Hockey: Still plenty of work for Hager

Black Sticks coach Mark Hager. Photo / APN

A fifth-place finish at the Champions Trophy was enough to move the Black Sticks women up two places on FIH rankings to seventh - but coach Mark Hager is not getting carried away and has his sights set elsewhere.

"Overall I was a bit disappointed," said Hager. "Not so much with where we finished but with the number of goals we conceded. We did compete at times but not consistently enough.

"Playing in a tournament like this against five of the world's best six nations is an eye-opener. We got exposed at times as teams found our weaknesses. On a positive note, we learned plenty from the experience.

"If we had gone straight to the World Cup without playing in Nottingham we would have been shell-shocked," said Hager. "It was an invaluable exercise."

While they had only limited opportunities from set play, the Black Sticks' deficiencies were exposed both on attack and defence.

"We were punished quite badly in failing to defend free-hits played into our defensive circle. And, we were pushed off the ball too easily. One real positive for me was the way no matter what the score was we never gave up.

"Apart from Argentina, who gave us a real hockey lesson, we competed quite well at times in our other games. I am glad they are in the other pool at the World Cup."

The World Cup in Rosario, Argentina, from late next month is the next big challenge.

"We know we have the capabilities to compete but we are in a tough pool. Finishing in the top two - which we need to do to make the semifinals - is a hard ask but we are closer to achieving that than we were 12 months ago."

Hager is slowly rebuilding his team and accepts they will continue to be well down on the vast experience his rivals can claim.

"We will have only a couple of players with more than 100 caps," he said. "Compare that to teams like the Dutch who have a couple over 250 and Argentina with one over 350 and you get a fair idea of where we are at."

Hager will welcome Kayla Sharland back for the World Cup but otherwise is giving little away as he works on his selection.

"I am still looking at the options, and not only for the World Cup, as we have to trim that 18-strong squad to 16 for the Commonwealth Games. Given the number of players we have used, it is a bit of a headache, but probably a good one at this stage."

Hager set out with three major goals this year. He has already ticked one off and achieved the top five aim he had set his players. Next up he is looking for a top-eight World Cup finish and a medal at October's Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

He will name his World Cup team on Wednesday - 18 players and a six-strong train-on squad - and the Commonwealth Games team on August 8.