Hockey: Towns back as national coach

By TERRY MADDAFORD



Kevin Towns is back in his old job as coach of the New Zealand men's team and will remain through to the end of the 2008 Olympic campaign.

Intending to step down after the Athens Olympics and concentrate on his role as the New Zealand Hockey Federation's high-performance manager, Towns had a rethink, put his name in the hat and yesterday was reappointed to the role - heading off six applicants, including four from overseas.

He will also keep his part-time high-performance role until a replacement is found, probably before the end of the year.

Towns' first task will be to select the 18-man team to go to December's Champions Trophy in Pakistan and an enlarged academy squad. That will be announced after this weekend's Lion Foundation NHL semifinals and final. Towns, who was coach of the team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics but later stepped aside, has steered the side from 16th in the world, when he took over again in 2000, to ninth.

He was at the helm when they won silver at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and bronze at the 2003 Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia.

The sixth placing in Athens was the best by a New Zealand men's team since their 1976 gold medal win over Australia.

"I felt that we had made significant progress as a team," Towns said. "I felt I had more to offer going through to Beijing."

With long-time assistant Charlie Oscroft stepping down, Canterbury NHL coach Andrew Hastie will be Towns' assistant at the Champions Trophy.

"We are planning a new approach to the assistant's role," Towns said. "We need our NHL and regional coaches to understand there is a pathway."

After New Zealand Cricket's trial, whereby provincial coaches spent time as John Bracewell's assistant with the national team, hockey is looking at something similar.

"It makes sense to have a look at as many coaches as possible," Towns said. "There are two roles within the set-up. As well as the assistant coach we also have a video analyst. I would expect the assistant coach for the 2006 World Cup would be in place by the time of the Commonwealth Games [also in 2006] with a view of going through to the next Olympics."

Towns said he had spoken to four of his senior players since news of the latest bomb blast in Lahore.

"No player has come back to me to say they wouldn't be going," Towns said. "We are continuing to monitor the situation and will do so over the next few weeks."

Of more immediate interest are tonight's final round-robin NHL matches - especially the battle for the top four in the women's contest.

Canterbury take a one-point lead into their game against Midlands in Hamilton.

Victory would assure Canterbury top seeding.

North Harbour, who meet lowly-placed Southern at Rosedale Park, should also confirm their top-four finish.

In the key game, at Lloyd Elsmore Park, Auckland (second) meet Wellington (fourth).

Victory for Auckland could end Wellington's hopes of defending their title as fifth-placed Central (a point behind Wellington) should be too strong for Northland in the early game at Lloyd Elsmore Park.

The top four in the men's race have been decided. The finishing order will be sorted out tonight.

Auckland, Canterbury and defending champions Wellington have 15 points. North Harbour, three points back but with a seemingly easier task against Southern tonight, could move up a place depending on the Auckland-Wellington result.

Canterbury, stung by last Sunday's 7-1 hammering by North Harbour, could get their season back on track against Midlands.

The semifinals will be played on Saturday and the finals on Sunday - all at Lloyd Elsmore Park.

Tonight's games

(At Lloyd Elsmore Park unless stated)

Women Central v Northland 5pm; Canterbury v Midlands, Hamilton, 5pm; North Harbour v Southern, Rosedale Park, 6pm; Auckland v Wellington 7pm.

Men Auckland v Wellington 5pm; Central v Northland 7pm; Midlands v Canterbury, Hamilton, 7pm; North Harbour v Southern, Rosedale Park, 8pm.