Black Sticks stay confident
Black Sticks men’s hockey coach Darren Smith says there is no need to press the panic button ahead of next year’s Commonwealth Games after two hidings at the hands of world No 2 Australia.
The Black Sticks have had a season of ups and downs, culminating in a 5-1 loss to Australia in pool play at last week’s Oceania Cup tournament and a 6-0 drubbing in the final.
But Smith - in his first season as head coach - said, on the whole, the Black Sticks have been competitive and are on track for a good performance at Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in April.
The 2017 season has seen the Black Sticks lose a series to Pakistan, finish fourth at the Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia, which included a draw with Australia, finish sixth at the world league semifinal in Johannesburg including a loss to second-rate side Ireland, followed by second place at the Oceania Cup.
Smith said part of the reason the Black Sticks under-performed against Australia was because they were missing up to nine key players due to injury and commitments in the European competitions.
Seven of those had been Olympians with more than 1000 test matches between them.
‘‘They [Australia] are world champions and they give you days which can be a bit harder, but there is no need to have a reduction in optimism.
‘‘We would have liked a better showing than 6-0. It was a tough week, but there were some good signs come out of the tournament.’’
Black Sticks Oceania Cup absentees included stalwarts, Simon Child and Blair Hilton (both injured), Nick Haig, Blair Tarrant, Shea McAleese, Kane Russell, Hugo Inglis, Jacob Smith, Rob Creffier and Nick Ross, who were all playing for their European clubs.
Smith said many of the younger players pulled into the squad after good performances at the National Hockey League tournament last month showed they could be future prospects.
‘‘The positives were it gave some of the guys another chance to play at top level and continue that exposure of these guys to top hockey.’’
Smith wasn’t concerned about the big margins just five months from the Commonwealth Games, as several players would be returning from Europe and the players would be spending a lot more time together between now and then.
The Black Sticks will have another shot at Australia next month if they are to progress through to the playoffs at the Four Nations tournament in Bendigo and Melbourne.
They will need to have good results over Pakistan and Japan to do so.
The team will then have a training camp in December, which will include several more young players not already named in the side. Smith will pick his Commonwealth Games squad by February.
Australia have won all five Commonwealth Games gold medals since hockey was added to the programme in 1998. New Zealand won a silver medal at Manchester in 2002 and bronze at Delhi in 2010.
The Black Sticks finished fourth at Glasgow in 2014 behind Australia, India and England after losing a penalty shootout in the bronze medal match.
New Zealand are ranked eighth in the world and fourth in the Commonwealth, behind Australia (2nd in the world), India (6th) and England (7th).