The Tuesday Interview | ‘It’s all about getting players to peak at the right time’: Craig Fulton

Craig Fulton took charge of the Indian men’s hockey team just over a year ago, amid a crisis of confidence within the group. The Indians had failed to qualify for the quarter-finals of the World Cup at home, leading to the resignation of his predecessor, Graham Reid, soon after. Despite inheriting a team in turmoil and facing a challenging calendar ahead, the South African not only managed to steady the ship but also secured the Asian Games gold in Hangzhou last October. In a conversation with DH’s Sidney Kiran, Fulton talks about two upcoming tournaments, whether he’s been able to implement his mantra, and India’s perennial problem — the defence.

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Two key Pro League events are coming up in Belgium and London at the end of May and early June. How important are these on the road to Paris?

I think they are important, but not the most crucial unless we aim to win the Pro League and qualify for the World Cup. We want to try and get on that podium. We are going out to get good results in those games. But remember that immediately after, there’s a down period before we need to peak again for Paris. It’s all about peaking at the right time. Even if you don’t do well in the Pro League but win the Olympics, or if you do well in the Pro League but don’t do well in the Olympics, what’s the priority? It’s a matter of perspective.

So how challenging will it be to peak at the Pro League, rest, and then peak again with a short turnaround time for the Olympics?

That’s always the secret: to get a group of players to peak, rest, and peak again. We’ve already had three major competition blocks — we’ve had February, April, and now the Pro League (in May-June). Then we have the fourth one in the lead-up to Paris. Over the next three months, we have to peak twice, which is not easy.

Before the Hangzhou Asian Games last year, you said your mantra was to build a defensively strong team, seize the opportunity to attack, and be ruthless while going forward. Have you been able to implement that mantra?

These things take time to refine or change. The focus on counter-attacks is already ingrained in the team. That’s quite clear. The big thing is that, together as a team, we respect and continue our work to defend as much as possible. That’s one thing for me that’s really been the key. We had only three months before the Asian Games; it worked in that short space of time, albeit against Asian oppositions. With all due respect, Asian opposition compared to Europe or some of the teams in the southern hemisphere is a whole different challenge. There is a step up when it comes to improving tactics against a stronger opposition. We are now implementing the second phase.

The world-renowned Paddy Upton has been brought in as the mental conditioning coach until the Paris Olympics. We all know the role Paddy has played with the Indian cricket team. How crucial is his presence for the hockey team?

It is important to have Paddy. He was with us in Australia and did some good workshops on the mental skills perspective. It was important to have him there. You should be able to bounce back when it’s not easy, and in a tournament scenario, if you lose a game you possibly shouldn’t have lost, then how do you get back to beating a team that is ranked higher? It’s always about the mental game, but we have a lot of work to do before Paris. 

The Indian team, following successes after you took over last year, went to Australia for the five-match series recently with a lot of hope, but lost 5-0. What went wrong?

I think the initial games against Australia were very close; they ebbed and flowed. Playing in the Pro League, we had full referrals, but when we went to Australia, we didn’t, and I’m not sure why. In the last match we played against Australia, we had referrals, and out of eight, we won seven of them. It’s just a different game if we don’t have referrals at that level. I felt like two or three of those games hinged on some crucial decisions. We weren’t at our best in the first game, but after that, we were more like ourselves. We would score first, and then we couldn’t score again. We would obviously concede and then try mounting a comeback later in the game. It’s a bit frustrating considering the performances we put in in the Pro League and the training we did in Bhubaneswar before going to Australia. At the same time, we’ve created a lot more depth in the squad and gained a lot more insights into ourselves. Australia didn’t change their team that much from the one that we played in the Pro League, but we changed our squad a lot. We are adding depth to the squad so that if anyone gets injured in key positions, we’ve got cover. Some of the key players didn’t play all the games in Australia, but that’s okay because, as I said, we are building depth. 

India’s biggest concern is defensive errors, which were witnessed during the Australia series. Do you agree, and if so, how do you plan to fix it before the Paris Olympics?

It’s more a case of we haven’t always done that. When you are playing one of the better teams in world hockey, if you make a mistake defensively, they can counter and hurt you. That’s what Australia does best. If you have seen any teams of late, Australia has scored the most goals in the Pro League. No team has played Australia five times recently. So that’s a bonus for us, although we were on the other side of the result. We have learned a lot about ourselves and our tactics. 

So what are the key takeaways from the Australia tour?

I think the key takeaway is that we need to continue to be more efficient in both Ds. We have to improve the conversion rate of our chances. It has been a focus point, and it has been harder against better teams. At the same time, we are working hard to improve that. We pride ourselves on our defence. If we don’t do that well as a team tactically, it doesn’t help us. We knew we were playing a very attacking team, so we needed to be disciplined, organised, and confident enough to do it. If we don’t, then it’s tough. Guys have got a lot of confidence from the tournament.