Hockey: Depth 'best it's ever been' for women

Northland's Stacey Michelsen is in the Black Sticks' mix for the FIH World League Final in Rosario, Argentina. Photo / John Stone

Black Sticks head coach Mark Hager has included three Northlanders in his side to contest the FIH World League Final tournament in Rosario, Argentina next month, and believes the depth of players to select from is the best it has ever been.

Northland's Stacey Michelsen, Brooke Neal and Ella Gunson are all in the squad for the South American trip, and will face Korea, Netherlands and then Germany in pool play.

Gemma Flynn, Emily Naylor and Georgia Barnett will also join the Black Sticks line-up.

Flynn brings speed up front and the ability to score goals, while New Zealand's most capped player Emily Naylor brings a hard-nosed approach to the defensive line.

Goalkeeper Georgia Barnett has also received the call-up and will be looking to stamp her mark ahead of Rio Olympic selection at the end of this year.

"We are very pleased with the team named, you only have to look at those unlucky players that have missed out to get a sense of the depth and high calibre of players in our wider group," said Hager.

With the Olympics only nine months away, the national selectors will use both the World League and intra-squad games as a chance to determine which 25 players will be announced in the 2016 Olympic Squad being named at the end of this year.

"There is real competition between players - not just in our National Squad, but across the Development Squad also. The results from our Junior and Future Black Sticks Programme which started back in 2011 is starting to show," Hager added.