Junior Hockey Tour Will Be The Making of Men: Brent Livermore

New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) Men’s Hockey Coach, Brent Livermore, described the selection of five of his program’s eligible six players for the Under 21 ‘Burras’ squad that will tour Europe next month as a boon for the Institute, and a steppingstone for some talented players.

NSWIS scholarship athletes Nathan Czinner (pictured above), Dylan Downey, Jake Lambeth, Toby Mallon, and Michael Taylor were named in the 17-man squad that will play a total of six matches against the under 21 teams from Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands from June 12-21.

“NSWIS should be very proud of having such a strong representation in the squad, and I think [our sixth athlete] Rhys Cropper can consider himself unlucky not to be in the squad,” said Livermore. “He was knocking on the door and looking for an opportunity, but he’s returning from injury.

“But to have those players who’ll all be in strong contention to play in the matches is a great result, they’ll be staking their claims for the World Junior Cup later in Malaysia later in the year. It’s a real feather in the cap for NSWIS – and Hockey NSW – that we’re still producing a large portion of the talent that is getting selected [for this kind of tour].

“For NSW to get a silver medal at the national championships is a credit as well. But to have five out of the six eligible NSWIS athletes gain selection is tremendous.  The message from this is the athletes are important to NSWIS – they’ve committed to the program – and while the program has supported them, the Institute’s high performance team has done a great job in getting them ready.

“It’s now just a matter of finetuning it and continuing their high performance journey. This is just the start of it all for these players, and, if you think about it, they could be [at the elite level] for another 10 years. It’s exciting.”

Livermore said the trip would be an eye-opener for the players, noting some probably don’t yet have a passport. He said the tour – under the guidance of Burras Head Coach Jay Stacy – would expose them to some wonderful hockey and an array of life experiences.

Besides playing against the three European powerhouses, the Burras will also have opportunities to mix with the men’s senior team, the Kookaburras, who’ll be in Europe and playing in the FIH Pro League.

“Normally when we tour it is an opportunity to play against the Asian style of hockey, which can be somewhat different to the European game,” said Livermore. “For example, when we won the Junior World Cup in 1997, we sent ’96 doing a couple of European tours because we didn’t have any awareness or skills to play against the tighter marking or the tight positioning, the speed or the fundamentals they have.

“So, the exposure the Burras will get from this trip is a major step in their preparation for success at the World Junior Cup. It’s really important to play against that style – and to understand such things as their principles, their patterns of play.

“On top of that, a lot of these guys probably don’t have their passport. So it’s also a travel experience as a high performance athlete, there’ll be travel experiences . . .  getting in and out of different countries and airports  . . . and it will be done on a bit of a tight budget, so there’ll be some challenges there.

“It’s also a good, strong two weeks to work on the Junior World Cup. At the time there’ll be Pro League finals around Europe, which will be an amazing experience. The Kookaburras and Hockeyroos will be there, so there’ll be an opportunity to form connections, to learn, and watch matches.”

As Livermore ran the rule over each of the five NSWIS players, he concluded that they would each add a variety of different attributes and skills to the Burras’ Junior World Cup campaign:

“Nathan Czinner: “He’s one of the older players out of the group of five, and he’s been exposed to Hockey One and was part of the NSW Pride’s success,” said Livermore. “He’s also an Indoor World Cup athlete who has played in South Africa and Europe. Nathan is very talented with a lot of good strengths – speed, power and skill – through the defensive midfield.

“Dylan Downey: “At 17-18 Dylan and Toby are among our younger pups, and, like Toby, he’s eligible for the 2025 Junior World Cup as well. One of Dylan’s strengths is his specialist set plays with penalty corner drag flicking. He’s definitely one of the best in Australia for his age group, and the under 21 group. He scored a few goals in the Nationals, and that was one of his weapons. He is also a regional athlete, living in Goulburn.

“Jake Lambeth: “Another regional athlete, coming from Grafton. Jake gained junior international selection last year and he had the opportunity to go to the Johore Cup in Malaysia. That allowed him to experience the heat and pressure of that climate. He’s a striker who has great game awareness sin the circle to score goals . . . strong deflection touches  . . . and a very good ball runner at speed.

“Toby Mallon: He’s a high priority junior talent who is studying for his HSC. He was made part of the junior program in 2022, and at 17 he has the potential to play in two junior World Cups. He has amazing talent, and his maturity is well above his age in the sense of what he can do in the midfield; his composure under pressure and his fundamental skills. Just like Dylan, Toby has been playing two or three years in the senior competition.

“Michael Taylor: From Gosford, he’s been on my radar for quite a while, but he probably just didn’t have the training environment that was made available to him at the start of the year in preparation for the 21s. To his credit Michael committed himself to it, he applied himself very well and his fitness levels, his ability as a bigger, stronger character to get up and down the ground as an attacking outside back was impressive. His leadership in and around the pitch – the way he conducts himself – is first class, and his defensive tackling position on the pitch is matched by his willingness to learn. It’s a credit to him that he’s gained selection.”

Burras Head Coach Jay Stacy said much of selection for the 17-player squad was based on what he and the selection panel observed at the Australian Under 21 Championships in Sydney. He added selection of an 18th and final player for the tour will be finalised in the coming weeks.

“If there are guys disappointed it shows it means something to them and they’re hungry to be selected,” said Stacy. “That provides competitiveness within the group which leads to better performance individually and collectively.”

2023 Australian Junior Men’s (Burras) Team – European tour (7-23 June)
Aiden Dooley (ACT)
Nathan Czinner (NSW)
Dylan Downey (NSW)
Jake Lambeth (NSW)
Toby Mallon (NSW)
Michael Taylor (NSW)
Noah Fahy (QLD)
Max Larkin (TAS)
Cooper Burns (VIC)
Liam Henderson (VIC)
Nye Roberts (VIC)
Angus Adamson (WA)
Luke Anderson (WA) (pictured above)
Brodee Foster (WA)
Max Freedman (WA)
Cambell Geddes (WA)
Oliver Higgins (WA)

Burras European tour – Match Schedule
12 June vs Belgium U21s
13 June vs Belgium U21s
16 June vs Germany U21s
17 June vs Germany U21s
19 June vs Netherlands U21s
21 June vs Netherlands U21s

Daniel Lane, NSWIS