TARANAKI HOCKEY

Taranaki Daily News, 30 August 1935, Page 12

TARANAKI HOCKEY

STRONG TEAMS- FIELDED NO NEW ZEALAND PLAYER? CRITIQUE OF MEN’S TEAM

(By

“Sticks.”)

With two representative hockey teams on tour, and both successful, Taranaki may well take pride in itself as a spotting. provinpe. The thought brings up an old grievance, become even more prominent this year, about the respect accorded, or rather not accorded it, by other provinces and particularly by selectors and authorities in other parts of the country. Is the fact that Taranaki has had no New Zealand representative this year due entirely to the lack ofsufficiently good players here? Taranaki’s performance against the Indian’tqam and its successes on tour are surely not all chance. Was L. Page never up to New Zealand representative standard?—are there no women players in the province worth a trial in big hockey? ... ' The Auckland match to-morrow will be some sort of a test of Taranaki s worth, though Auckland is fielding only its B team, the A team being engaged elsewhere, The Taranaki-Wellington match on September 7 will be a truer test, as Taranaki will then be able to put its best team in the field. While the men’s touring team is a good allround combination, there were men not available who could have strengthened it. / ’ ■ ,« * * * The weakest part of the touring team seems to be th® -half lipe. It does indeed include three of. last year’s touring team, but among the whole five there is not a leader.' Big things’are expected of Hale, who should benefit a good deal by the tour, but he has not the confidence to lead. Morgan is young and hew to the ranks; the wisdom Simon’s selection is doubted by some. A. Johnson is a useful man, able to look after his own affajrs, but again not a leader. R. Duncan is the most experienced half in the team, V. Betts, who is playing forward, excepted. The inclusion of either L. Page or E. P. Allen would have done a great deal to strengthen the line; with either at centre halfr-and Allen, as a younger man, for preference—tire halves would have had a general who could guide them and control the work of the whole line. It was' unfortunate that neither Page nor Allen was available. # w ® # With the backs, little fault can be found. Payne has proved himself thoroughly reliable in goal; his performance in the Indian match earlier in the season made his a certainty. Ciarke and Ryan, the Hawera full-backs, have earned'their places repeatedly, and Purcell’s great work in the George and Doughty Gup match at Stratford recently 'brought him very prominently before the selectors’ notice. It is his first representative tour, and on his play aver the last two seasons it is thoroughly deserved. He has a wonderful eye, and will stand up 'to any amount of hard work. Fur cell should be useful on tour as an emergency goalkeeper.

The forwards are quite good without being brilliants They should work well together and it has been proved over and over again that a set of forwards including one dr two brilliant individualists will often be outclassed by a line cf reliable men working a® a unit. The loss of S. Betts’ dash in the circle is largely made up for by the inclusion of Blake (Hawera), a new mail to Taranaki hockey, who comes with a fine reputation for deadly stickwork in front of a goal. McGlashan, V. Betts and Windle are alb well known and reliable, and the veteran R. Irwin will keep the forwards “up to scratch.” He should make a really good captain, both in temperament and in leadership. The other forward, Young (Manaia), was a junior representative last year and the tour should set the seal on his success in senior ranks.

By the time the team returns on Monday it should have settled down to real team work, each player having an understanding of the play of his mates. It would'appear a pity, therefore, to alter it for further representative matches this season. A review of the material available and not used, however, would justify a few changes. The inclusion of S. Betts and Surgenor in the forwards would be an improvement, and Page could very well be brought in as centrehalf.

Even if no very decided improvement were made through the changes, it is only fair to those left at home that they should not be penalised for being unable to travel. The next match following the tour will be against Wellington at Hawera on September 7, and while the selectors have made no public announcement, it is ten to one that some of those not available for the tour will be chosen on that occasion.