Hockeyroos's Coach, Adam Commens, terms Black Sticks Women as favourites
Adam Commens, Chief Coach of the Australian Women’s hockey team (Hockeyroos), termed the neighbouring Black Sticks Women as favourites for winning the Oceania Cup. Commens has based his opinions on the recent form of the latter and the results of the head-to-head
clashes between the two, considering Hockeyroos as the default favourites in light of history.
The two teams have already secured their places in the 2012 London Olympics after Fiji withdrew from the Oceania Cup which also serves as the qualifying tournament for the Olympics.
It is vital to mention here that the first game between Hockeyroos and Black Sticks Women concluded in a 3-3 draw.
Commens declared it as a positive sign for the Australians. However, Hockeyroos will play three more games with Black Sticks during the tournament.
The Kiwi team is sitting at number 6 in the world ranking while Hockeyroos are placed at the 7th position.
While speaking to the media, Commens stated, “You don't like to be below the Kiwis in any sport, and certainly it's some sort of motivation, but we need to focus on the processes we put in place. We're ranked below them, so we probably have to be the underdogs.
But we're definitely confident of getting the victory over them. We've done enough work to ensure that we can”.
He added that the Black Sticks had won the last two editions of the Oceania Cup and therefore will contest the event as favourites.
It is noteworthy here that the coach promoted four youngsters into the squad, ageing around 20 years. He was further contemplating to induct a few more fresh faces ahead of the London Games.
He added that he was not in a position to tell how many players would improve their games ahead of the Olympics. However, few youngsters were observed making impressive improvements in their games.
Meanwhile, Richard (Ric) Charlesworth, coach of the Australian men’s hockey team, while speaking in the camp stated that he was not going to make any promises regarding names of the players for the upcoming mega tournaments including the Champions Trophy
and Olympic Games.
“There's a lot of competition for spots, so a good performance is going to be a key factor when we name the Olympic squad at the end of the year,” he maintained.
Charlesworth said that Australia will display its true worth in 28 games in the Olympic Games. It is hard to predict the results right now as no one can be really sure about their victory.
However, the important things for the Australians to perform well during the upcoming events are commitment with the game and persistence in improvement.
In the last match, Black Sticks Men clobbered Australia by 3-0 in the maiden appearance of the Oceania Cup.
The outcome of the match was quite shocking for Ric Charlesworth as he was not expecting a whitewash defeat. Hence, according to Commens and as per the trends, the Black Sticks Women are most certainly the favourites for the upcoming Oceania Cup.
Tags: