Hockey: Coach sets sights on final spot

New Zealand hockey coach Shane McLeod is looking for a spot in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup final despite taking a developmental side to Malaysia.

New Zealand, containing a number of younger players being groomed to take the next step up in international hockey, take on Pakistan on Monday in their opening match of the five-team tournament at Ipoh, four hours north of Kuala Lumpur.

The other sides competing are hosts Malaysia, Egypt and India, who recently beat New Zealand 2-0 in a four-test series played in Wellington and Auckland.

"All of these teams here, we can compete well with. With our full side, we would be very disappointed if we did not win it - but there's a lot of unanswered questions surrounding some of the players that we have brought here," said McLeod from Ipoh.

"Our chances [of making the final] largely depend on the first game with Pakistan - we have only ever beaten them three times, and two of those were in the last 12 months - at last year's Olympics [for seventh placing] and last year's Azlan Shah Cup for third.

"If we can keep ahead of Pakistan, which is not easy because they are a talented side, then I think we will have set ourselves up for the tournament.

"Our ambition is to play the final but it will depend on how well some of our players perform.

"We would like to get back at India in regard to performances even though they got the better of us in New Zealand recently."

McLeod is missing a nucleus of experienced players such as skipper Ryan Archibald, Hayden Shaw, Phil Burrows, Simon Child, Brad Shaw and Shea McAleese.

But the side will be bolstered by the return of Olympians Kyle Pontifex, Blair Hopping, Dave Kosoof and Ben Collier who missed the test series against India.

Joel Baker, Stephen Graham, Isaac Staples, Joseph Bartholomew and Arun Panchia are making their first trip to Malaysia and McLeod said this was a good chance for them to gather experience.

"We want to bridge the gap between what we have in the senior side and the next group coming through," McLeod said.

"What we are really doing is setting a platform for 2010 [Commonwealth Games] and 2012 [Olympics] when there will be a requirement for quite a few of the players we are working with now to make that next step up.

"We are just trying to make that transition easier and educate them within this environment as to what they need to do to get to the next level.

"Unless you do that, it is very difficult to emulate that at the domestic level."

After Pakistan, New Zealand play Egypt on Wednesday, India on Thursday and Malaysia on Saturday. The final is scheduled for Sunday.

- NZPA