‘You lose not only an outstanding person and player, but you lose that wealth of experience’
Coach Graham Shaw on losing Kayla Whitelock from the Olympics
Black Sticks coach Graham Shaw says it’s too early to know whether hockey legend Kayla Whitelock has played her last test for New Zealand.
Whitelock’s dream of attending a fifth Olympics in Tokyo was snatched away from her on Tuesday, tearing the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her right knee in the fourth test against Australia.
It capped off a rough night in Palmerston North for the Black Sticks, who lost 3-1 to the Hockeyroos, handing the transTasman series to Australia 1-0, following three earlier draws.
The 34-year-old faces a long stint on the sideline and her name will be missing when the Black Sticks unveil their 16-player Olympic squad on Thursday.
Her absence is a crushing blow for the Black Sticks’ medal hopes with the 260-test veteran a critical member of the squad with her experience, leadership and immense skill.
Whitelock stepped out of retirement in 2019, returning to the Black Sticks environment with ambitions of competing at a fifth Olympics, having attended her first Games in 2004 in Athens.
There had not been any discussion about Whitelock’s Black Sticks’ future following her serious knee injury.
‘‘We haven’t even got into that. At the moment it’s all about Kayla digesting the news and focusing on the recovery and making sure she gets that knee right,’’ Shaw said.
‘‘It’s not a time to be having that conversation with her. We’re just devastated we don’t get the opportunity to pick her to go to Tokyo. She’s going to be a huge loss, both on and off the field.’’
Shaw immediately sensed the worst when Whitelock collapsed to the turf five minutes into the game after contesting the ball.
The Black Sticks were naturally devastated for their talismanic midfielder, who would have joined Barbara Kendall and Dame Valerie Adams as the only Kiwi women to attend five Olympics if she’d gone to Tokyo.
‘‘Life can be quite cruel and high performance sport can be quite cruel at times.
‘‘You lose not only an outstanding person and outstanding hockey player, but you lose that wealth of experience. She knows what it’s all about [at the Olympics]. So to lose that experience and particularly in the backline it’s a massive loss to the team.’’
Reflecting on the transTasman series loss to Australia, the Black Sticks’ first internationals since March last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Shaw said it was invaluable to have games again.
The Black Sticks men and women have a further two tests against Australia in Perth over June 26-27 before the Olympics.
New Zealand were guilty of letting Australia back into games in the trans-Tasman series, blowing a 2-0 lead in the second match. In the third test, Australia netted with two minutes left to pull off a draw.
Being ruthless when they were ahead and closing out matches would be critical learning experiences.
‘‘When you take the lead you need to be very difficult to play against, you need to get even more compact in the defensive line and then just reduce the amount of opportunities you give away.
‘‘It’s about having that composure, that know how to see those games out.’’
The Black Sticks women had no shortage of scoring opportunities across the four matches, but were let down by their execution in the shooting circle. Their penalty corner success rate was also disappointing and an area which needed improvement.
‘‘The way we play the game and how fast we can play, we have a lot of speed in the team, we’re going to create opportunities and sometimes it’s the final pass or a bit of composure as we enter that final third of the field.’’
The Black Sticks, sixth in the world rankings, have been grouped with Argentina (2nd), Australia (3rd), Spain (seventh), China (10th) and hosts Japan (13th). The top four advance.
‘‘You lose not only an outstanding person and outstanding hockey player, but you lose that wealth of experience.’’ NZ coach Graham Shaw