High hopes that Indian player will make it

Northland men have one trick left up their sleeve ahead of the National Hockey League start, in the form of Indian national representative Hariprasad Mallappa. That's if they can fast track the visa and paperwork in time, coach Mike Delaney said.
Their original English import they had teed up fell through when his Netherlands club required him to stay on there, so coaches Delaney and Vicki Gribble are trying desperately to get Mallappa in time for tomorrow's match against Auckland, in Auckland.
"He's a striker and just missed the cut for India's top side, so he must be pretty good considering how many people there are in India, and that hockey is their main sport apart from cricket," Delaney said.
If Mallappa is not cleared in time to play, plan B is to pick up another Auckland import on the day, the coach added.
Auckland's Jeremy Child was a late inclusion in the squad after Northland's Cam Hellier had to withdraw because of work commitments.
Child, who plays left wing/midfield started training with Northland on Wednesday, and has slotted into the team nicely as have the other four imports from various provinces. "Everyone gets along and we have developed a good team culture ... we brought the imports into the team as they bring flair and act as impact players. It wasn't that we lacked that up here, we just didn't have the depth to choose from," Delaney said.
The tournament gets under way tomorrow at venues around the country with teams back up to play on Sunday as well, before they have the week off and start the week-long competition at National Hockey Stadium in Wellington on August 6-14.
First up for Northland, who finished eighth last year, is Auckland. "They are full of Black Sticks but they are a bunch of individuals ... the boys are geared up to play them and hopefully team camaraderie pulls them through," the coach said.
On Sunday, they face North Harbour and are hopeful of upsetting them early in the game at Whangarei's Rosvall ITM Stadium at 4.30pm. "Finishing has been a problem for us which we have been working on, and the team have identified that they are sick of coming close and want to tip over one of the big teams. We will choose one to target this weekend and have a good crack at them and hope luck goes our way."
Northland men: Sam Webb (c), John Child, Shay Neal, Ivo Rongo, David Samuels, David Adams, Henry Cooper, Sean Laidlaw, Josh Rapana, Jimmy Bailey, Stachan McLeod, Keeley Johnson. Guest Players: Nick Capizzi (North Harbour), Paul Fordham (North Harbour), Jeremy Child (Auckland), Craig Armstrong (Midlands), Lewis Brill (Wellington), 18th man TBC.
Auckland men: Ryan Archibald, Jonathan Bilkey, Phil Burrows, Simon Child, Dean Couzins, Ketan Hari, Jignesh Keshoor, Mark Laurence, Devon Manchester, Shaun Matthews, Sam Miskimmin, Arun Panchia, Jared Panchia, Rakesh Parsotam, Sanjay Patel, Dwayne Rowsell, Alex Shaw, Gareth Spittal.
North Harbour men: Shaun Barnett, Joseph Bartholomew, Cory Bennett, Priyesh Bhana,, Simon Brill, James Coughlan, Steve Edwards, David Green, Bevan Hari, Nathaniel Joy, Richard Joyce, Harley Kopa, Dave Kosoof, George Muir, Dylan Nixon, Jan Petersen, Daniel Shaw, Isaac Staples.