New faces likely in squad for Oz series

Expect fresh faces in the New Zealand’s women’s hockey squad for the inaugural double header series against Australia in Auckland in November.

Coach Mark Hager will ponder how to work around the absence of 13 Black Sticks, plus the New Zealand juniors squad, who will be competing at the World Cup in Santiago, Chile from late November.

Timing isn’t in his favour but he’s also keen to cast his eye ahead to a busy couple of years. This includes the World League competition, which runs through next year, culminating in the final in Auckland in November, the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in April 2018 and the World Cup in London a couple of months later.

Of the world No 5 Black Sticks squad of 25, Hager will be without defender Emily Gaddum (retired), skipper Kayla Whitelock, dynamic midfielder Anita McLaren and attackers Gemma Flynn and Charlotte Harrison, who are all unavailable.

Of those four, there’s an expectation as many as three may be considering retirement.

Four are sidelined by injuries — goalkeeper Georgia Barnett (back), defender Brooke Neal (rehab on a troublesome knee), Shiloh Gloyn and Kat Henry (both knee recuperation) — and four others, Petrea Webster, Sam Charlton, Ella Gunson and Julia King, are playing in Belgium and England.

There is an upside in this. Hager knows players can’t hang on forever and time comes when rotation and new faces are needed.

The squad he has taken to fourth place at the last two Olympics will break up in the next few months, but Hager is impressed with some of the young talent coming up.

“It will be interesting,” he said. “When you write down the names [who are available for the transtasman series] there are still some good players.

“It shows we do have really good quality kids coming through and there are good opportunities for those who didn’t go away to Rio.”

Australia are looking for a new coach after sacking Adam Commens for what Hockey Australia termed “serious misconduct” after their elimination from the Olympic competition.

After the transtasman competition in Auckland from November 17-20, Hager intends giving his players a break until early February in anticipation of a busy period of activity.

Current or recent internationals who are available for the transtasman internationals include goalkeeper Sally Rutherford and Amelia Gibson, defenders Liz Thompson and Rose Keddell, midfielders Stacey Michelsen and Kelsey Smith, and attackers Olivia Merry, Kirsten Pearce, Sophie Cocks and Michaela Curtis.