KEY POINTS:
The 1-0 win over Australia in the first of the four tests was significant but Black Sticks coach Kevin Towns has his sights set on a far bigger picture.
The result was nice, Towns admitted from Oamaru yesterday, but there is still a lot of work to do, such as convincing the New Zealand Olympic Committee the team are genuine contenders for next year's Beijing Olympics.
"We are a little fortunate in that Oceania have two Olympic spots but that does not guarantee we will be endorsed by the NZOC," said Towns. "We must continue to get results like the one in Dunedin if we are to win their approval as they have the last say."
Tonight's second match in Oamaru will be a further test for the side and one in which the national side can expect a backlash from the world No 2.
"There is still a lot of work to do," said Towns who has swapped camps to coach the women after his long involvement with the national men's team. "I'm sure we will get better as the series goes on but so will the Australians."
In his time with the men, Towns placed a huge emphasis on the midfield using his inside forwards as part of the engine-room.
The women have played a different style and one which Towns says will take time to change.
"It was probably only in the last three or four minutes of the test in Dunedin that we really achieved what I was looking for. But that's a start. In that time we moved the ball around quite well and the Australians could not get it from us. Earlier we had turned the ball over a lot."
With Australia playing with just two strikers, class defender Lizzy Igasan was able to push further forward, often playing a dual centre-half role with either Meredith Orr or Emily Naylor.
Towns will make changes for tonight's game with Anita Wawatai swapping goalkeeping duties with Beth Jurgeleit. If fit, Kate Mahon will come into the 16-strong squad and be joined by Northlander Laura Douglas who also sat out the opener.
While Orr took the captain's armband for the first test, there will be a change tonight with Towns keen to use a leadership group which includes Igasan and Jurgeleit and, when she returns from injury, Kayla Sharland.
* New Zealand hopes for the men's Champion Challenge in Belgium, from June 23-July 1, were hit by news that in-form striker Phil Burrows has torn a hamstring while playing club hockey in Holland and could miss the qualifying tournament for next year's Champions Trophy.
