Hager relishing role to steer Australian hockey’s female pathways

With his impact and expertise starting to be felt in Australia’s elite hockey pathways, Mark Hager took some time out to provide an update into his role as Hockey Australia’s National Athlete Pathway Program Technical Lead – Women.

Hager had a decorated career as a player, has coached at the highest level, and now hockey in Australia is benefitting from the Kookaburras great’s expertise as he oversees the national women’s player pathway program.

Hager was appointed to the position in September last year, forming a dream team alongside Mark Knowles who is in the equivalent role for the men’s program.

Hager may have a relaxed, down to earth demeanour, but don’t let that fool you. His desire, competitiveness and expectations, both on himself and all those involved in the pathways, is fully evident.

Horrie gave some of his time to give his reflections on this year’s best emerging Under 18 talent following the national championships in Cairns and how he has seen the early time in his role.

The Australian U18 Championships was your first chance to run your eyes over this age group since you started in the role in November last year – what were your impressions?

MH: “There was some good individual play and talented hockey players. I was impressed with teams’ ability to score goals on a consistent basis…but looking at the other side, defensively it probably wasn’t so good, we identified some key areas we need to focus on at this age group. Tackling, one on one channelling, how to cope with an overload against you…these were all areas that came out of the tournament to work on.”

Did you go to the Under 18 Championships with a clear idea of what attributes you were looking for in players?

MH: “I go into a tournament thinking if I was picking the squad what sort of players would I be looking for? From that point of view, looking at the Hockeyroos and Kookaburras, we are trying to replicate what they want and use the same terminology so when these youngsters do move up the ranks it’s not a shock to the system and they understand team structures and concepts.

For me it’s looking at an attacking style of player that can penetrate with their passing, eliminate opponents, break lines and create opportunities. Then you’re also looking at the goal scorers and quality finishers. Defensively it is the players who are good tacklers, have the ability to channel, can steal the ball, know how to pressurise the opposition and control the situation when they’re outnumbered. Then with the goalkeepers, you’re looking at how many shots are being taken at them and the saves they are making, and whether they are capable of staying in the contest when they may only have one or two saves to make.

It was an exciting tournament because I hadn’t seen that format before where there are multiple teams from the same state. From that point of view it was really interesting. Queensland’s two women’s teams would have been really happy with how they went and it highlights the depth of quality they have coming through at this age group.”

Considering the impact of COVID, do you think there is a lot of catching up needed at this level?

MH: “It’s an interesting one. Sometimes I don’t think it’s such a bad thing to go into hiding because teams don’t know what you are capable of. But on the flipside you don’t know where you’re at on the international stage because you’re not playing anyone, so I think there are positives and negatives.

I’m sure there were some states who had players who didn’t play club hockey for over a year and that would have affected their performance at the Under 18 Championships. Whereas those who were playing club hockey, at least they had a stick in their hand.

Australians are pretty resilient. We have a certain style and I don’t think that will change, and opposition teams will always struggle against that style. From my point of view the quality of player that we have had in the past is still there at the junior levels. Now they just need the opportunity.”

These Futures (U18) athletes will be prime come the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 and Brisbane 2032. Without putting too much pressure on them, how important is this age group in producing the next crop of Hockeyroos and Kookaburras and ensuring they are at a world class level?

MH: “It’s really important. Stats based on who wins Olympic medals, the average age is around 26-27, so this age group is very important for us moving forward. What Knowlesy (Mark Knowles) and I have to do in our roles is help improve the drag flickers, goalkeepers, goal scorers, quality of tackling…the technical skills. Tactically the players will get that in club land and state hockey but it is the one and two per cent things that make a difference.

You look at the Olympics and which teams win medals and they have got quality drag flickers and goalkeepers in their group. They are two key areas that we need to make sure we don’t just have one or two to choose from, but real competition in this age group.”

The fact you have coached international women’s teams on the biggest stages, how much has this helped you coming into this role?

MH: “Having been at the top level for so long and watching the type of players that are around and the different styles…Great Britain have a different style, different culture and mentality around how they play the game, New Zealand is a little bit different again – in my time in New Zealand we tried to emulate teams like Australia, Argentina and their structures.

It’s identifying those things that I feel I have some expertise at and being able to pick athletes who have potential to grow over the next two or three years and become quality hockey players.”

Knowlesy is hugely passionate and determined to improve the pathway system and make it a world benchmark. The way you go about things – would you agree that you two perfectly complement each other when it comes to overseeing the player pathways?

MH: “I’m really enjoying working with Knowlesy. Prior to this he worked at the Queensland Academy of Sport in mental health and wellbeing so he has strengths in that area, as well as his defensive skills on the hockey side which I tap into with him.

He taps into my experience around putting programs together for tours and the attacking side of the game, so I think it’s a good balance between the two of us. We do share a lot of stuff and reach out to each other if we are unsure. We’re also not afraid to reach out to other people if we don’t have the expertise or knowledge in certain areas.

He is obviously young and energetic which keeps me on my toes and assists me in this role. It makes it exciting and I’m really enjoying it.”

How closely do you work with Katrina Powell and the Hockeyroos – creating that connection between the senior program and what is happening and being rolled out in the pathway system?

MH: “Triny’s focus has rightly been on preparation for the World Cup and Commonwealth Games so she has been firmly entrenched in that. I headed over to Perth last week and sat on the Hockeyroos’ cultural and training sessions. Triny and I had a chat about transferring what they’re doing from the top down…passing it down to the Juniors and Futures squads. We’ll use a lot of the same terminology so it’s not daunting if players get invited to go over and train in Perth or called into the Hockeyroos squad. They will already have a basic understanding of what’s required.”

Finally, what are your priorities over the coming months?

MH: “We will start working with the Futures squads that have just been announced. Then there is the Australian Under 21 Championships in July where the National Junior (Jillaroos and Burras) Squads will be selected. The Jillaroos have a training camp scheduled in August and then hopefully we’ll have the Junior World Cup qualifiers against New Zealand later in the year.”