Go hunting for gold again
At a glance
Black Sticks women: Olivia Merry (cc), Megan Hull (cc), Kaitlin Cotter, Anna Crowley, Stephanie Dickins, Katie Doar, Alia Jaques, Tyler Lench, Alex Lukin, Grace O’Hanlon, Hope Ralph, Brooke Roberts, Olivia Shannon, Rose Tynan, Frances Davies, Tarryn Davey, Ani Haumaha, Tessa Jopp.
Black Sticks men: Blair Tarrant (c), David Brydon, George Enersen, Sean Findlay, Leon Hayward, Sam Hiha, Hugo Inglis, Sam Lane, Dane Lett, Harry Miskimmin, Joe Morrison, Hayden Phillips, Kane Russell, Aidan Sarikaya, Jake Smith, Dylan Thomas, Nick Woods, Simon Yorston.
Medal chances: Strong for the Black Sticks women, who have the ability to make it back-to-back gold medals if they can deliver in Birmingham. It would take something special for the men to claim gold, but they should be in contention for silver or bronze.
One to watch: Hope Ralph looks a superstar in the making at 22 for the Black Sticks’ women. Since debuting in 2020, she has already gained 24 caps, scoring five goals. She will cause opposition defences real trouble at the Games.
Prediction: The Black Sticks women lose a thriller to Australia in the gold medal match to capture silver. Both New Zealand sides get on the podium with the Black Sticks men taking bronze.
ninth in the world, will be desperate to produce their best hockey after some tough recent results.
They struggled at the Tokyo Olympics, finishing fifth in their six-team pool and failed to advance to the quarterfinals – winning just one game, drawing another, and losing three matches.
The dominant Australian side swept the Black Sticks men 4-0 in their series in Auckland in June, outscoring the Kiwis 19-3 across the four games.
New Zealand and Australia are in the same pool in Birmingham with South Africa, Pakistan, and Scotland the other teams.