Hockey: Dropping veteran hardest decision says coach

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Long-serving midfielder Hymie Gill has been dropped from the New Zealand men's team for this year's Manchester Commonwealth Games.

Coach Kevin Towns said it was the hardest decision he had had to make since returning as coach of the national side.

Towns defended the decision to drop Gill, a veteran of 79 internationals, by saying it was about "team composition and being restricted to selecting just 16 players".

For most international tournaments in the past couple of years, New Zealand have selected 18 players.

"Obviously Hymie is pretty disappointed but when I get the chance to meet him on Friday I hope we can talk things through," said Towns, who yesterday named his 16 players after four days of trials at Rosedale Park. "In the end it came down to a decision between Hymie and Wayne McIndoe at right half.

"We looked at our options and took into account the cover we need especially as we want to give every player at least 15 minutes rest during each [70-minute] game. In the past when Simon [Towns' son and team captain] is off, we have dropped [inside forward] Ryan Archibald back to centre-half.

"This means we have lost one of our best players from his best position for 30 minutes - the 15 he is used at centre-half and his own 15 minutes of rest."

Towns has named Canterbury forward Gareth Brooks as the team's video operator and will give him some game time in the warm-up matches but retains the right to call in other players if needed before the Games.

"We will have players on standby," said Towns.

Of the players who were in Kuala Lumpur for the World Cup in February, Gill, Alpesh Puna and Ken Robinson, who returned from England for the trials, have missed out.

It is very much a steady-as-she-goes selection with no newcomers, despite some encouraging efforts at the trials.

Of the 16 selected, only up and coming defender and penalty corner drag flick specialist Hayden Shaw and Stafford have played less than 20 internationals.

Towns said time was still on Lloyd Stephenson's side as he chased a recall after playing the Australian series and North Harbour centre-forward Andrew Kay impressed sufficiently to have Towns admitting he will receive "a big commendation" for his efforts and be encouraged to "hang in there" after showing he has a "good hockey brain".

"It was very difficult to pick the last striker. Umesh Parag did not play a lot because of a hamstring problem. Bevan Hari was a bit quiet but he can provide midfield cover. Phil Burrows had a fantastic trial and was an automatic choice."

Goalkeepers Paul Woolford and Michael Bevin have shared that duty in recent internationals but this time Woolford will head away as the No 1 with Bevin, who just shaded Wellington's Kyle Pontifex, likely to get game time in warm-up games after what he admitted was only an average trial.

The team reassemble on July 3 and leave the following day for Europe for matches against the German under-21 side on July 9 and 10, tests against Belgium on July 15 and 16, games against the Dutch under-21 in Holland on July 20 and 21 and a test against England on July 24 at the Commonwealth Games venue.