Hockey: All eyes look to Athens

By TERRY MADDAFORD

New Zealand men's coach Kevin Towns has been forced into a juggling act as he contemplates a busy international schedule over the next year or so.

In Ipoh, Malaysia, for the Sultan Azlan Shah five-team tournament which starts with New Zealand's game against Pakistan late tomorrow night, Towns is in a dilemma.

He has to find a balance between getting results and his on-going search for a team for next year's Athens Olympics.

"Really, we have only this tournament and the five-match test series against Canada in April-May to introduce any new players," said Towns. "After that the stakes are extremely high and we have to go with what we feel are our best players."

Towns is also aware that the Olympic campaign, which may or may not involve playing in Athens, will be the end of the road for some of his more experienced players, including his son and team captain Simon.

"We have already started the search for replacements but there are few opportunities in the forthcoming months to give any new players much of an opportunity."

Midfielder Casey Henwood is the only newcomer in the team in Malaysia.

And Canterbury striker Gareth Brooks (playing club hockey in Holland), North Harbour inside-forward Lloyd Stephenson and Wellington goalkeeper Kyle Pontifex have each played less than 10 internationals.

At the other end of the scale, Towns, Umesh Parag, Darren Smith, Dion Gosling and Bevan Hari have all topped the 100.

"We could bring in some new players for the Canadian series," said Towns.

"After that we have the Champions Challenge in South Africa in July and then the vital Oceania Olympic qualifiers (three tests) against Australia in September followed by four tests against Great Britain.

"We will name the team to play the five tests against Canada as soon as we get back from Malaysia."

New Zealand are up against it in Malaysia.

Ranked eighth in the world, they face the top-ranked Germans, South Korea (ranked fourth in the world), Pakistan (sixth) and Malaysia (seventh). India, who have withdrawn, would have been the only team ranked lower than New Zealand at ninth.

"I have the feeling that apart from Germany, most teams will have had little hockey leading into this tournament.

"But I know the Koreans have spent four weeks in Australia."

Given the variety of styles the other teams will bring to the matches, Towns said there was a real need to approach each game individually.

"Malaysia is a difficult place to experiment too much. The heat does have a bearing and means all 16 players will play in every match.

"We have a pretty established pattern but it was interesting that at practice this week the players requested we have a look at making a couple of subtle changes especially with a view to the matches against Australia.

"We have taken that on board and may well look at trying something a little different. It has a lot to do with how you defend.

"We would like to involve our wing halves more to use them as a way of creating more attacking chances. We have stuck with a 2-3-5 formation for a long time now. It would need a change right back at the bottom to alter things dramatically We don't have that time."

It was a difficult journey for Towns and his players to reach Ipoh. With no connecting flight from Kuala Lumpur, they had a two-and-a-half bus trip before arriving in Ipoh at 2am on Wednesday.

Their first match against Pakistan will be difficult but Towns is not expecting anything but five hard games in a testing five-day schedule.

"And that's what hockey at this level is all about."