Terry Maddaford: Take a breather, Hager, you deserve it

It is time for Mark Hager to cut his players some slack.

Just months into his four-year term as national women's hockey coach, Hager has achieved some amazing results - a win over Australia and the direct route to next year's World Cup and now victory in the Champions Challenge and a ticket to the Champions Trophy tournament.

Yet he is still reluctant to accept the kudos he and his players deserve.

A hard-nosed Australian? Perhaps. But he can, and should, reflect on what has been achieved and put his, and their, efforts in perspective.

At last year's Beijing Olympics the Black Sticks lost six from six, their reputation and ranking in tatters.

As coach, Kevin Towns put his hand up and disappeared. Hager came on board but with the ghost of former Australian coach Ian Rutledge - who struggled to get his players singing from the same song sheet - still rattling around.

Hager's refreshing, but determined, approach soon paid dividends.

He headed to the Champions Challenge in South Africa after their penalty stroke Oceania win over Australia, set on making a statement.

The odds were against them. The hosts boasted an average of 68 caps between their players. New Zealand, average age 23 years (the youngest team at the tournament), just 30.

Two of the three teams had higher FIH rankings than the Black Sticks yet in the end they beat the South Africans - who had triumphed 4-1 in the wooden spoon play-off in Beijing - 2-1 in a hard-fought final.

Hager, who has since admitted the win was up there with the proudest moments in his long and illustrious career, initially reacted by saying he and the team still had a long way to go.

That's in the future. More immediately he should reflect on what he and his new broom policy has achieved and take the glory that goes with it. Hockey, despite its standings as a top 10 nation in both the men's and women's rankings, struggles to get the recognition it deserves.

Results like those achieved by the national sides in recent times can only give them a greater presence on our sporting landscape and, as Hager hopes, financial benefits when the funding agencies open their wallets.

Hager and his players now face a hectic 2010 with guaranteed starts in the code's biggest tournaments - the Champions Trophy, World Cup and Commonwealth Games.

He must now balance that schedule and his desire to take the team into the world's top eight with the demands he knows he must place on his players.

Already the Black Sticks have found themselves on the wish list of some of the world's best teams including No 1 Holland and No 3 China who are looking at playing a tournament in Hong Kong in January.

That would not have happened a month ago.

While Hager maintains the team still has a long way to go, he could not have had a better start to his career here so, even if only for a minute or two, he should sit back and reflect on a job already well done.