Olivia Shannon: Black Sticks Women Striker and Captain ahead of the second Oceania Cup fixture

The Black Sticks women are looking to create more goalscoring chances in this afternoon's second Oceania Cup hockey fixture against Australia in Darwin. 

New Zealand striker Olivia Shannon says they want to back up their 1-nil win in the opener. 

Shannon joined D’Arcy Waldegrave for a chat ahead of the second match to discuss scoring the winning goal, and their relationship with the men’s side. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the All Sport Breakfast podcast with Darcy
Waldgrave from News Talk ZEDB.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Black Sticks both versions Aatana and Hanna. That's men and women,
just in case you're struggling with that and Darwin competing
the Oceania Cup. The men started off with a two
zip defeat, not great, but the women opened their account
with a one zip win. I caught up with the

(00:40):
Black Sticks wahemi captain yesterday morning, Olivia Shannon. She scored
the lone goal in the first match. She joins now
to talk about it and what they need to do
to register another victory over the Aussies in the second
match the afternoon four forty I believe it is. You'll
get that on TV and Z Plus. It's from the
MWt Hockey Stadium in Darwin. She is bording Olivia, good morning.

Speaker 3 (01:06):
How are we well?

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Probably not as well as you are. Yeah, what a
great start to the Oceania Cup mate, It's amazing.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
Yeah, I know. Honestly, the girls did so well last
night and we've prepped so well for it. The girls
have been training so hard being in USA and China,
so to get that first win. Obviously, the job's not done.
But it's a step in the right direction.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
I don't think the Aussie saw this coming or did they.
Where are you guys ranked?

Speaker 3 (01:32):
We ranked tenth in their fifth or fourth? I think so. Yeah.
To come out and perform the way we did last
night was yeah, it was unreal.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
So what happens? What's their comeback? Like they'd be I
don't want to say it like this, but they'll be pessis,
won't they. I mean it's in dar One, it's their
own backyard.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
Yeah, I know. I think we've poked the bar, so
we'll see how we go tomorrow. But yeah, the girls
are so up for it. They really stepped out on
the pitch. It's about winning the physicality battle with Australia
half the time. And the girls went out and pretty
much played a bit of rugby last night too, so
it was always always good when you do that, which
was cool.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
I thought it was about precision and pace. I mean
that's what hockey seems to be more. It's getting quicker
and quicker and quicker. You're talking about rugby now, do
they get a bit fair on? Do they olive you?

Speaker 3 (02:22):
I think that it obviously is hockey is like that.
But in these high preciate moments when you're qualifying for
a World Cup and want to go to a World
Cup and that's on the line, it also comes down
to who wants it more, and I think that's something
that the girls really did well last night. Obviously, the pace,
that precision, the passing, all of that stuff comes into
playvor I think as well, if you want it more
than the other team, then I think that was massive

(02:44):
for the girls last night, right. And there was a
few shoulders and bumps going around last night, which is
always good to see against Ozzie as well.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
Attitude is one thing, but axal skill and tactics on
the turf itself, what do you need to look to walk?
Because you bring the attitude, no doubt you bring shoulders too,
But what about technically, what do you have to do
in order to keep the street? Well, I'll say one game,
it's a streak, right.

Speaker 3 (03:10):
Yes, yeah, yeah, Well we're so lucky we've got such
good management, such coaches as well, so we've just actually
I've just come out of a meeting now. So like
I said before, I guess the first job's done of
getting one win, but we need to get one more
to qualify for the World Cup. So everything's on the
line tomorrow and obviously we have Game three as well,
but if we can go out and do it tomorrow,

(03:31):
and yeah, our coaches have put such a good game
plan for us to go and execute, and it's so
clear and the girls are just able to go out
and play, and I think that's something that's so important.
Our culture is really good and girls are just pushing
at the moment. So yeah, it's really exciting.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Have you got that goal like attached to your brain
and you'll never forget it? Can you talk us through it?

Speaker 3 (03:51):
Oh? Yeah, honestly I saw the build up then, Yeah,
Yosi is on her debut at the moment, so we've
got a Dutch under twenty one girl who used to
play there and now she's got a New Zealand part. Well,
she has a New Zealand passport has come and played
for us. So I saw the ball come across and
I guess, yeah, everything happened quite quickly and before I
knew it was in the back of the net. So yeah,

(04:13):
obviously it was a massive relief for us, but still
had ten minutes to go, so I had to kind of,
you know, calm that down and push again for another
ten minutes.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
No, watch plenty of hockey in the last couple of minutes.
As you well know, all sorts of horrific things can happen,
So ten minutes that's an age in this game. Hey,
pull something out of the game you didn't like? We
do you need to left? What are the coaching stuff
saying about the extra effort or extra precision? What have
they been saying?

Speaker 3 (04:42):
Yeah, I guess it's not really obviously the extra effort,
the efforts there, the attitudes there, the game plans there,
it's just really minor things that we need to be
better at. Obviously, we didn't have too many attacking opportunities,
so we want to get more attacking opportunities, and to
do that, we just need to move the ball a
bit better. So if we can go out and do
that on Saturday and just just be one percent better

(05:03):
than we were the other night, then that's going to
set us up really nicely for Saturday, and that's all
we need to do.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
Have you been taunting the men because they got beaten?

Speaker 1 (05:11):
Ah?

Speaker 3 (05:12):
No, No, the boys are going well. They actually played
really well as well, so it was so cool to
see them play before us, and we love going on
tour with each other as well, so it's not often
it happens the boys and girls are at the same place,
so to I guess see them fight before before we
had to go out, was gets you going as well?

Speaker 2 (05:30):
There must be a nice way to I suppose turn
off from the game, because I suppose both the Tan
and the way Hana could sit together and maybe not
just focus all on hockey. Butever we laugh your hockey players,
you're on tour, do you do that or is it
just all hockey in turf right the way through?

Speaker 3 (05:46):
No, obviously it's quite nice to step away from the turf.
If you're talking hockey all the time, it can get
a bit much. So yeah, it was actually quite nice.
We went for a coffee this morning and a couple
of boys are at the cafe, so just sitting down
and chatting with them as well. And obviously we're so
supportive of each other as well, which is is such
a cool sport to be a part of when the
men and women are so supportive of each other. So yeah,

(06:07):
it was really cool just to sit down and have
a coffee with them, mature the fat and have a
bit of a laugh as well. So yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:13):
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