Rowing: Changing of the guard?

The men's quadruple sculls crew could be passed off as the Dad's Army of Rowing New Zealand.

A couple of old diggers in Nathan Twaddle (33) and Matthew Trott (30) have combined with two younger soldiers of the home guard in Paul Gerritsen (25) and John Storey (22) for the world championships at Lake Karapiro starting on October 31.

While New Zealand's best talent is channelled into single, pair and double boats these days, there are growing hopes for the men's quadruple sculls.

In Twaddle, the crew has an incumbent Olympic bronze medallist and Trott has been a double sculls finalist at the last two world championships. Gerritsen is a 2006 world championship bronze medallist in the non-Olympic coxed four and Storey was part of the gold-medal-winning coxed four at last year's under-23 world championships.

What is making life difficult is that the quartet has been thrust into one of rowing's most competitive events.

Last year, less than three seconds separated first to fourth in the world championships final in Poland.

The quadruple sculls have also been a blind spot for New Zealand men's teams over the years. The last time the Kiwis entered was in 1985 in Belgium, when they finished last in the B final.

Twaddle is optimistic the current boom period in New Zealand rowing can initiate a change.

"We've got every boat class covered in sculling now," he says. "It has progressed to a point where there is good training competition on the water.

"We're not top of the pack but we're within cooey. We've got the speed to make November's final."

It has been a tough return for Twaddle, who took last year off after the Beijing Olympics.

He couldn't earn a place in the men's pair because incumbents Hamish Bond and Eric Murray are world champions. That meant making the transition from sweep oar rowing (one oar) to sculling (two oars).

"It's been tough, especially returning to the required level of fitness. I did OK at trials but my sculling is still pretty rough, even though I spent all summer practising it."

Twaddle has also been adjusting to life with son William, born last year.

"I want to maximise time at home with the young fella in the morning and give my wife Andrea a hand."

Staying involved has been made easier by the upcoming European campaign, which should see the majority of New Zealand crews away for just four weeks - it is usually around three months.

But Twaddle is aware retirement is looming, and he'll reassess his future at the end of the season.

"I've got to get a good result this year to justify keeping going," says Twaddle, affectionately known as Pops within the crew. "I don't want to be a journeyman making up the numbers."

Twaddle is now setting the rhythm of the boat as stroke, taking the duties from Storey. Trott says that move has enabled the crew to settle better.

"We were rusty to start before having a decent trial and knuckling down to six weeks of hard training. It was a case of all of us being experienced to some degree on the world stage but not in the quad. That also makes me feel more responsible. I'm the only one who has sculled at that level.

"The key is you've got to be more accurate on the stroke and on the catch [when the oar meets the water] so you've got your blade locked in. The boat's going so much faster [than smaller boats], so it's easy to accidentally miss a stroke."

Coach Mike Rodger is reprising the role of Captain Mainwaring in the operation. Rodger rowed the men's pair with Rob Hamill at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and the pair also owned a house together, which brings a full circle link back to this crew.

"When I first moved to Cambridge, Mike and Rob let me and three other 22-year-olds stay in their flat for free," says Twaddle. "It was in exchange for a minimal amount of work around the yard.

"They probably trusted us too much but the house is still standing. We resowed the lawn, put in a clothesline and built a deck. They did us a big favour, though. We were only living off parental love and odd jobs courtesy of the generous Cambridge community."

Twaddle and the crew now have the chance to offer full pay back, defending the home front at Lake Karapiro.