Questions on the future of some of the senior players was the second major takeaway from the review meet.
From an exercise physiologist and scientific advisor to high performance director to interim head coach now, David John's career graph in Indian hockey has gone upwards.
With Roelant Oltmans being shown the door, Australia's John will take interim charge of the men's senior team. Incidentally, John had also replaced Oltmans as high performance director after the latter took over as head coach in 2015.
There were indications of some friction between the two ever since John took up his new role in November last year. However, the Aussie is clear now about his priorities, starting with doing well in the Asia Cup next month.
"It's about providing focus to this group to make sure they understand that results have to be better," John told DNA on Saturday. "Yes, we've had a change in coach, and we may have a change in the player personnel next, to make sure that the team keeps improving. It seems to me that the coaches always change when the results aren't good, but sometimes, it's because of the players that the results aren't coming on the field."
Questions on the future of some of the senior players was the second major takeaway from the review meet.
"On the last tour of Europe, some of the junior players showed that they have the quality to be international players. That needs to be fostered further. But also, we still want to pick our best teams to compete at Asia Cup and World League Finals," he said.
The Australian said he would want the HI and Sports Authority of India (SAI) appoint a permanent coach before the World Hockey League Finals in December.
"SAI always takes a little while. Even when a decision is made, the process takes a little while. With the senior women's coach, it took three months. I would like a coach certainly before the World League Finals, to give them time to prepare a team for it.
"Having said that, most of the countries around the world have already selected their coaches for the next Olympic cycle. So, it's not going to be an easy job. I have to see if there are good coaches available. It's not a process of just selecting the first coach. We need to select one of the better coaches in the world to take us forward," he said.
And he stressed on the importance of having him till the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
"Continuity is important. Stability is important in any team. So yes, we're looking for a long-term coach," he said.
John said the trend of hiring and firing of foreign coaches has been a reason that is holding Indian hockey behind everytime it seems to be going forward.
"We always tend to take a step backwards, two steps forward, and then turn a step backwards again. I don't like that. But we feel that with this group of players, they have the potential to be in the top-three, and we need to make sure that we're able to foster that potential and we achieve the goals," he said.
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