Grant McLeod is relishing his role as the new Northland women's hockey coach and has a devil-may-care attitude toward a series of setbacks that has left him with just five of the 18 players from Northland's 2008 NHL season.
McLeod, the CEO of Northland hockey, took the job midway through July
after the association had failed to secure a coach and found himself immediately on the backfoot regarding personnel.
When the call finally went out for interested players, he realised after the first team meeting that Northland would euphemistically be forced into a season of "rebuilding".
"There's been a significant loss of players and I think you'd have to term that politically as a rebuilding phase," he said.
"I'm certainly not going to sit and worry about the players who have moved away or that aren't playing this year. I have no control over that and all I can do is work with what I've got."
The squad is likely to include several of the younger players coming up through the representative age-group ranks and McLeod also plans to recruit Auckland-based guest players to strengthen the side, once the provinces name their squads.
"I'm reasonably happy with the players I've been talking to and we could well use up the full quota of six players," McLeod said.
Nikki Attwood, Keri Linklater, Kelsey Dunn have all moved away to North Harbour, while Charlotte Harrison, Jan and Rhonda Rowsell are cleared to play in Europe. Aussie Shannon Worth and Aucklander Nikki Dorrington are two more missing, while Nicola Howes has been named in the North Harbour side.
Natalie Child and Tania Crene aren't available from last year, while talented striker Anna Thorpe is still sidelined with an illness.
The new-look squad was to have played its first trial match against North Harbour last weekend, but the storm put paid to that. They have another chance this weekend when Auckland visit. The women's game starts at noon, followed by the men's provincial side playing their Auckland counterparts at 1.30pm.
