Astronomical Numbers
Steven Adams free throws, Kiwi-NRL junior movement, All Whites dodge a Spanish hiding, Men's National League Team of the Week & more
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Reading Menu
2022 Men’s National League – Week 8 Review (Football)
Flying Kiwis – November 25 (Football)
2022/23 HBJ Shield: Five Things From The Opening Weekend (Cricket)
Aotearoa vs India ODI Series Preview (Cricket)
2022/23 Ford Trophy: Henry Shipley, Tom Blundell and Central Districts Class (Cricket)
Scotty’s Word
Hobart Hurricanes and Brisbane Heat have been eliminated from Women's Big Bash League finals, leaving a Sydney Sixers vs Adelaide Strikers final to be played Saturday evening. Brisbane defeated Hobart in the first finals fixture which bumped Hayley Jensen out, then Adelaide Strikers defeated Brisbane to bump the Kerr sisters out. Suzie Bates is locked in for Sixers and they start as favourites to win the final.
Hayley Jensen: 37.5ov, 7w @ 39.57avg/7.32rpo
Amelia Kerr: 15inns, 295 runs @ 26.81avg/118.47sr | 59ov, 21w @ 19.42avg/6.91rpo
Jess Kerr: 30ov, 6w @ 30.83avg/6.16rpo
An Aotearoa 11 of wahine crickets was also named this morning, with a veteran tinge that reflects the strength of women's cricket. This squad will play warm up games against Bangladesh ahead of their series vs White Ferns.
Bernadine Bezuidenhout, Rebecca Burns, Natalie Dodd, Deanna Doughty, Kate Ebrahim, Claudia Green, Leigh Kasperek, Shriya Naidu, Thamsyn Newton, Molly Penfold, Hannah Rowe, Saachi Shahri, Gabby Sullivan
Everyone named in this squad apart from Northern's Shriya Naidu and Canterbury's Gabby Sullivan have been steady domestic performers. Naidu and Sullivan are seamers, with rather different records...
Shriya Naidu: 57.33avg/4.64rpo (LA) | 54.66avg/6rpo (T20)
Gabby Sullivan: 25.29avg/4.23rpo (LA) | 18.42avg/6.45rpo (T20)
Apparently this squad is all about players who suit the White Ferns style of play, although there was no mention of what that style of play is. Stay tuned.
Lydia Ko's scoring averages by year on the LPGA Tour, with a 2022 breakdown...
2014: 70.08 - 5th
2015: 69.44 - 2nd
2016: 69.60 - 2nd
2017: 69.86 - 9th
2018: 70.05 - 7th
2019: 70.98 - 39th
2020: 70.26 - 6th
2021: 69.33 -3rd
July 2022: 70.02 - 8th
October 2022: 69.18 - 1st
November 2022: 69.05 - 1st
December 2022: 68.98 - 1st
Ko finishes 2022 with the lowest scoring average of her 12 years on tour.
News came through this week that Francis Manuleleua will be joining Penrith Panthers now that he has finished school. This means that NZ Warriors have lost Manuleleua and Xavier Tito-Harris who opted to pursue rugby union. Don't get caught up in the Warriors angle though, just put yourself in the boots of these lads.
Manuleleua would have had a bunch of options in Super Rugby and NRL. He chose the best NRL team who also have the best development pipeline, plus he is a young Polynesian who has observed how Panthers have become a cultural hub of sport across Aotearoa and Australia.
Panthers have also lost juniors from their system, most notably the Puru brothers Hohepa and Niwhai who are local juniors. Hohepa left for Raiders and Niwhai has joined Sharks, both were part of the Panthers Jersey Flegg championship team. Niwhai is a half and his departure may be absorbed by Manuleleua's arrival. Not to mention half Isaiya Katoa who left Panthers for Redcliffe Dolphin; Panthers recruited from outside their system to replace departures from their system.
All of which sparked an idea about which Australian teams are good destinations for players leaving NZ Warriors. Panthers are an easy example and I love this move for Manuleleua. Storm and Roosters are the other teams who spring to mind as 'that's a great move for you mate' destinations. The Storm system has had a fabulous connection to Aotearoa and provides immense development opportunities for young men, while Roosters are all class.
Ponder how Joseph Manu and Raecene McGregor won the Golden Boot awards - both represent Aotearoa and Roosters. I will constantly remind folks that Roosters have another wave of Kiwi-NRL juniors on the rise and considering their wahine excellence, this combines for the best Kiwi-NRL organisation.
Cronulla Sharks feel close to this group as they are brewing a hearty culture with Kiwi-NRL foundations. The rest of the Aussie teams don't carry that aura. When a player leaves NZ Warriors for Roosters, Panthers or Storm it's all good, don't stress because you would probably do the same.
