“It was a bit of a frustrating trip as we really struggled to find our form throughout the competition,” she added. “But sometimes when you go through difficult times you always hope you will become stronger for that. I definitely believe - although it really hurts at the time – that it can only help you in the long term. Seventh, of course, was not what we had in mind when we went out there. But we can only get stronger from here. There are a lot of good signs there for us and I’m just hoping this will prove to be a stepping stone that eventually leads us to better things. The trip gave us a chance to spend more time together, to get to know each other better, and that can only help the closer we get to Rio.”
The format of the competition – where all eight teams qualified for the quarter-finals and faced ties based on their position in the pool after three matches – was a controversial one to say the least. It allowed hosts Argentina to finish bottom of their section and yet still end up as eventual winners. The same set-up will be used in the Olympics and Maguire isn’t a fan.
“It’s a pretty ridiculous format, I’m not going to lie,” she added. “The results throughout the tournament were a bit higgledy-piggledy and I have to question if this is the best way to do things. It makes a bit of mockery of it. Someone from outside the world of hockey would have looked at how it all unfolded and thought, “how was that possible?” I believe it’s done for commercial reasons as they want the tournament to be more exciting and the quarter-final becomes the do-or-die match. Unfortunately that’s the format that will also be used in the Olympics, albeit it with more teams in each pool. It basically means your pool games don’t really matter. If you finish first in your group then you get to play fourth in the other pool so you could argue that theoretically that’s a benefit. But when it’s the top eight teams in the world then there isn’t much of a gap between them all to start with.”
A three-week trip to South America sounds like the ideal way to banish the winter blues although there was little scope for Maguire to see the sights given their hectic match and training schedule. Impromptu card schools, however, would quickly fill any rare downtime.
“It’s important during rest time that we actually physically rest so it’s not about going crazy out in the sun. So I don’t have a tan which is a bit annoying! In rest time we would watch films or play a card game called Monopoly Deal. It’s like a card version of the board game which only lasts 10 to 15 minutes unlike the board game which can go on forever! So that was good fun although a few of the girls are card sharks!”
With the club outdoor season finished, Maguire is enjoying some rest – relatively speaking – before the indoor leagues begin next month. February brings another Team GB tour, this time to Australia, and Maguire hopes that, if selected, it will bring her closer to being eventually named in coach Danny Kerry’s squad for the Olympics.
“I was happy with my performances in Argentina and hopefullsy I’ve put a bit of a marker down. I think every time you go on the pitch it’s important to put in a display that says “yes, Danny, I want to be picked the next time”. On the other hand the team didn’t perform well and I was a part of that. So I still need to give more to make the team better next time around.”