What are you most looking forward to during your time in India?
Looking forward to a few things. Firstly, just to experience the HIL. There’s a lot of unknowns for us as players with it being the first year of the competition in a long time and a slightly different format to before, however if its anything like the experiences that the players had previously then it will be a lot of fun. Also, I look forward to the atmosphere of the games which I have found to always be great in India, as well as the chance to play with some players I haven’t played with before.
What are the ambitions for yourself during your stint in the Hockey India League?
Of course to play well and be successful with my franchise! We have a pretty good team and the organisation have done well in the auction so I hope it translates to on the pitch and that I can be a big part of it.
What was the bidding system like? Seemed quite the ordeal!
It seemed crazy! I followed bits of it online and I think its only natural that there were a few issues due to the teams having spending limits and it being the first year of the auction with this level of restriction, making the second day of the auction an interesting one. However it was fun to follow and I'm sure it’s something that will improve in future years as the league grows.
The crowd’s are infamous for their passion and support, how much are you looking forward to experiencing the buzz around the Hockey India League in person when you step onto the pitch for the first round of games?
I can’t wait! My experience of playing in India has always been great and a big part of that is the atmosphere from the crowd. You really feel the love for Hockey. I remember playing in Rourkela in the World Cup against India and the noise was deafening. Hopefully it is going to be similar for the HIL.
Who are you most looking forward to playing alongside and against?
My franchise has done really well in picking up some top players. We have Peillat who is well known as being one of the best drag flickers in the game, so it will be great to have him on the team and he will score a lot of goals. I’m also looking forward to playing with De Sloover who I think is one of the best players in the world.
