibald said. The national hockey championship will be contested in Dunedin from September 11-17, which will feature several tiers in the men’s and women’s competitions. Last year’s event was cancelled because of Covid-19.
Archibald questioned whether the national hockey championship was adequately preparing the next wave of Black Sticks. He was in favour of a six-team elite provincial competition played over six weeks with every game ideally televised on Sky.
‘‘We don’t have a strong domestic competition. I think that’s another important area in terms of trying to bridge the gap to international hockey. The sport needs a stronger domestic league.’’
Archibald was supportive of teams having one or two overseas imports in their squad, which would bring excitement to the competition and be a boost for Kiwi players to play alongside. ‘‘We need a strong domestic competition that isn’t centrally managed.
‘‘It’s co-ordinated by Hockey New Zealand, but it’s allowing the regions to own their teams and invest in their teams, so you’re developing more coaches and you’re also getting the community support behind these teams.’’
Smith said HNZ was open to exploring what kind of national league would work best for elite players in New Zealand.
Whatever format that took it had to be financially viable, work into the Black Sticks and Junior Black Sticks programmes, and ensure the best possible competition for players.
‘‘Now is an opportunity to look at it as a whole, look at all our programmes and how we set things up and how we try and build our future Black Sticks.
‘‘A six-week national league could be the answer, that’s on Sky, and is a pretty cool product. So long as it’s sustainable and the public enjoy it and we’re able to build it into our Black Sticks and Junior Black Sticks programmes.’’
‘‘They’re two of our best, so their observations are going to have some validity to it.’’