PETALING JAYA: New national hockey team head coach Brendon Carolan has the perfect opportunity to scout for fresh faces when the Malaysian Hockey League (MHL) starts next week.
Carolan, who arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday to begin his new role with the Speedy Tigers, has only four months to prepare and meet his main target of reaching the Asian Games final in Aichi-Nagoya.
The Asiad starts from Sept 19-Oct 4.
The South African will be scouting for potential new players that can be included for the senior team when the MHL starts on April 11.
"I’ll be going to all the games to see if there are any additional players that we can bring into the group," said Carolan during a press conference at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Friday (April 3).
"There has been a lot of good work done previously with this group of players, and where we are now, I want to make sure we put the best group of players on the pitch in September.
"We want to make sure we represent Malaysia in the best possible way, whether it’s a youth player or senior player."
The Asian Games will be crucial for Carolan as the gold medallists will earn an Olympic ticket and Malaysia have not qualified since 2000 in Sydney.
Before that, the team will have an even tougher campaign at the World Cup in Holland from Aug 14-30 where they are in Group B with Belgium, Germany and France.
However, with the league starting next week, it also limits the time Carolan gets to spend with his players before their first outing at the Nations Cup in South Africa from June 11-20.
"It is a bit of a difficult period where we’re trying to balance the players with their club programmes and also implement training changes.
"It’s a critical period, but I’m looking forward to getting back out there and watching the league.
"It’s important that every player knows they have an opportunity to be back in the group, and there are some good players in the indoor programmes and Hockey 5s."
Carolan is no stranger to Malaysian hockey, having previously served as assistant under former head coach and compatriot Paul Revington and A. Arulselvaraj.
