HOCKEY - Child wary of arrogance

John Child believes Maungakaramea can grab an elusive club double by winning both 2007 Premier Grade Northland Hockey titles this weekend - but overconfidence won't be a problem, he reckons.
"We're not going to take any of these teams easy just because we're on the top of the table because if we do, we'll just get beaten," he said.
Child should know. He is coach of the Maungakaramea premier women's team, who play Hikurangi-Parihaka for the Hodson Trophy, and this year he is also the player-coach of the men's team that play Springfield for the Chissell Cup.
It has been a successful couple of years for the club, with both Maungakaramea teams dominating the premier club competition. But with only one premier title to show for it - the men's team are defending their 2006 trophy at ITM Rosvall tomorrow - now would be a good time to cut loose and win both trophies.
Both teams go into their finals as favourites after clearly winning their respective round-robin competitions this season - but Child said that pushing on to win the final was another matter.
"We've dominated in the round robin but that doesn't mean anything now ... history shows that Springfield have had the upper hand on us in finals but the boys will have something to say about that," Child said.
Child said the team would play a simple game and try to shut down the Springfield playmakers like Dion Watts and Bevan Gibbes - to make sure they don't wreak havoc against Maungakaramea tomorrow, like they did in the 8-7 extra time semifinal win over Mangapai last week.
The women's team are in danger of gaining a reputation for choking in finals if they don't win this weekend.
They have lost the two preceding finals - to Hikurangi in 2005 and Whangarei Girls' High School last year - and in both years had won the round robin leg.
"We are top of the table again this year but we haven't probably played as well as we've liked to.
"We have some pretty good players and hopefully the team will pull out a biggy for the final," Child said.
The team will be trying to forget their two previous grand final losses and focus on the task at hand - beating Hikurangi - but Child acknowledges that they won't be an easy opposition.
"We're not going to take Hikurangi lightly - (coach) Vicky Gribble's been involved with too many finals for us to do that.
"She knows what she's doing and it will be a tough game.
"They've got a good mix of youth and experience and they're quite useful and we'll have to be on our toes to beat them," he said.
Gribble has a plan ready for Maungakaramea, like she did for the upset 4-2 win over the defending champions WGHS last week.
"I'm not telling you a thing about it, though, but I think it will be a very interesting and exciting game," she said.
A win over Maungakaramea is a big ask for the team that finished fourth in the round robin competition - but Hikurangi have a record of upsets in the final.
"The choice of who the favourite is, is always made by others and doesn't always take history into account," Gribble said confidently.
Springfield will no doubt agree with her on that count.
The men's reserve final at 3pm features Okaihau and Mangapai A, while the women's reserve final is between Hikurangi A and Old Girls A at 4.30pm.
The women's premier final starts at 6pm, followed at 7.30pm by the men's premier final.