Emphasis on penalty corners as national league takes off

Wellington men's hockey coach Sean Dancer is stressing the importance of penalty corners heading into the national league, which starts this weekend.

The Australian is in his second year in charge of Wellington and is fairly clear about what it takes to win the league this year which is minus the top players who are gearing up for the Commonwealth Games.

"You need to convert 66 per cent of your PCs [penalty corners] to be successful in this tournament and when you are defending PCs you want to be stopping 33 per cent," Dancer said.

"If you do both of those, you are looking good."

Wellington open their campaign with a double-header in Dunedin. They play Canterbury on Saturday and Central on Sunday.

Last year they had a penalty corner gun in Matt L'Hullier, but he is overseas and Wellington will vary between Matt Young, Jamie Coombes and Iain McPeake.

"I'm happy with my drag flickers," Dancer said.

"With Matt overseas it is on the shoulders of the young but they can do well."

It goes without saying that Wellington have struck Canterbury at a good time. The red and blacks have had their lives turned upside down by the earthquake and their training venue at Porritt Park is out of commission. Dancer sympathises with their plight but remains wary.

"It can go one of two ways. It can upset preparation or they can turn it around and use it in their favour and take strength from the adversity.

" I want six points [two wins] from this weekend."

Wellington's pre-season form has been satisfactory. They cleaned up Central 4-0 then went to the annual warmup tournament in Taupo at the end of last month in which they beat Auckland 2-1, knocked off Midland 3-2 but were soundly beaten (4-0) by North Harbour.

Dancer has concentrated on fine-tuning their attack and feels progress has been made.

He expects fringe Black Sticks midfielder Joel Baker to make a big impression in the league and is leaning on the experienced pair of Grant Down, who has struggled with a rib injury, and Scott Falconer to provide leadership in such an inexperienced unit.

Wellington finished second last year and last won the league title in 2006.

"Midlands, North Harbour and Canterbury look the ones to beat," Dancer said.

At A Glance

Wellington team: Grant Down (co-captain), Scott Falconer (co-captain), Joel Baker, Scott Barnett, Lewis Brill, Jamie Coombes, Bart de Vries, Tim Gyles, Sunil Hira, Andy Howse, Dane Lett, Iain McPeake, Pretesh Parsotam, Alex Schroder, Alex Shaw, Jacob Smith, Jesse Workman, Matt Young.

Coach: Sean Dancer.

Wellington's draw: Sept 11 v Canterbury, Dunedin, 3pm; Sept 12 v Central, Dunedin, noon; Sept 18 v Auckland, North Harbour 1.30pm; Sept 19 v Southern, North Harbour, 11am; Sept 20 v Midlands, North Harbour, 11.30pm; Sept 22 v Northland, North Harbour, 2pm; Sept 23 v North Harbour, North Harbour, 6pm; Sept 25, semifinal, North Harbour; Sept 26, final, North Harbour

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