Beefed-up Dalefield all set

JOINING THE RANKS: Joseph Robertson is one of many high calibre recruits for 2015.PHOTO/FILE

They might only be pre-season fixtures but there will be a special buzz around the hockey fraternity when the Dalefield senior men's squad plays two games at Clareville on Saturday.

Fronting up to fellow Capital premier division aspirant Northern United at 11am and then College Old Boys from Palmerston North at 3pm will be a line-up far removed from that which had to win a promotion-relegation fixture at the end of last season to retain their spot in the premier division grade.

The number and calibre of recruits to Dalefield this season makes remarkable reading.

Black Stick Dane Lett heads the list which also includes Junior Black Sticks Trent Lett, Benedict van Woerkom, and Nick Finlayson, national under-18 representatives Joseph Robertson and Hamish Finlayson and New Zealand Presidents XI player Daniel van Woerkom.

Then there is Rowan Yeo, a former Dalefield captain who has returned from a stint across the Tasman, Capital under-21 rep Alex Sumenko-Bucknell and a couple of well-credentialled goalkeepers, Floris Meijenke, who was played at first division level in his homeland of Holland, and Fletcher Phillips, a Capital age group last season.

The bulk of these players had their early hockey education in Wairarapa and played for the province at representative level before taking up residence on the other side of the Rimutakas and joining clubs there. They are now returning to the Dalefield fold in an effort aimed at making them truly competitive in the premier division competition, and lifting the profile of Wairarapa hockey at the same time.

And helping them do just that will be several talented "local" players such as Bradley Annear, Phil Arkell, Chris Mason, Chris Horwell, Tane Workman, Cody Linton and Aaron Oakley and four promising college pupils Gus Wakeling, Morgan Taylor, Zac Caldwell and Dylan Price.

Saturday's pre-season matches will see the full Dalefield squad come together for the first time since a trial was staged about three weeks ago. Since then, they have been training in two pods; one at the Trust House complex at Clareville and the other at the National Hockey Stadium in Wellington.

Fitness training at the Wairarapa end has been carried out under the watchful eyes of managers Bernard Lett and Dave Finlayson while the Wellington-based players have been driving their own fitness programmes.

Regular combined full squad trainings have been part of the planning process and these will be held either at Clareville or on the Maidstone turf in Upper Hutt with coach Willie Schaefer calling the shots.

Making the home game experience more enjoyable for Dalefield fans is also on the agenda. This will include the provision of a match-day programme, music and a mystery prize draw, while a guest selector will be asked to nominate their "player of the day".