Hockey: New competition will raise player skills

Auckland and North Harbour club hockey has been given a timely boost with the introduction, after years of planning, of an inter-city competition.

The new-look championship catering for premier men and women's teams hits off this weekend with a double-header.

Seen as a key step towards improving the standard on both sides of the city, the competition has, sadly, been hit by the late withdrawal of a couple of teams but will still showcase a number of current and former internationals.

"The inter-city will provide some much-needed variation to the traditional single-association competitions," said North Harbour chief executive Darrell Simpson.

"Being played when it is, it will assist teams to hone their skills for their own championships which follow."

For the players heading to the Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia, the competition - to be played on a round-robin basis over three weekends and culminating in finals on April 4 - will give them some useful match practice.

Teams have been graded according to their positions at the end of last season with separate premier one and two grades accommodating 26 teams.

Given the earlier-than-usual start for the National Hockey League in September, the new competition has been scheduled as a lead-in to the association's respective club championships. In future, it is planned to play the inter-city mid-season.

There will be some interest in Blair Hopping's return after making himself unavailable for almost all hockey after last year's Beijing Olympics.

He will play for North Harbour Indians before heading to Malaysia. Also in the Indians side are Jan Peterson, although he is expected to miss some early season play through injury, and another Black Stick, Andy Hayward, who has moved north from Canterbury.

Isaac Staples, another who has relocated from Christchurch, has joined the strong Takapuna side, which also boasts internationals Steve Edwards and Bryce Collins, along with North Harbour representatives Simon Brill and Joseph Bartholomew.

East Coast Bays have internationals Shaun Barnett, Dave Green and Shay Neal in their ranks, while Richard Petherick and Trinidad and Tobago captain Kwan Browne, who played for Harbour in last season's NHL, will join North Shore United after the inter-city.

There will also be a sprinkling of women internationals on show as well, with the two associations, among the strongest in the country, seizing the chance of better-than-usual, pre-season competition.

The new-look championship promises plenty. It is now up to the clubs and their players to deliver with the women having the chance to impress new Black Sticks coach Mark Hager ahead of upcoming trials.