Hockey: I want to be in the team at Rio: Neal

Northland's Shay Neal hopes this year's NHL will be the springboard for a more permanent role in the men's Black Sticks.

The 22-year-old will be central to Northland's success in this year's competition. "My big goal for the next four years is to compete at Rio (Olympics 2016) and so I want to show the Black Sticks selectors at the NHL this year what I can do and try and become one of the regular members of the team," he said.

The young attacking midfielder already has 27 caps for his country and was unlucky to miss out on Olympic selection after participating in the final build-up to the tournament.

He thought that there would be a number of retirements after the London tournament but now is not so sure. "Obviously the men's team were a little disappointing, finishing ninth, so I'm not sure how many of the current team are ready to throw in the towel, but I have the feeling that some of them may want to leave on a higher note," he said.

Dean Couzins, Blair Hopping, Ryan Archibald and Phil Burrows have all collected more than 250 caps and are expected to end their international careers soon while Kyle Pontifex is another senior player who has indicated his international career is nearing its end.

The Champions Trophy at the end of the year may entice some of them to stick around a little longer than they had planned, throwing Neal's immediate international future into doubt.

Neal will throw himself into the Northland campaign starting on Saturday with a match against Auckland. "The good thing about playing for Northland for me is that we're often called on to do a bit of defence and that's a part of my game that I need to work on but we're a team that can't be underestimated - look at last year when we beat Canterbury," he said.

The team knocked over a Black Sticks-laden Canterbury side 1-0 in their best result for years and are hoping for something like that again.

"If we can get a good start against anyone then our heads go up and we become a hard team to get past," Neal said.

He is encouraged by some of the young Northland players coming through the ranks and believes they also have a lot to prove at the tournament.

"I was impressed by Strachan McLeod at the Rotorua warm-up tournament. He's pretty young but he has the skills and also has the size to mix it with the older players ... Keeley Johnson is the other one who will be looking to catch the eye of selectors at the tournament," he said.

Neal hopes they will help address the gender imbalance of Northlanders in the respective men's and women's national teams in the years to come but said the women's Black Sticks success could only be good for the game here.

"With the women's team doing well, I think there's going to be more hockey players lining up to play next year at the junior level and, of course, that's good for the game ... and for our representation at a national level," he said.

"The trick is getting players young - like all the girls who went to the Olympics and I started playing when we were really young and that's pretty important."

Northland Hockey CEO Grant McLeod said it was vital for players such as Neal to play for the provincial team.

"It is great for the local game because they are role models but also because they raise the standard of competition, so we need more players like Shay," McLeod said.

"Obviously we can't keep everyone forever because there's no university here but we have to keep on trying to get them back and make sure the door's left open."

McLeod, like Neal, hopes the Black Stick's women's Olympic success will translate to extra young players on the turf come the start of next season and hopes that is enough to keep Northland competing at the senior level.

The men's squad has been strengthened by a number of guest players, with Aussie Tom Ryan with the squad and Pakistani Muhammed Tofeeq hoping to join before the tournament week starts on August 25 at Lloyd Elsmere Stadium in Auckland.

Northland Men: James Bailey, Nick Binks (GP), Chad Cahalane, Lloyd Gurr, Keeley Johnson, Tom Keogh, Alister Langridge, Strachan McLeod, Shay Neal, Steve Nink, Peter Prema (GP), Adam Rafferty, Vinesh Sima (GP), Tom Ryan (IGP), Muhammed Tofeeq (IGP), Dion Watts, Sam Webb.