Shea McAleese paid tribute to Aussie coach Colin Batch who retired on Tuesday. PHOTO/FILE
IT seems resignations and retirements are becoming fashionable if Ernie Merrick, John Key, Vicky Roebuck, Colin Batch, Phil Burrows and Nico Rosenberg, to name a few, are anything to go by.
But don't expect to bite into your sushi or bagel at lunchtime anytime soon to find out veteran hockey international Shea McAleese has had a knee-jerk reaction in ending his memorable career with the Black Sticks men.
"I think there's something in the water at the moment, that's for sure," said the 32-year-old from Napier who is based in Auckland but returns home this Saturday to help Greg Nicol coach in an elite hockey programme.
During his downtime here, he'll also attend the wedding of brother Jonathan McAleese, 36, of Melbourne, who will tie the knot with his Melbournite fiancee, Ash, in Napier on January 27.
"It's that time of the year when things tend to come to a head a little bit - do you want to kick on for another year or two, three, four years."
McAleese said it was imperative to have a clear mind leading into Christmas.
It came as a bit of a shock to the bloke with the nickname "Buddha" to discover Batch had stepped down as coach "effective immediately" on Tuesday.
The midfielder was about to discuss next year's blueprint with Batch around midday on Tuesday when the Australia-born coach stopped him to stay he was "moving on" in Auckland.
"Credit to him for doing such a good job with us that the best team in the world want him to coach them," he said of Australia.
While a rash of people were severing ties with their codes and occupations, McAleese felt it also was a crucial time to appoint those who had a burning desire to continue fulfilling their roles or others who were keen to enter and maintain standards, in a bid to raise the bar.
"I'm still undecided on what I'm going to do. I'm a little in between on whether I want to stop or not.
"I enjoyed my recent trip we had in Melbourne but that's not to say whether I'll continue to play or not so I'm still going through the process of deciding on what's best for me.
"We'll see what the water holds for me in the next few weeks on whether I'll keep playing or not so I'm not so sure."
The three-time Olympian, who plies his trade professionally in Europe during the off season here, said he had been under the tutelage of Batch for four years.
"Today he's a really good coach and turned us into a better team from when he took over in a fragile state after some tough games in London [Olympics]," he said, mindful a fresh person often tended to take teams to new heights.
"He did a really good job with the squad he had. You know, we were so close to a medal in Rio and we hadn't done that in a major since 1976," he said, adding that in itself spoke volumes on Batch's nous and resolve.
While it was sad to see the Aussie depart, McAleese said that would open doors for others to step into his shoes.
"I'm hoping whoever takes over us now will do a great job."
Unlike Merrick and the hapless Wellington Phoenix, Batch was leaving a world No 8 side to assume the mantle of coach with the world No 1 team.
"With the world's best team he'll probably have unlimited budget and a programme he can run and tailor it to pretty much how he sees it fit to run so I think those are the benefits to where he's going now."
The former William Colenso College pupil said, who made his Black Sticks debut in 2005, said the players also felt a sense of ownership in sharing the ups and downs of competitions.
"On the flip side, there's always regrets when you coach a team and we have regrets when we play as well so we blame ourselves for not getting the medal we didn't get in Rio and I'm sure Colin holds that result pretty close to his chest as well," he said of the Black Sticks who made headlines after a mental meltdown in "choking" against powerhouses Germany and, consequently, failing to make the playoffs even though they commendably came in as wild card entry after South Africa withdrew.
"It's just what happens when you're involved in programmes, regardless of whether results go your way or not so, unfortunately in Rio, it didn't go quite our way."
Unless Batch mutates dramatically with the Hockeyroos in terms of his coaching philosophy, McAleese believes there will be some cross-pollination of mutually beneficial intellectual property, as it were.
He sees Nicol and former Napier-born international Darren Smith as ideal successors for Batch.
"But obviously with any job that comes up around hockey there's always overseas people who try to apply as well," he said, not ruling out a foreign coach deputising for a Kiwi one.
McAleese said appointing a Kiwi would have an inside running on what made players tick and their mentality.
Conversely hockey here wasn't on a par with Europe and Australia so foreigners certainly added huge value, too.
"They coach in a different style and technique, and understand the game in a different way so that can be also be of an advantage to us to improve and succeed down the line."
He said it was simply a matter of which way Hockey New Zealand wanted to go with any perceived sense of weaknesses in the Black Sticks.
Rewarding "our own" sits comfortably with McAleese who believes Hockey NZ needs to renew and instil faith in a well-trodden coaching pathway.
"I think at some stage we want to reward our own ... because you have coaches who are working harder trying to get in and they all deserve a chance.
"For me it's probably the best thing and shows other coaches in New Zealand that ... there's a pathway to become the national coach in New Zealand."
With the Sticks having had European coaches with Kiwi assistants before, he couldn't;t see why it couldn't be the other way around now.
"Who is to say that that can't happen so it could be the best of both worlds and a nice mix," he said, interested in how things would unfold the second Hockey NZ advertise the vacancies.