Vantage Black Sticks Men’s Coach Darren Smith has named an experienced side for the opening match of the FIH Pro League against the World Number 3 ranked team from the Netherlands.
The team will be led by Captain Blair Tarrant who is going to be looking to get his team playing some attacking hockey as they look to start this ground-breaking league off on a positive foot.
The Netherlands have sent over a relatively unchanged side from the team that recently finished an agonising second place at the Odisha Men’s Hockey World Cup.
The Dutch team are relentless on attack and will be looking to maximise their opportunities in the match.
Shutting down Jeroen Hertzberger who has scored 57 times for the Netherlands will be essential as they look to nullify the Dutch attack.
Vantage Black Sticks Men’s Coach Darren Smith States “We are looking forward to challenging them from a tactical perspective and getting stuck into them on our home pitch. They are a quality side who nearly won the World Cup so we know it will be a massive challenge”.
Vantage Black Sticks Men vs Netherlands Men. Sunday 27th Jan at 4:30pm. Coverage is on TVNZ 2
Vantage Black Sticks Men’s team :
|
Name |
Position |
Caps |
|
George Enerson |
Goalkeeper |
43 |
|
Dom Dixon |
Goalkeeper |
2 |
|
Shea McAleese |
Defender |
277 |
|
Dane Lett |
Defender |
42 |
|
Blair Tarrant |
Defender |
193 |
|
David Brydon |
Defender |
42 |
|
Kane Russell |
Defender |
133 |
|
Arun Panchia |
Defender |
260 |
|
Nic Woods |
Midfielder |
97 |
|
Nick Ross |
Midfielder |
98 |
|
Aidan Sarikaya |
Midfielder |
27 |
|
Marcus Child |
Midfielder |
141 |
|
Mac Wilcox |
Midfielder/Striker |
19 |
|
Hugo Inglis |
Striker |
216 |
|
George Muir |
Striker |
114 |
|
Jared Panchia |
Striker |
105 |
|
Stephen Jenness |
Striker |
222 |
|
Dylan Thomas |
Striker |
7 |