As of late November I feel all good with NZ Warriors juniors. Warriors have a bunch of local juniors who will fill up the NSW Cup team and there will be a few lads from the SG Ball team who will impress, pushing for a promotion during the year. This comes back around to Aotearoa's footy abundance as Warriors have their stocks and there is enough Kiwi-NRL junior talent for all 16 NRL teams.
Interesting comparisons to track for Manuleleua will be Ali Leiataua, Navajo Doyle and Eric Va’afusuaga. These lads were all in Kings College 1st 15 over the past few years and Va’afusuaga now seems to be with Bulldogs, Doyle is making a low key impact with Dragons and Leiataua will be hunting Warriors NSW Cup game time.
Chuck Demitric Sifakula into this mix. Sifakula played midfield for De La Salle College 1st 15 and Manuleleua played midfield for Kings College. Sifakula played middle forward for Redcliffe-Warriors U21s this year and this sets up intrigue as to what role Manuleleua settles into with Panthers.
Notable Kiwi-NRL juniors mentioned in our latest podcast…
Caius Fa'atili: Christchurch - Wynnum/Broncos
Salesi Ata'ata: Auckland - Sharks
Jack Sandford: Christchurch - Raiders
K-Ci Newton-Whare: Christchurch - Storm
Keano Kini: Auckland - Titans
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
Some excellent chat right here from Steven Adams, always good for a yarn...
What he’s not so good at is shooting free throws. That’s no secret... but what he’s been up to lately is arguably a new low.
In his last six games Steven Adams has shot 3/22 from the charity stripe. Overall he’s 11/47 for the season after 17 games played – that’s an abysmal 23.4%. His career average is 54% which is pretty bad for an NBA player, though admittedly big men tend to struggle a lot more with those fellas. This should just be a down stretch for him and in time that number will rise back up to something a little more respectable.. but so far this has been kinda disastrous.
Across the entire NBA he’s the only bloke with more than ten attempts who is converting at less than 40%... and Steve-o ain’t even close to that mark. He’d have to make his next 13 free throws in a row to get up to 40%. In fact he’s on pace to attempt 214 free throws this term which means that if nothing changes he could break an all-time record.
Ben Wallace shot 33.6% from the line back in 2000-01 which is the worst percentage ever witnessed for a player with at least 200 attempts in an 82 game season. There are only five men who’ve gone sub-40% meeting that criteria: Wallace (x2), Andre Drummond (x3), Clint Capela, Wilt Chamberlain, and DeAndre Jordan (x2). Adams’ career-worst figure was 44.4% during his New Orleans Pelicans season, which was only from 135 attempts due to the pando hiatus (he played 58 games).
Funny thing is that last year he started off the season by making his first 15 free throws in a row. That was his introduction to the Memphis Grizzlies – coinciding with being reunited with assistant coach Darko Rajakovic who he’d previously worked with at the OKC Thunder. Coach Darko once spurred an uptake in Adams’ free throws by, well, punching him in the gut repeatedly.
“So what he does is, he'll come and, like, punch me in the stomach. I swear to God. He'll come punch me in the stomach or slap me on the arm really hard and he'll just say, ‘Make a free throw' ... That's what he does. It's not fun. I didn't say it was fun, mate. I'm telling you, getting a beating by a little Serbian, it's no good, mate. No good.”
Bit more on Coach Darko from this article from the start of last season. Rajakovic was instrumental in the Grizzlies unlocking the passing and playmaking ability of Adams after he arrived in Memphis and given that previous connection he was probably also pivotal in them trading for Adams in the first place. Anyway, hope the bloke’s been hitting the bags at the gym because he may need to instigate the free throw punch-up tactics once more to fix this slump.
In another world, in another time, in another version of reality... the All Whites would have beaten Costa Rica and qualified for the World Cup and in that eventuality it would have been Aotearoa lining up against this Spanish team for this fixture...
To be honest, I slept through most of that game because this World Cup is absolutely brutal on the ol’ sleeping patterns (love those 8am kickoffs though, so good). So I don’t have a full understanding of exactly what a hiding this was... but based on the highlights and based on those stats it felt like a pretty substantial down-pantsing.
The All Whites and Costa Rica met on contrasting trajectories. Costa Rica had been at several World Cups in a row and had a very experienced core of their team hoping to make it back for one last swing. The New Zealand side had a couple dudes left from 2010 but was mostly built of young players with limited international experience. That was evident in how that game panned out as the big occasion came maybe a little too soon for the All Whites, who’d only really had a year to get themselves into shape after the pando whereas Costa Rica could simply pick up where they left off from a decade’s worth of high-profile games.
