Breakfast Beef
Blackcaps stats, David Ball x Welly Nix, Otago cricket, Flying Kiwis Transfer Tracker & more
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An Optimistic Perspective About The New Zealand Warriors Future Without Tohu Harris (Rugby League)
New Zealand Warriors Wider Squad & Summer Training Break Down Ahead Of 2025 NRL Season (Rugby League)
The Kiwi-NRL Juniors Who Helped Australian Teams Win In 2024 (Rugby League)
Observations From The Second Auckland FC vs Wellington Phoenix Derby (Football)
Five Things From The Wellington Phoenix's Return To Winning Ways vs Newcastle Jets (Football)
Steven Adams Is Getting Back To His Old Self Again After A Slow And Steady NBA Revival (Basketball)
2024/25 Super Smash Scout: All Things Auckland, Central Districts, Wellington, Canterbury (Cricket)
Scotty’s Word
Monday podcast means less words and more basics in the newsletter. Ben Sears got selected in the Blackcaps Champions Trophy squad so here is all the Sears stuff you need to know...
Career
Tests: 32.2avg/4.8rpo
T20Is: 22.31avg/8.1rpo
FC: 28.19avg/3.7rpo
LA: 34.52avg/5.6rpo
T20: 20.42avg/7.9rpo
List-A seasons
2018/19: 7w @ 27.14avg/5rpo
2019/20: 7w @ 32avg/5.3rpo
2020/21: 11w @ 24avg/6rpo
2021/22: 3w @ 80avg/5.9rpo
2022/23: 5w @ 29.6avg/7.3rpo
2023/24: 7w @ 44.8avg/5.1rpo
T20Is by year
2021: 1w @ 32avg/8rpo
2022: 5w @ 20.8avg/6.9rpo
2023: 3w @ 21.3avg/8rpo
20224: 10w @ 22.4avg/8.9rpo
Blackcaps Champions Trophy Squad ODI/List-A stats…
Will Young
ODI: 46.25avg/88sr
LA: 42.95avg/89sr
Rachin Ravindra
ODI: 41.08avg/109sr | 46.6avg/6rpo
LA: 36.14avg/102sr | 52.3avg/5.5rpo
Devon Conway
ODI: 44.5avg/90sr
LA: 44.29avg/87sr
Kane Williamson
ODI: 48.64avg/81sr
LA: 47.23avg/81sr
Daryl Mitchell
ODI: 50.53avg/98sr | 22.15avg/5.7rpo
LA: 40.33avg/88sr | 30.14avg/6rpo
Tom Latham
ODI: 34.45avg/86sr
LA: 35.67avg/86sr
Mark Chapman
ODI: 35avg/105sr
LA: 43avg/97sr
Glenn Phillips
ODI: 31.24avg/96sr | 42avg/5.8rpo
LA: 33.16avg/91sr | 42.12avg/5.8rpo
Michael Bracewell
ODI: 39.78avg/115sr | 37.52avg/5.21rpo
LA: 33.82avg/90sr | 36.84avg/5.1rpo
Mitchell Santner
ODI: 26.26avg/90sr | 36.98avg/4.8rpo
LA: 27avg/90sr | 34.63avg/4.7rpo
Nathan Smith
ODI: 6.5avg/67sr | 45.2avg/6.6rpo
LA: 24.15avg/93sr | 32.47avg/5.4rpo
Matt Henry
ODI: 10.7avg/94sr | 25.43avg/5.1rpo
LA: 11.8avg/107sr | 26.37avg/5.1rpo
Lockie Ferguson
ODI: 31.55avg/5.6rpo
LA: 27.46avg/5.4rpo
Will O'Rourke
ODI: 31.62avg/5.6rpo
LA: 22.33avg/4.8rpo
Ben Sears
LA: 34.52avg/5.6rpo
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Otago Volts and Sparks are at the top of both ladders ahead of Monday's Auckland vs Northern Districts game day. Here are their stats so far...
