I think long flat blades might be bad for passing. It's a lot more friction. Has anyone tried a wrister on a hockey pitch? Not sure if that'll work. Also, those guys wear almost no padding. The shots are already hard enough. Having stood in the way of a ball after a corner, I can tell you it's not nice.
Not sure what the issue is with the size of the pitch. It's small enough to allow for quick goal to goal action but big enough not to render half the team useless. If you make the pitch smaller, you have to eliminate players. But then we are talking about a different sport already.
Your stick is adjusted for your height. The taller you are the longer the stick and if you are a defender (not me) you may prefer a heavier stick to hit the ball longer and further.
You can execute wrist shots by getting the bottom of the stick under the ball and elevating it. For accuracy you move your hands close to the centre of the stick for placement nearer the top if you want to take a backswing with power.
Wrist shots are pretty rare. It's far easier to wait for the ball to be hit into the circle with pace and get the blade under for a deflection.
You do see dribbles although less often now given the speed of the players is greater now and it's rather difficult to control a ball on a rough grass surface where it is bobbling up and down. The team closest to Russia for example in terms of flair and stick handling is India and they used to be the dominant team in field hockey but have been left behind over the last thirty years.
Looks like they may be making a comeback with recent results. Interesting set of quarter finals with seven pretty competitive teams and Spain who probably are the weakest of the eight.
