As Above, So Below
As Above, So Below
White Ferns development players, Flying Kiwis Transfer Tracker, plus a couple Kiwi-NRL notes
Podcast
TNC Variety Show - Episode 47
The Niche Cast - The Coronation (White Ferns/Steven Adams/Flying Kiwis)
Reading Menu
Aotearoa Kiwis Coach Michael Maguire Strikes Again As Wests Tigers Coach (NRL)
Aotearoa Warriors Don't Lack The Centre Vibe: Adam Pompey, Rocco Berry and Viliami Vailea (NRL)
Flying Kiwis – January 19 (Football)
In Their Time Of Need, Newcastle United Have Turned To Chris Wood To Save Them (Football)
Exploring The Possible White Ferns World Cup Squad (Cricket)
When Lockie Ferguson's Fit and Healthy, He's Really Good (Cricket)
Jess and Amelia Kerr Are Aotearoa Cricket's Best Double-Whammy (Cricket)
What Will Gael Sandoval & Scott Wootton Bring To The Wellington Phoenix? (Football)
Scotty’s Word
White Ferns/NZC wahine talent ID…
As the Super Smash rolls on, the women’s side of things tends to fall back into ‘White Ferns woes’ and NZC’s dubious record of talent identification. I did a deep dive into the talent ID stuff last August and these matters keep gaining more clarity, skewing towards ‘wtf’ territory.
First things first we have the White Ferns being 2-15 in ODI cricket under coach Bob Carter … ahead of a home World Cup. Imagine any other Aotearoa team leading into the biggest juncture for that sport in Aotearoa, being 2-15 and everything is honki-dory. Coach Carter’s job security is cozy, stake-holders are drumming up hype for the World Cup, and yet the White Ferns vibe has stunk for Carter’s tenure.
The best White Ferns have all suffered a statistical drop-off under coach Carter to the point where Sophie Devine and Amelia Kerr took time away from cricket for their own wellbeing. Personal wellbeing is up to the individual and vibes are always different, so I can’t pin-point anything to do with Devine/Kerr’s feelings. However I can throw up the fact that both were in their worst pockets of White Ferns cricket prior to taking their respective breaks.
Fringe players are fluffed around. Players with a splash of experience (Kate Ebrahim, Frances Mackay) only get opportunities in weird roles, often overlooked for favoured younger players. The White Ferns are holding camps to prepare for the World Cup and instead of opening up their ranks for the best Super Smash and HBJ Shield players, a select few get invited to training camps. A player may be dominating wahine cricket right now but hasn’t been in the training camp mix and thus won’t be in the World Cup squad. Vice-versa: other players get a free pass despite not being very good in domestic cricket.
Then we have this NZC Development Contract thing that feels similar to the restricted selection mix for the World Cup. The last two years have seen 16 development contracts dished out and the general vibe is that of players who NZC love, while other young players who dominate domestic cricket don’t get those contracts. We have seen White Ferns selected based on warm up game performances (more than 11 players used, chill vibes all round) and White Ferns selected with minimal domestic experience. Whether dev-contracts or White Fern squads, not much selecting is based around who the best players are.
Auckland has received the most dev-contracts and some barely play, others like Bella Armstrong have slipped backwards while being on a dev-contract. Auckland have no youngsters (under 25yrs) among the best Super Smash batters or bowlers (top-10) and have clawed their way to third (4-5) via the veteran mahi (Lauren Down, Kate Perkins, Arlene Kelly and Holly Huddleston leading with bat and ball). In HBJ Shield, Auckland are 0-4 and Fran Jonas is the only notable youngster - ranked 9th for bowlers.
The best youngsters in Auckland’s HBJ Shield batting are Saachi Shahri and Jesse Prasad, plus Shahri has found a nice groove of SS form. Neither Shahri or Prasad have received a dev-contract from NZC; Auckland’s two best young batters (Prasad’s a good bowler too) have not been graced with Auckland’s six (of 16) dev-contracts.
This is a two-fold thing. NZC struggles to identify the best players and of the six Auckland dev-contracts, Jonas is the only player who has improved since getting that contract. Meanwhile Wellington and Otago are straight up dominating SS and HBJ Shield yet they have received one dev-contract each. Sure, Wellington and Otago have some of Aotearoa’s best wahine cricketers ever. They also have the best young talent in Aotearoa and these young players are all playing their role in SS and HBJ Shield success.