Otago Sparks
Batting
Polly Inglis: 109 runs @ 36avg/99sr
Olivia Gain: 91 runs @ 30avg/101sr
Caitlin Blakely: 82 runs @ 20avg/90sr
Suzie Bates: 72 runs @ 18avg/90sr
Bella James: 62 runs @ 12avg/97sr
Felicity Robertson: 44 runs @ 8avg/85sr
Anna Browning: 20 runs @ 20avg/91sr
Bowling
Eden Carson: 13w @ 8avg/5.3rpo
Emma Black: 7w @ 14avg/4.9rpo
Kirstie Gordon: 7w @ 15avg/5.2rpo
Hayley Jensen: 6w @ 15avg/4.8rpo
Anna Browning: 2w @ 23avg/6.5rpo
Felicty Robertson: 2w @ 24avg/6.1rpo
Otago Volts
Batting
Dean Foxcroft: 120 runs @ 60avg/125sr
Dale Phillips: 111 runs @ 27avg/176sr
Max Chu: 109 runs @ 36avg/156sr
Llew Johnson: 72 runs @ 24avg/156sr
Leo Carter: 70 runs @ 23avg/106sr
Jamal Todd: 61 runs @ 20avg/160sr
Bowling
Dean Foxcroft: 7w @ 12avg/5.8rpo
Andrew Hazeldine: 7w @ 19avg/7.9rpo
Matt Bacon: 6w @ 22avg/6.9rpo
Ben Lockrose: 6w @ 22avg/7.3rpo
Mason Clarke: 4w @ 26avg/8.2rpo
Luke Georgeson: 2w @ 27avg/6.7rpo
Ruben Clinton: 1w @ 22avg/11rpo
Musical jam...
Wildcard’s Notebook
Say ka kite to David Ball because the Wellington Phoenix have finally released him. Pity they waited until just after we recorded the podcast but okay. Bally was in the last year of his contract, using up a valuable import spot for a team that’s lost five of their last six, and he’d not even made a matchday squad since the fifteen minutes he played in week one. He wasn’t in the plans and now he’s been let go.
It’s a good thing this has finally happened because, damn, football fans really don’t seem to cope well with grey areas. The guy has been a superb servant of the club, pushing towards legend status when you consider the injuries that he’s played through and the workrate he always brought. But his last couple of years were stark in decline. He didn’t score a single goal in 1649 minutes of action last season and only got two in 1812 mins in the previous season. Absence tends to make the heart grow fonder so there have been Nix fans pleading for Ball to be recalled during these past few weeks and not only was that simply never going to happen, he also wasn’t going to fix anything. He’s not what they need. What they need is to use that import spot on somebody else... and it would appear that’s what’s happening.
As for the repeated claim that this has been a terrible way to treat a great club man... yeah, I dunno about that either. Seems to me that Ball is settled in Wellington with his family and his youth academy. Seems to me that he’d probably only want to leave if there was a super duper financial offer on the cards and yet it also seems to me that he’s not good enough to get one of those any more. And we’ve already discussed his situation with the Nix first team, falling out of favour behind a cohort of youngsters. Chiefy doesn’t want to go backwards.
But, like, Ball’s still been involved with the reserve team (which some seem to view as an insult when actually, for a future coach, it’s probably massively helpful - although you know me, I’m not about to hear any slander of the NZ National League). He’s been there to support the lads on a few matchdays (there were images of him encouraging Luke Brooke-Smith before the latter made his first start... ostensibly in the position that Ball himself would have loved to be playing) and he’s continued to train hard throughout. Most importantly, he’s been getting paid. The Nix kept him employed for as long as they could before the transfer window forced their hand.
Ball seems to be a champion bloke and there’s no sign of any bad blood between the relevant parties (he literally said: “we’ve finished on great terms” in the press release). Disagreements, sure – and I will note that the press release included quotes from Ball, Shaun Gill, and Alex Rufer... but not Giancarlo Italiano. However, I think the “disgraceful treatment” idea is mostly just something people are hallucinating without knowing the ins and outs. But respect to David Ball, not only for a fine overall stint with the club but also for selflessly accepting a mutual release that clearly benefits the club more than it does himself. A club man to the very end... assuming that this is the end because he’ll probably spend a year or two at, like, Wellington Olympic while he gets started on his coaching badges and then return to the Nix system in that capacity somewhere down the line.
ALM Kiwi Minutes Leaders in 2024-25
Alex Paulsen (Auckland FC) – 990 mins
Nando Pijnaker (Auckland FC) – 990
Kosta Barbarouses (Wellington Phoenix) – 965
Francis De Vries (Auckland FC) – 906
Liam Gillion (Auckland FC) – 892
Isaac Hughes (Wellington Phoenix) – 884
Storm Roux (Central Coast Mariners) – 828
Alex Rufer (Wellington Phoenix) – 810
Matthew Sheridan (Wellington Phoenix) – 804
Tim Payne (Wellington Phoenix) - 778
ALW Kiwi Minutes Leaders in 2024-25
Claudia Bunge (Melbourne Victory) – 990 mins
Mackenzie Barry (Wellington Phoenix) – 945
Deven Jackson (Newcastle Jets) – 915
Annalie Longo (Wellington Phoenix) – 884
Grace Jale (Wellington Phoenix) – 853
Lara Wall (Wellington Phoenix) – 826
Liz Anton (Canberra United) – 810
Alyssa Whinham (Wellington Phoenix) – 764
Rebekah Stott (Melbourne City) – 690
Zoe McMeeken (Wellington Phoenix) – 591
Breakfast Time with Steven Adams...
