Shea McAleese has been named as one of the inside-forwards for the squad to play PNG and Australia in the Olympic qualifiers. Photo / Bay of Plenty Times
Lloyd Stephenson has been cast aside as Black Sticks coach Shane McLeod prepares to tackle Australia and Papua New Guinea in next month's crucial Oceania Olympic qualifying tournament.
Stephenson, a former North Harbour (now Midlands) inside-forward/striker and 63-test veteran, is the only player who was in Japan for
the five-test series this month to be cut from that 19-man squad.
He has lost his place to Shea McAleese who was called in as late cover for injured Bryce Collins. McAleese and Collins are joined by Ben Collier and captain Ryan Archibald as the inside-forwards. Of that quartet, only Archibald has had more international games than Stephenson.
In naming his team for the tri-series in Buderim on Australia's Sunshine Coast, McLeod said: "Lloyd is in reasonable form, but the upcoming match up against Australia requires maximum experience in the inside forward positions."
McLeod points out that some of Stephenson's caps have been won when playing as a striker.
Andy Hayward and Nick Haig, introduced by McLeod for the home series against Holland this year, have again been overlooked leaving James Nation as the first choice centre-half and Casey Henwood providing cover.
There is plenty of experience in the squad with eight players having 100 or more caps.
The strike force will be led by three centurions, Bevan Hari, Dave Kosoof and Phil Burrows, with their support coming from Simon Child and Jan Peterson.
The series against Australia - likely to be the world's No 1 by tournament time - will be a real test but the Black Sticks have been favoured by Papua New Guinea's inclusion.
The three teams will now play a round-robin with the top two teams meeting in the winner-take-all final. Without PNG it would have been a three-test series.
The New Zealand men will be joined in Buderim by the national women's team who will also play their Oceania qualifier.
They face an extra game as Fiji joins PNG, Australia and New Zealand for the round-robin and then final.
Women's coach Kevin Towns will be looking for something better than his team showed in going down 6-0 to Korea in Hong Kong on Tuesday night in a game in which all goals were scored in the first half.
Last night's second international, against China, shaped as an even tougher assignment. They play a third game, against India tomorrow night.
