22 Nov 2012

Hager rings the changes in women's Black Sticks

12:55 pm on 22 November 2012

Sam Harrison's been left out of the new-look New Zealand women's hockey squad for 2013, which features eight new players.

The Black Sticks coach Mark Hager says he feels Harrison had a poor Olympic Games and needs a rest.

Harrison has accepted a role in the national development squad in an attempt to fight her way back.

The Black Sticks finished fourth in London but are now up to third in the world rankings.

Five of the eight new faces in the 25-player squad are from Canterbury and all were in the team that won this year's National Hockey League title.

The new players are Michaela Curtis, Sian Fremaux, Pippa Hayward, Rose Keddell, Olivia Merry, Aniwaka Roberts, Jenny Storey and Cassandra Reid - a Year 13 student at Timaru's Craighead Diocesan.

All the debutants are likely to get a run during next month's six-test series against India.

Eleven of the sixteen players who represented New Zealand at this year's Olympics, including Gemma Flynn, Katie Glynn, Stacey Michelsen and Anita Punt, have all been renamed in the squad. The other five have made themselves unavailable for 2013.

With Kayla Sharland, Krystal Forgesson, Bianca Russell and Emily Naylor on extended leave till early 2013, the upcoming home test series will allow Hager to rotate the new players.

The team comes together on December the 3rd in Hawke's Bay for a week's training camp before they play their first test in Napier.

The first two games are in Napier then at Palmerston North and Wellington.