That was their major advantage in beating the All Whites and qualifying for the World Cup. It also might be their major weakness now that they’re actually at that World Cup. Remember that the other two teams in their group are Germany and Japan. Germany basically have to win and win big against Costa Rica now (and probably also against Spain) while Japan just beat Germany so they’re clearly a pretty excellent team themselves. It might get a little easier the rest of the way… but not by much.
How would the All Whites have fared against Spain instead? Impossible to say but you’d hope it wouldn’t have gotten to seven goals. Very hard to see how they’d have scored against that Spanish team given they couldn’t score against Costa Rica or Australia but we would have at least had more pressure in the midfield areas.
I genuinely don’t think I’ve ever seen a game before in which a team didn’t attempt a single shot (on or off target), never even took a corner kick, and had less than 20% possession. Incredibly, Spain completed over 1000 passes in that game. Completed. Not just attempted. Those are astronomical numbers. In fact how’s this: Spain’s goalkeeper Unai Simón never even had to take a goal kick.
Five separate Spanish players had over 100 touches, with Aymeric Laporte leading the way with a ridiculous 157. No Costa Rican player got higher than 33 touches. Eight Spanish starters and a further three bench players had pass success rates over 90%. The most annoying thing was that Keylor Navas, who was pretty great against the All Whites, faced eight shots and allowed seven goals. Oli Sail would’ve done better, surely.
Men’s National League – Team of the Week #8
GK – Conor Tracey (Auckland City) – Quite a few candidates here, including Max Tommy and Scott Basalaj (the latter for his playmaking with those long throws lol), but CT came out on top thanks to some clutch saves. Hardly had anything to do in the first half but needed to be at his best to stop Miramar Rangers attempted an unlikely comeback… with bonus points for the fact he got the job done in torrential rain.
RB – Isaac Hughes (Wellington Phoenix) – Not a right back... but there were three outstandingly good CB performances in week eight so we had to improvise. Isaac Hughes did give away a penalty but otherwise he was massive. Read the game so well. Dealt (most of the time) with the immense threat of Garbhan Coughlan. And set up a goal too with a sneaky back-flick off a slick set piece routine (set pieces are a theme of this week’s TOW).
CB – Dino Botica (Birkenhead United) – More of the usual from Dino. Commanding and powerful at the back. This National League season has seen him elevate himself into the realms of the best defenders in the country. Mark them words.
CB – Liam Wood (Miramar Rangers) – The fact that Rangers were even still in the contest for that late flurry against Auckland City was largely the cause of two factors: some atrocious weather and some miraculous defending from Liam Wood, inspiring a pretty young group around him with his heroic enterprise.
LB – Dylan Hobson (Birkenhead United) – In all honesty the Birko vs Auckland Utd game wasn’t a classic of entertainment. Two good defensive teams didn’t allow for that. Instead it was a game full of fouls in which set pieces were ultimately the difference. Two free kicks. Both taken by Dylan Hobson, set piece specialist. The first he smashed in for a brilliant goal and the second was a cross from deep for an assist.
CM – Nico Pennington (Wellington Phoenix) – What you want to see from a pro player dropping down to the reserves is undeniable class and a serious attitude. Don’t piss around, give it your best, and also prove that your best dominates the rest of the crowd. Pennington scored a mad goal, completely bossed the centre of the pitch, and made a few notable effort plays as well. Ticked all the boxes.
CM – Sho Goto (Napier City Rovers) – Tough mahi for Napier away to Melville, battling hard but going down 4-3. The main reason they held in there like they did was some class finishing (until a missed penalty, lol) and the goal that Sho Goto scored was full banger material. Really reliable defensive midfielder too. Always quality even when he slides under the radar.
CM – Josh Galletly (Melville United) – This dude is a dead ball wizard. His deliveries from corners and free kicks are already worthy of the reputation and last week he also scored an outstanding direct free kick, the second direct FK he’s scored this season. Not to mention some excellent playmaking from a deeper midfield spot. Word is that he’s off to trial with the Melbourne City academy next...
FW – Jesse Randall (Wellington Olympic) – Player of the week without a shadow of a doubt... this dude not only scored four goals but he also had two assists in Welly Olympic’s stunning 7-1 win over Christchurch Utd. Relentlessly popping up in the right places. He’s been dishing up assists all term but only had two goals prior to that game so maybe it was inevitable that he’d explode eventually.
FW – Oliver Colloty (Melville United) – Melville have won four in a row and OC has scored in each of those games. Great finisher but what’s even more impressive about the 19yo striker is how constantly involved he always is. Out there making things happen.
FW – Liam Gillion (Auckland City) – As ACFC slugged away in the rain seeking a breakthrough against Miramar it wasn’t any of the usual heroes sparking things it was young winger Gillion. His pace and directness on the right wing accounted for almost everything they did in the first half and just before the break he got his reward with a sweetly taken goal. Quieter in the second half but no dramas there when the first was so influential.