Playing FIH Pro League next year is real positive change for us, believes Graham Reid
Graham Reid is of the belief that playing in the FIH Pro League, which India gave a miss in season one, next year will have a positive impact on the Indian men. Reid has also mentioned that the Indian players have good skills but it is to be figured out how to apply these skills in modern hockey.
Graham Reid took over the charge of the Indian men’s hockey team as the head coach in the month of April this year. Under him, India have already won the FIH Series Finals and made it to the FIH Olympic Qualifiers which will be the next big challenge for the Australian.
India will face Russia next month in the qualifiers in Bhubaneswar and they are expected to perform well against world no.22. Meanwhile, Reid has explained about FIH Pro League, in which India will be playing for the first time in the next season after giving the first edition a miss.
“Look, it is what it is. I can’t change that. But what I do know is that we’re in the Pro League next year. That’s a real positive change for us. We just need to make sure we manage workload. That’s something I learnt from watching this year’s Pro League. Towards the end, the European teams looked a little jaded,” Reid told Sportstar.
India remained unbeaten in the Belgium tour earlier this month and is expected to continue the same form against Russia as well. In their last meeting at the FIH Series Finals, India had defeated Russia by a huge margin of 10-0. Reid, who had also coached the Australian and the Netherlands sides before, is of the opinion that the Indian players still have fantastic skills but now they need to work on how to apply these in modern-day hockey.
“The way I think about it is, it’s different. It’s different talent. It’s different to Holland and Australia. But we still have fantastic skills. Now it’s a matter of working out how those skills can be applied into the modern game. We’re getting there but we just need to get a little more consistency with that,” the Australian explained.
Speaking about the gap in the top-two teams - Australia and Belgium, and India, Reid said, “It’s very hard to say. It was obvious when we were in Australia (for a Test series in May, when India lost the two matches 4-0 and 5-2). They’ve been playing in the FIH Pro League. We haven’t played. There is a gap. And that gap, you never know.”
“Because if we’re both playing at our best, it’s closer than what everyone thinks. But if Australia is playing at its best, and we’re down 5 percent off our best, then that gap can look a little larger. That’s our challenge now, to accelerate that change. Our first step is Olympic qualification. After that we play the Pro League. That’s a really important step for this team, playing good-quality matches before the Olympics.”
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