Wellington’s only dev-contract is also funky as it was Rebecca Burns (27yrs) in 2020 and, while solid, Burns does not have the upside of Xara Jetly (20yrs), Georgia Plimmer (17yrs) or Maneka Singh (25yrs). Jetly is currently 4th in SS wickets, Singh is a funky lefty among the best SS bowlers for multiple seasons and Plimmer is a 17-year-old with a SS strike-rate of 106 who has impressed opening the batting - Plimmer replaced Burns up top.
Wellington have all their big-donnies and three of Aotearoa’s best young players. None of these three have received dev-contracts but they continue to improve in the Wellington system and are straight up better than Auckland’s group of youngsters.
Then we have Otago wahine - who I keep on yarning about. Eden Carson (20yrs) grabbed Otago’s only dev-contract (2020) and then didn’t make the cut for 2021; Carson is currently 5th in SS wickets and 5th in HBJ Shield wickets, while also being a top-three fielder in SS. Blatantly talented, Carson has not been graced with the Fran Jonas headline youngster love (Jonas headlined both NZC dev-contract announcements) even though Carson’s just as, if not more, effective in domestic cricket.
Otago have four bowlers under 25yrs in the top-10 for SS wickets: Carson, Molly Loe (18yrs), Emma Black (20yrs) and Sophie Oldershaw (23yrs). All four of these bowlers are top-15 in HBJ Shield bowling as well. Like the Wellington trio, this Otago quartet are helping Otago win and given that they form the bulk of Otago’s bowling unit; they are a large reason why Otago are winning.
Only two teams have winning records and 20+ points in the HBJ Shield. Wellington and Otago.
Otago have three batters in the top-10 for SS runs: Bates, Martin and Polly Inglis (25yrs). In HBJ Shield, Inglis averages a healthy 36.50 and other youngsters like Caitlin Blakely and Isabella James have more runs than Inglis. Inglis is a slick talent and the younger sister of Black Stick Hugo Inglis. Blakely and James feel like Wellington’s Caitlin King as they are building into consistent SS cricket, while being solid in HBJ Shield.
Otago and Wellington are the best teams in Aotearoa by far. That includes SS and HBJ Shield, as well as combining the best top-tier talent with the best youngsters. Through the above exploration, I’ve got eight youngsters between Otago and Wellington (Jetly, Singh, Plimmer, Carson, Loe, Black, Oldershaw, Inglis) who have one of 16 dev-contracts between them while also being the best youngsters in wahine cricket.
For context, eight dev-contracts are dished out each year. Here we have eight youngsters dominating and none received dev-contracts this year. Carson is the only one with a dev-contract from both the two years.
As above, so below.
White Ferns woes are very real and nothing about the WF system feels impressive, or aligned with success. When eight of the best young players in Aotearoa right now aren’t perceived to be good enough for dev-contracts, the same confusion from the White Ferns is present in the levels below. Aotearoa wahine cricket continues to be a fascinating case study about talent ID, planning and putting players in the best positions to succeed.
Michael Bracewell fires again…
I believe Michael Bracewell is the best leader in Aotearoa cricket. This includes the team culture he has helped implement and this is evident in their vibe, the fun they have, the freedom they play with and other stuff like Nathan Smith moving from Otago to Wellington where he does a minimal SS job - Smith was more than willing to bat down the order and bowl only when required. Fabulous team culture.
Bracewell also leads with the bat. We saw this with his epic 145* (217sr) to defeat Central Districts at Pukekura Park and again yesterday as Bracewell tightened up his game on a tricky Eden Park deck to seal the win with 54* (123sr). Bracewell has two more not-out innings when chasing; 58* (126sr) vs Auckland and 18* (138sr) vs Otago).
The 18* came after Finn Allen cracked 68 @ 212sr, so I’ll give Bracewell three game-winning knocks and a game-winning polish. All four knocks feature strike-rates over 100. Bracewell is shining as a leader with the bat, to go with the intangible culture leadership stuff.
Stanley Iongi joins Canberra Raiders…
Marist Saints junior Stanley Iongi was the only one out of my seven Auckland junior hookers in NRL systems thing who was not officially signed to an NRL club. I had Iongi aligned with Melbourne Storm because he had singed with Brisbane Tigers who are a Storm feeder club, but there were no official links to the Storm. Now Iongi joins Canberra Raiders and all seven Auckland junior hookers are now signed to NRL clubs.
