Hope Ralph: Black Sticks and Falcons striker previews the Hockey Premier League

The Hockey Premier League gets underway this weekend, with four sides from across the country taking part in the six round competition.  

The Central Falcons get their season underway when they take on the Hauraki Mavericks in Napier.  

D'Arcy spoke with Black Sticks and Falcons striker Hope Ralph to discuss the opening match and the competition as a whole as it enters its second year. 

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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 SEDB Hockey.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
It's underway this week and around the motto, I've been
calling it the Premier Hockey League. Someone's written down the
hockey Premier League, but I believe it's actually Premier League Hockey.
I better get this one right, Oh, I know it
was Premier Hockey League. Okay, thank you very much. Corbyn's
got all the work going. Let's producer Corbyn Boyd, thank
you very much for that. Suffice to say, we know

(00:33):
what it is. It's Premier League. It's hockey and it's
here in New Zealand and we are now going to
the Central Falcons. They get the season underway. They take
under the Hurlucky Mavericks in Napier that we're joined by
striker Hope Ralph now to preview that match. Hope, welcome
to the program.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
Hi, thank you.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
And thanks very much for joining us. You must be
stoked that you're playing some hockey and the PHL is
up and running again.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
Yes, very excited. I'm so cool to go back and
play for your home region of your friends and the
community gets behind it, which is really awesome. So yeah,
really excited for the opening game.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
And you're taking on the joy the Mavericks. What do
they bring to the turf?

Speaker 3 (01:17):
They're going to be a tough team to play. Actually,
they've got our New Zealand keeper and goal grocer Handlin.
She's just been up for World Keeper of the Year,
so yeah, it's going to be a good challenge. Actually,
so very excited. And my mum's a part of the
coaching team for the Mavericks, so yeah, it's quite funny.

(01:38):
My dad calls you're a trader because me and my
sister are part of the Falcons.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Any inside of training are like, can you tie down
and get some ideas about what they're going to bring
to the game.

Speaker 3 (01:49):
I personally don't know really what to expect from them.
I know they're going to come out firing, so we're
going to match that, but no technical yeah, I don't
know what they're going to bring technically as.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Far as playing. And I think at an international leave
all the Black Sticks have been very interesting group qualifying
the men and women at a high league, but not
actually going. It's a difficult choice. But I suppose it's financial,
isn't it.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
Yes, yeah, it is financial, but this PHL provides an
opportunity to build depth in the squad, which is pretty cool.
And not being able to play as many international games,
we were still able to have such a successful year
this year, which was pretty bloody awesome.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
You look at the quality of this league and where
it sits compared to other leagues, is it right up
near the top because playing it's producing good players?

Speaker 3 (02:47):
Yeah, I think it provides high quality matches, especially when
the international calendar takes a break, so it kind of
just bridges that gap and also allows other people to
step up and have it being four teams, it also
all the teams very strong, so that's very exciting.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
Is there a favorite team do you think when it's
going to take the title? I mean, is that the
Falcons were the other strength?

Speaker 3 (03:15):
Absolutely, The Falcons.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
Rivals come from who's got who's got the skinny.

Speaker 3 (03:22):
We've got the Alpiners who are the South Island team,
so they always very strong team. They've got a lot
of up and coming players too, which is very exciting.
And then we've got the Tridents who are kind of
Auckland Harbor region that they were runners up last year,

(03:43):
and then the Mavericks who are the Toda Keto. They
have plenty in tallahacky kind of region, so yeah, so
super exciting. Yeah, everyone's really excited to get underway.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
I hope. What's it like on the turf when you're
playing against players that you play with and you know,
is their their ex naggle there? Can you get on
them and I don't know, tear them down because you
know who they are? You look at your weeks, is
their strengths? I mean, how do you deal with grace
from a striker's point of view.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
Yeah, definitely a lot of banter on the field. We
get into each other, which is pretty funny, but it's
always good quality because we know each other inside it
out too, So yeah, it's really fun to play against
your mates.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
Why is hockey so successful here in New Zealand? What
is it about the game that means young athletes do
get involved and they end up doing really well? What's
the trick here?

Speaker 3 (04:42):
I think it's just quite an exciting sport to play
and train and nothing's ever the same on the field.
So yeah, there's so many different components to hockey and
it's also very You've got to be very fit to play,
which is also super exciting, so yeah, there's always something happening.

(05:03):
I don't think you can really get bored watching. And
then the women's and men's game, there's a lot of
differences even there, which is cool to watch both.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
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