KEY POINTS:
Kevin Towns freely admits that naming 111-test veteran striker Niniwa Roberts is "a back-to-the-future approach".
But it's one he has no qualms with in selecting the national women's team for the Oceania Cup/Olympic qualifying tournament in Australia.
Before those September 11-16 games in Buderim on Australia's Sunshine Coast, the same 18 players will play four matches in Hong Kong.
The coach is determined to find an answer to the goal-scoring woes that beset his team in June's Champions Challenge tournament in Azerbaijan, where the Black Sticks scored only three goals (and conceded 13) in five pool matches.
They eventually got on the right side of the ledger in beating the hosts 4-3 in extra time in the 5th-6th play-off.
He emphasised he has not dropped any player to make way for Roberts, 31. He just left out a defender - Northlander Alana Millington - to allow for the extra (sixth) striker.
Roberts last played for the Black Sticks at the April 2006 World Cup qualifiers in Rome. She has had time away for the birth of her first child.
"In some ways it could be seen as taking a step back," said Towns. "But I need to compare [Roberts] with the young strikers in the squad. It will help us at penalty corners, gives us more on-field experience and give the younger players a helping hand.
"I'm still trying to get a blend. Niniwa will hopefully give us a better combination with the midfield.
"She and Krystal Forgesson will play centrally, although I may also look at giving Charlotte Harrison and Honor Dillon some time at centre-forward as well."
After missing the tests against Australia in the South Island this year and then the Champions Challenge, playmaking midfielder Kayla Sharland makes a welcome return from a knee injury.
The matches in Hong Kong, where they will play a warm-up against a local XI before games against Korea, China and India, will also be used as a testing ground before what Towns expects will be difficult conditions at next year's Beijing Olympics.
"The girls haven't played a lot in the heat and humidity," said Towns.
"We will be testing a new cocktail of drinks designed to assist in hydration." They would also experiment with ice jackets.
Towns said that although the team is expected to beat Papua New Guinea and Fiji at the qualifying tournament and therefore join Australia at the Olympics, he insists there must be a step up in performance as the New Zealand Olympic Committee could veto their Olympic entry if it felt the team did not warrant selection.
New Zealand
Charlotte Harrison (Northland), Kim Green, Lizzy Igasan, Jaimee Claxton (North Harbour) Krystal Forgesson, Kim Noakes, Frances Kreft (Auckland), Kate Mahon (Midlands), Emily Naylor, Caryn Paewai, Kayla Sharland, Anita Wawatai (Central), Beth Jurgeleit, Niniwa Roberts (Wellington), Honor Dillon, Jo Galletly, Meredith Orr, Kate Saunders (Canterbury).
Schedule
In Kowloon, Hong Kong. -
August 28: v Korea
August 29: v China
August 31: v India
In Buderim, Sunshine Coast, Australia. -
September 11-16: Oceania Cup (Olympic qualifiers), v Australia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji (round-robin - top two meet in final).