First nugget here is to take the broadcasting of this information with a grain of salt. ‘The Mole’ reported this move and he has a direct line of contact to NZ agent Dixon McIver - any Mole gossip about Kiwi-NRL juniors comes from McIver. Also, NZRL reported this move on their news feed and NZRL only do so when these moves catch some mainstream buzz. NZ Warriors announced the signing of Zyon Maiu’u and Jacob Laban for example, which NZRL also shared … meanwhile NZ Warriors and NZRL have plenty of high quality juniors signed etc.
This makes it all appear more important than it is. There is less buzz about any of the other six hookers signed to NRL clubs for example, let alone all the other Kiwi-NRL juniors.
For Iongi and Kiwi-NRL Raiders, this is great. There is a long-term sniff at one of the best Kiwi-NRL recruitment clubs for Iongi and the Raiders SG Ball team won that competition last year with Jack Sandford (Christchurch Boys High School 1st 15) at fullback and Sione Moala (Manurewa Marlins) in the halves. Sandford and Moala played spine roles in the SG Ball championship and final against an Illawara Steelers team that had Tyrell Sloan at fullback and Junior Amone in the halves; both played NRL last year.
Iongi joins a low key funky Kiwi-NRL Raiders junior spine with Sandford and Moala.
Ponga whanau…
Could the Ponga whanau be the most powerful family in NRL? Ponder how Kalyn Ponga is a NRL superstar who has had immense contract speculation (All Blacks clause, Redcliffe Dolphins etc etc) and must soon decide where his future lies. On top of this, Kalyn’s father Andre sussed out Kalyn’s move to Newcastle and as I outlined in a previous email; Andre is heavily involved in Kalyn’s business stuff.
Now Andre has wiggled into ‘a role’ with the Knights. I’m keeping it vague because there are various reports about official and unofficial jobs for Andre, but he definitely appears to be heavily involved in Newcastle Knights Women signing eight Kiwi Ferns. This is great for a the low key funky NRLW starting soon as Andre can lay out the right culture vibe for the wahine - all eight are Maori/Polynesian.
Kalyn has all the opportunities an athlete could want and the Knights may not be the best long-term spot for him. Either way, very soon Kalyn will need to figure out his footy future and as evident in contract structure (clauses etc) and different whanau benefits; the Ponga whanau have already tapped into their power (think NBA player empowerment etc). We already have a track-record of the Ponga whanau flexing their power and the next step in this will include Andre working for the Knights which already seems like a weird mix.
This will either become a major issue and media frenzy, or Andre will fall back as Kalyn gets older. Stay tuned.
Wildcard’s Notebook
Flying Kiwis Transfer Tracker
Logan Rogerson | HJK (Finland) -> FC Haka (Finland) | 1 January [Free]
Michael Woud | Almere City (Netherlands) -> Kyoto Sanga (Japan) | 4 January [Undisclosed]
Kyle Adams | Real Monarchs (USA) -> San Diego Loyal (USA) | 5 January [Free]
Nikko Boxall | SJK (Finland) -> San Diego Loyal (USA) | 5 January [Free]
Elliot Collier | Chicago Fire (USA) -> San Antonio FC (USA) | 7 January [Free]
Chris Wood | Burnley FC (England) -> Newcastle United (England) | 13 January [£25m]
Dalton Wilkins | FC Helsingør (Denmark) -> Kolding IF (Denmark) | 13 January [Free]
Alex Greive | Birkenhead Utd (NZ) -> St Mirren (Scotland) | 18 January [Free]
Ollie Whyte | Miramar Rangers (NZ) -> FC Haka (Finland) | TBD [Free]
Been waiting for this one to happen and now it has. Adding another to the January tally of signings, Alex Greive has joined Scottish Premiership side St Mirren on an 18 month contract after a successful trial period. He went over there as part of Birkenhead United’s sister club arrangement with St Mirren (Nelson Suburbs also has the same gig going) and impressed enough that he’s gone straight into the first team. No reserve prep, no loan outs... in fact about eight hours after his signing was confirmed he was making his debut off the bench against Dundee United.
St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin: “We are delighted to have another addition to the squad at the top end of the pitch. Alex is one we have been working with for the last wee while but couldn't get him registered until the January window opened up. He's brings creativity, he's a little bit different to some of the other strikers we have at the moment, he's quite dynamic and he's a decent footballer so we're excited to have him involved. He's a very good professional. He's looked very sharp in training and I think he's surprised one or two. With the extra couple of squad members we can include in the match day squad, Alex might find himself involved tonight.”
