Breakers set for Sydney rematch
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). Two games into the new NBL season and Tom Abercrombie believes the Breakers have found their groove.
If there was a moment the 2017/18 came alive for the team, it was with 3.1 seconds to go against Sydney last Friday.
The score 85-85 when import DJ Newbill’s layup snatched the win and launched scenes of hysteria inside Spark Arena.
It was the moment where this Breakers team showed what they’re about and it was also something that could galvanise the squad for the season ahead.
‘‘It’s always good to get your first win, especially to take care of home court,’’ Abercrombie said.
‘‘We had a disappointing first game against Cairns (losing 82-71) and to get that monkey off our back and get that first win means we’ll hopefully play with more confidence and we feel like we’ve got our rhythm now.’’
The schedule has the Breakers playing Sydney again at the same venue tonight.
But while it’s two games in a row against the same side for the Breakers, Sydney squeezed in a game against Illawarra on Sunday, winning 103-87.
However, that victory came at a cost as they lost the league’s twotime MVP Kevin Lisch for a month, picking up a calf injury.
‘‘There are a few little quirks in the draw where these things happen this year,’’ Abercrombie said.
‘‘But you’ve got to play everyone four times and playing them so close in succession, the little tactical changes and those little things make a big difference.’’
This is Abercrombie’s 10th year at the Breakers, so he’s been there for all four of their championship seasons and also the down times too.
So how does he rate the current Breakers outfit?
‘‘I’m very confident in the group and what we’re about,’’ he said.
‘‘The new American guys who’ve come in have really bought into everything.
‘‘The whole group is having fun out there and we need to make sure we translate that to the results on the court and make sure we’re playing with a lot of intensity on the court.
‘‘We’re starting to find that, it’s still a work in progress and we’re two games into the season and we’ll get better, but I like what I’ve seen so far.’’