Hockey: Victorious coach eyes Olympics

By TERRY MADDAFORD

The importance of the penalty corner was again demonstrated at the Sultan Azlan Shah tournament.

The top scorers, Pakistani Sahal Abbas and New Zealand defender Hayden Shaw, are both drag flick experts who have made scoring at penalty corners an art form.

National coach Kevin Towns, while paying tribute to Shaw's part in the team's success (he scored nine goals), is also aware of the need to contemplate other options.

"Hayden was tremendous," Towns said yesterday. "Only Abbas, who scored 12, netted more than him, but we have to look at other players and variations.

"We have had Hayden working with David Kosoof, Casey Henwood and Lloyd Stephenson on their drag flick technique to give us other options."

Towns said the experimental rule they played under at the tournament suited the style his team (and the Australians) favour and led to more penalty corner and penalty stroke opportunities.

"Under the rule - it was used in Auckland club hockey last season - all teams must have at least three players outside their defensive 25-yard line at all times," Towns said.

"The European teams, who prefer to pack their defences, don't like it, but the general consensus was in favour of it.

"While Hayden Shaw was easily our top goalscorer I was pleased with the attacking way we played."

Towns said the tournament was a vital part in the build-up to a hoped-for spot at next year's Athens Olympics.

"We were a little rusty early on after coming off such a long break," Towns said.

"By the end, no-one played himself out of contention for the upcoming tests against Canada.

"There will be changes for those tests. Simon Towns and Gareth Brooks will not be coming back from Europe this time.

"That will allow Ryan Archibald to return. It might also give a player such as Peter Stafford another chance.

"By the time we play the fifth test against Canada, we will have a pretty good idea what our first-choice line-up looks like."

There are still concerns in the midfield and the roles played by the inside forwards.

"With Ryan staying back to concentrate on his studies, we had only Darren Smith and Mitesh Patel as specialists in those positions," Towns said.

"We have to continue that search, just as we need to look again at left-half, especially as we won't have Simon Towns to play at centre-half this time and need cover in both positions."

Towns stressed that while the Canadian series, the Champions Challenge in South Africa then the Oceania Olympic playoffs remained the priorities this year, he was also looking further ahead, expecting up to five players to quit at the end of the Olympic campaign next year.

"We will rename our national squad next month," Towns said. "Around the same time we will also name an Academy squad.

"These two squads will give us the players we need for the Olympics and beyond."