Greive was a standout player at North Kentucky University during his time there and returned to absolutely run the show for Waitakere United in the Premiership and subsequently Birkenhead United in the revamped National League – where he was Northern League MVP, though obviously Northern League clubs didn’t get to join in the South Central Series festivities.
By most accounts, AG has been over with St Mirren for a decent amount of time but as the gaffer says they had to wait for the window to open. The fact that he went undrafted in the MLS at the start of last year and is now immediately in at a Scottish Premiership is perhaps not the best endorsement for that pathway, in keeping with some of the yarns from Monday… but it’s worked out all goods for Greivesy in the long run.
Greive only got two minutes plus stoppage time in his St Mirren debut, coming on with his team nursing a 2-1 lead, but he was heavily involved. Lots of energy with those angled runs trying to stretch things. Bore the brunt of a few large central defender aerial challenges but that’s all part of the process. At one stage a loose ball fell to him in the area which he sliced wide off his left boot, perhaps a better chance than it first seemed because of how suddenly it came about. He also nearly got through on the break once but the pass was behind him and he couldn’t control it. Promising overall. His manager did say he offers something different to the team’s other striking options. Hopefully a sign that he’s going to get plenty of opportunities.
What’s more is that another of the absolute standouts of domestic footy – the best player of the South Central Series imo – has apparently gotten himself back on the pro circuit too. After leaving the Wellington Phoenix academy, Ollie Whyte spent a year in Portugal playing in the Rio Ave system (before Nando Pijnaker rocked up there), then he spent a half season at Istanbulspor in Turkey’s second tier (featuring for the first team in cup competition)... before returning to Aotearoa with Team Wellington and Miramar Rangers. Where he was pretty much brilliant throughout. Now the day after his 22nd birthday comes this..
For the record, Logan Rogerson did sign on permanent terms with FC Haka at the start of the month. Rog got good minutes for them last season so it should be a level that Whyte can make a quick adjustment to as well. Whyte wasn’t peaking in that South Central Series, he has a skill set that should translate smoothly to a higher level with better players around him. Just waiting on confirmation from the club, including some of the fine details (length of contract for starters), but I trust Piney’s sources. How good to have a pair of kiwis at a club called FC Haka!?
On that note, any footballers reading this: feel free to give The Niche Cache the scoops on your pro contracts. Might as well put the word out, right? Back the underdogs. Now for a quote…
“Yes, so far. I think both thrive here and both are under contract, so if we are to sell, it at least means that we should get paid well.”
That was Bjarte Lunde Aarsheim, VFK co-coach, in reference to whether the club are comfortable that Joe Bell and striker Veton Berisha will still be there for the start of the 2022 season. Initially he says yes but then he quickly restores the possibility of a sale (for good money, which is fair enough). The trick for Viking is that they’re going to want to replace him if he does leaves so they won’t want to leave it too late, should it happen.
VFK have brought in long-ish term target Niklas Sandberg, a Swedish winger who has played some central midfield in the past. He scored 3 goals with 7 assists last year with Haugesund so he should go alright. And they’ve confirmed ex-Brentford loanee goalie Patrik Gunnarson is coming back on a permanent deal. Plus they’ve signed 18 year old winger Daniel Karlsbakk with an eye for the future. But they don’t want to have to do any other business if they don’t have to – they’re happy with the guys that just got them into European competition. The co-coaches have been out there doing media talking about a title challenge next season so it’s all a bit of a Who Blinks First situation. Bell’s not gonna be impulsive about it.
Curious also to hear Danny Hay speaking this week on Winston Reid, saying that he’s been training with a local club in the UAE, where he’s done the bulk of his fitness work since becoming a free agent, and that there’s a chance he might sign there permanently. Not the sexiest destination but understandable given the family’s there settled with him at the moment.
Finally, this one doesn’t count this one towards the January signings because it’s a different sort of thing. But Aidan Munford’s short-term contract with Brisbane Roar, brought in as goalkeeping cover with Macklin Freke and Jordan Holmes the only keepers on the books, has expired and he’s instead joined NPL side Brisbane Lions. The Roar still only have those keepers on the books but so it goes. Munford got on the bench for one A-League game and will continue to train with the Roar.
