Rowing:Tayler-made for Kiwi hero

Emma Twigg. Photo / Getty Images

In New Zealand it could be known as the verb "to Tayler" - when a local athlete is spurred on by a home crowd to a sporting performance exceeding expectations, like Dick Tayler's 10,000 metres gold medal on the opening day of the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games.

So which Kiwi rowers are capable of Tayler-ing their way to glory at next year's world championships?

When New Zealand first hosted the world championships in 1978, they won just a solitary bronze medal in the men's eight. The public expectation on the team is going to be larger this time, and rightly so, given the unprecedented success of the last five years. The four gold medals and a bronze this year in Poland placed New Zealand second to only Germany on the medal table.

Amongst the top nations, elements such as physique, nutrition, boat technology and training facilities are relatively even. So what continues to differentiate New Zealand?

There seems to be one clear answer - Dick Tonks and his coaching team. The enigmatic Tonks' intellectual property, which has been built over decades, is something the rest of the rowing world can only dream of securing as a resource. His value in the next 12 months is intangible.

Success will be demanded of the incumbent medallists. That's single sculler Mahe Drysdale, lightweight single Duncan Grant, lightweight double Peter Taylor and Storm Uru, men's pair Eric Mur- ray and Hamish Bond and women's pair Rebecca Scown and Emma Feathery. Here are five less-recognised athletes or crews to watch out for on the dais.

1) Women's single sculls(Emma Twigg)
The 2007 under-23 world champion has threatened in the boat for three seasons, finishing fourth this year. She'll be 23 by next October and looking to prove herself in an ageing field.

2) Men's coxless four
Nathan Twaddle, the best of the current men's under-23 world champions, and possibly James Dallinger. New dad Twaddle could anchor this crew with valuable rowing and life experience now his arm injury is right.

The men's under-23 crew is deemed to have what it takes, judging by their promotion to the 2009 senior world championships. Dallinger's had a year off but is an ex-world champion in the discipline at age 25, although he's been trialling a Kiwi quad combination in Canada recently.

3) Men's double sculls(Nathan Cohen and Matthew Trott)
Despite Trott being replaced by Rob Waddell at the Olympics - he came back to get fourth with Cohen this year - they missed the silver medal by just over a second.

4) Women's double sculls(Juliette Haigh and Anna Reymer or Paula Twining)

Haigh will return from her OE where she practised sculling. She's won gold and silver at world championships in the women's pair, but rising bronze medallists Scown and Feathery are unlikely to be split. Up-and-comer Reymer or veteran Twining could provide a partner after their B final win in Poland.

5) Women's quadruple sculls (Genevieve Armstrong, Louise Trappitt, Sarah Barnes and Harriet Austin)
Have shown promise with two bronze medals in world cups this year, but failed to make the final at the world championships.