Mark Hager has had quite a stop-start beginning to his tenure as England and Great Britain Head Coach. He picked up a team that had recently seen a spate of retirements and was in the very early rebuilding stages. His youthful squad had started to gain momentum, qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and then competing fiercely in the FIH Hockey Pro League, including two highly competitive matches against Australia and New Zealand.
Then the Covid-19 pandemic put a halt to all hockey training and matches, bringing a pause to the momentum Great Britain were building up with Hager.
During the Covid lockdown, Great Britain and England appointed Katie Glynn as assistant coach to Hager. The former New Zealand forward has had a short few months to get to know her new squad but Hager is hoping that she will add another layer of attacking nous to his team.
As a return to action, you couldn’t ask for a sterner test than an away visit to the Netherlands in their iconic Wagener Stadium, but it is a challenge the New Zealander is relishing.
Your squad had started to build momentum when the enforced break happened. How are you ensuring you return to international action at that pace and intensity?
Mark Hager: Over the past five or six weeks we have really upped the ante in training. We have started to have more matchplay. We have played against boys, to try to increase the tempo and get back to where we were when we finished. But now is the starting point. Just to be able to play international games is the exciting part.
It is early days but what impact has Katie Glynn's appointment had on the squad, particularly the forwards?
Mark Hager: Katie has had a really good influence. She has been well-welcomed by the squad. She has come up with some different ideas that are about leading in the circle and creating more space and how they can work on their goal-shooting and looking for far post and guard positions. That has been a real benefit for the group and something that Katie is working very, very hard on.
What are you expecting in terms of style of play from the Netherlands and how will you counter their strengths?
Mark Hager: They are a strong team all round. They have strength in each line, they have speed on the counter attack, they are a very hard pressing team. If they win the ball in the attacking third, they can really punish you. So from our point of view we have to make sure we are strong in our one-on-one contests, we have to secure the ball as much as possible and then we must create our own counter-attacking opportunities. We have to be prepared to back ourselves and build through the layers and make sure we pressure them as well.
What descriptors would you like to be able to use about your team's performance when you reflect on the results of the two matches against the Netherlands?
Mark Hager: Exciting and hard-nosed in our approach. That we valued every situation and every one-on-one contest.
The FIH Hockey Pro League matches between Netherlands women versus Great Britain women takes place on 27 and 29 October. Click here for more details.
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