KUALA LUMPUR: Australian hockey legend Jamie Dwyer will be roped in to make Malaysian strikers more deadly for the final Olympic Qualifier in November.
This was revealed by Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) president Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal on Monday.
The credentials of the 40-year-old Dwyer are remarkable. He won the World Player of the Year award twice, played in three Olympics, four World Cups and eight Champions Trophy tournaments.
“I am not embarrassed or ashamed to admit that even though the team hit their target in the FIH Series Finals, they were atrocious in two departments,” said Subahan.
“Our boys fared badly in two areas; goalkeeping by Hafizuddin (Othman, 60 caps) and Hairi (Abdul Rahman, 47 caps) as well as shooting skills in the circle.
“And since we have made the next round on merit, we are in talks with Dwyer to help our strikers become much more deadly as we did receive a huge number of chances in every match, but poor shooting made the team's mission harder.”
The two goalkeepers, as well as the injured S. Kumar (who is in the exclusive 300-cap club), trained under Dutch coach Martijn Drijver while Malaysia's penalty corner flickers trained under Dutch great Taeke Taekema recently.
However, there was little improvement in both the goalkeeping and penalty corner departments, which suffered a disappointing dip in performance.
“I have asked both Drijver and Taekema to provide us with a report. But then again, Hairi and Hafizuddin were always in Kumar's shadows and did not get much playing time and so did the best to their capabilities.
“For sure, we missed Kumar between the posts and the National Sports Institute have told us that his recovery is getting along well and he should be ready for the November Qualifier," said Subahan.
National coach Roelant Oltmans was the one who requested for Dwyer’s help.
“Oltmans asked for Dwyer to help our strikers and the Australian has been contacted about it.
“The NSC (National Sports Council) have also agreed to hire Dwyer and now we are just waiting for his (pay package) confirmation.”
The team will head for Europe on July 21 to prepare for the final Olympic assault.
India have also hired striker Kieran Govers from Australia to help prepare their frontline for the pre-Olympic Qualifier in Bubaneswar.