Flying Kiwis Transfer Tracker
The hits keep coming over here, starting with a couple of lads popping over to Ireland: Oskar Van Hattum to Sligo Rovers and Moses Dyer to Galway United. Both in the top division over there. Both widely rumoured ahead of time. OVH fell down the pecking order at the Welly Nix and was entering the last few months of his contract. The Irish season runs yearly so preseason is coming up soon. They clearly weren’t extending him and he wasn’t playing much (though he did admit this move was about a month in the works so that aligns with when he started dropping out of squads)... so might as well get started in Ireland as soon as possible.
As for Dyer, well, he did have options because multiple Canadian Premier League clubs were after his services following several excellent years there. But Dyer’s been-there-done-that in Canada and he also keeps telling reporters on either side of the Atlantic Ocean that he wants an All Whites recall. That wasn’t happening in Canada. It probably won’t happen in Ireland but at least he’d be in with a shot there. The last All Whites squad didn’t include Alex Greive, Andre De Jong, or Max Mata so he’ll have to overtake quite a few blokes to get there but hopefully he gives it a proper crack.
Those moves are nothing compared to the bombshell of Anna Leat leaving Aston Villa. This is a confusing one to get a head around because it was presented as purely personal, that Leat wanted to move back to be close to family, but there are also clear football reasons why she’d want to leave Villa. When you’re into your third year at a club yet are stuck behind a third different starting goalie then you’ve got every reason to want to try somewhere else. Leat hasn’t even made a matchday squad this season, having suffered a head injury in training after getting back from the Olympics. There’s never been any clarification on exactly what happened, nor why she continued to be left out after apparently returning to training two months ago. She was reportedly going to leave after last season but then flipped back to sign a one-year extension... and hasn’t played since.
Naturally, this is where people start piping up with Auckland FC calls. That could very definitely happen, the ALW is the obvious spot for someone like Leat to spend some time rebooting her career. It’s not the ideal spot for the Football Ferns number one, especially compared to where she’s been, but the likes of Katie Bowen and Indi Riley have recently and successfully used the A-League to that purpose before launching back overseas and discovering career-best form. AFC don’t even have a coach yet so any player signings might be a little premature. That might not matter for a marquee signing such as Leat, whom any coach should want, but who knows. If they didn’t start this ball rolling then they’re surely going to be putting in a few calls now. Otherwise, every club in the competition would be improved by her addition.
In roads less travelled news, Joe Champness hasn’t wasted much time after leaving Auckland FC – s’pose that makes him the club’s first outgoing transfer – as he’s randomly popped up in Iran, signing with Havadar SC in the Persian Gulf Pro League. That’s the top tier of Iranian footy… although the team that he’s signed for is currently last with one win from 15 games. Maybe he’ll do alright there. Nothing but bad vibes about his time at AFC but there’s plenty of talent in there when the application allows.
NAC Breda played their first game back after the winter break camp that Matt Garbett wasn’t invited to... and Garbs was nowhere to be seen so there’s been no sudden change of heart from his coach. Just waiting on a deal to get done that sends him elsewhere. Also waiting on Chris Wood’s new Nottingham Forest contract, with the latest being that he’s going to get a 1+1 deal, having been holding out for two years while the club wanted to offer him one. Dunno why Forest are being so hesitant on that, his game is ageing like fine wine, but as long as it gets done then we shan’t complain. Abby Erceg is the other major transfer-in-waiting after she chose to leave Racing Louisville after last season. Every Tyler Bindon game for Reading feels like it could be his last. The likes of Ollie Whyte, Ally Green, and Jay Herdman are free agents. Will Oscar Faulds follow the Stipe Ukich trail of National League to European pro? We’re not even halfway through the month yet and many yarns remain unconcluded.
January 2025 Transfer Window – Done Deals:
Stipe Ukich - Auckland City to NK Istra 1961
Henry Gray - Ipswich Town to Braintree Town (Loan)
Gabi Rennie - Aland United to Eskilstuna United
Alex Greive - Bohemians to San Antonio FC
Oskar Van Hattum - Wellington Phoenix to Sligo Rovers
Joe Champness - Auckland FC to Havadar SC
Anna Leat - Aston Villa to Free Agent
Moses Dyer - Vancouver FC to Galway United
Musical Jam...