Calm Down, Have A Tea
Dan Hooker, NZ Warriors & Ash Taylor, Football Ferns fixtures, Kiwi-WBBL, and Steven Adams
Podcast
TNC Variety Show - Episode 34
The Niche Cast: Intensely Self-Deprecating
Reading Menu
How Gold Coast Titans Are Building A Kiwi-NRL Powerhouse (NRL)
Steven Taylor’s Retirement Is The Latest In A String Of Dark Portents For The Welly Nix (Football)
Flying Kiwis – September 28 (Football)
The All Whites Squad For Curaçao & Bahrain Has Been Named, Let Us Take A Wee Looksee... (Football)
Flying Kiwis - Winston Reid And West Ham Have Consciously Uncoupled (Football)
Media Day Yarns With Steven Adams (Basketball)
Sean Marks Has Quietly Had Yet Another Fantastic Offseason With The Brooklyn Nets (Basketball)
2021 City Kickboxing Tracker: Dan Hooker Mana Is Different (UFC)
Scotty’s Word
Dan Hooker vs Islam Makhachev…
Less than a week after Dan Hooker defeated Nasrat Haqparast, the UFC lightweight has another fight booked for October 31st (NZT) against Islam Makhachev in Abu Dhabi - UFC’s fight island thing. This makes complete logistical sense and while there are the headlines about Team Citykickboxing moving overseas, this is exactly that but the low key version. Which makes me wonder why Israel Adesanya’s comments hit a nerve with whoever in Aotearoa because Hooker is now overseas ‘indefinitely’.
Most of Aotearoa’s sporting excellence revolves around our sporting exports. Maybe it was Adesanya’s emotions and passion that irked folks, but all kiwi sporting exports should be getting as close to their action as possible right now. Availability is the best ability and this has hindered Team CKB in the past as they can only pounce on certain opportunities given travel logistics. Hooker is effectively an export and now he’s got a fight against the bogeyman of the division.
I’ll dive deeper into this over the weekend as it really is fascinating. Makhachev has taken over the Dagestan perch from Khabib Nurmagomedov and has struggled to book a fight because top-10 contenders don’t want to fight Makhachev. He’s got the Khabib grappling prowess and hefty striking, which is a divine match up; can Hooker defend Makhachev’s takedowns??
Which wiggles into coaching. Hooker and Alex Volkanovski showcased supreme coaching last weekend, with Eugene Bareman and Team CKB’s coaching staff part of Volkanovski’s game planning. Now Hooker comes up against the grappler who learned with Khabib, who grew up with Khabib, who has taken over from Khabib.
NZ Warriors & Ash Taylor…
There is no risk in signing Ash Taylor for a train and trial deal. Taylor would provide a third halves option alongside Shaun Johnson and Chanel Harris-Tavita, plus Taylor won’t have to move far from his Gold Coast whare as the Warriors will be in Redcliffe next season. This would give the Warriors three solid NRL halves and that’s a decent foundation to work with.
My low key thing here is that Warriors don’t have sizzling halves in their juniors. Sebastyan Jack (Marist) has featured in various Aotearoa rep teams, played SG Ball last year before moving with Warriors to play Redcliffe Dolphins U18 this year. That SG Ball team had Sione Moala (Manurewa) in the halves and he went to Canberra Raiders earlier this year.
The deeper I went into this GC Titans Kiwi-NRL recruitment piece led me to the Titans signing Amarni Wetini-Ngaropo (Manurewa) and he was part of Junior Warriors footy this year as a half. Jack is the only Warriors half playing for Redcliffe (U18s, U21s and ISC - reserve grade) and the Warriors have let two halves prospects leave to other clubs over the past 12 months.
That could be terrible.
It could also be a case of zoning in on halves with NRL experience, while promoting juniors in positions that are better suited to youth. Of course you want halves prospects coming through but the swift rises of Viliami Vailea, Rocco Berry, Edward Kosi and Taniela Otukolo to NRL footy reflects the promotion of youth in other positions. Below NRL I’ve tracked how the Kepu twins quickly went from SG Ball to Redcliffe U21s to Redcliffe ISC and both played in the forwards as Redcliffe lost their ISC finals game last weekend.
I’m just typing what I’m seeing. Minimal junior depth in a position that is better suited to experience. Maximum junior depth in positions that require athletes and youthful pizzazz.
Kiwi-WBBL…
So far Amelia Kerr (Brisbane) and Suzie Bates (Adelaide) have withdrawn from Women’s Big Bash League. I expect most kiwis to pull out of WBBL07 as they’ll not only have to do the quarantine stuff after just returning from England, but any extra quarantines could impact availability for White Ferns cricket this summer. There may be someone like Sophie Devine (Perth) who opts to play WBBL instead of Super Smash and some WF fixtures.
This is different to the kiwi sporting exports as the action for these ladies will be in Aotearoa. Yes WBBL is a far greater opportunity than Hallyburton-Johnstone Shield (50-over) and Super Smash, however there is a completely viable option of withdrawing from WBBL to stick to Aotearoa’s domestic cricket.
If a Kiwi-UFC fighter doesn’t go overseas, they don’t fight. If Bates pulls out of WBBL she can still have a full summer of mahi.
Low key I’d love for a few more players to withdraw from WBBL, if not all. I love covering Kiwi-WBBL action and I also want to see HBJ Shield and Super Smash stacked with White Ferns. The rise of WBBL has seen more and more kiwi wahine play WBBL each summer, so a change could be good for Aotearoa women’s cricket ahead of a home World Cup.
Wildcard’s Notebook
The Footy Ferns Have Games...
Two of them, even. Jitka Klimková will get her first opportunity to take charge of the team on October 23 and 26 as the Fernies take on Olympic champs Canada in Ontario and Quebec. It’s part of the Canadian team’s victory lap after Tokyo gold, taking games around the country as a showcase. Very much in the USA mould of doing things.
Canada’s a funky one because there are all sorts of connections to NZ Football. The women’s team coach is Bev Priestman who worked for NZF from 2009-13 in a role similar to what’s now known as the technical director job. Men’s coach John Herdman was once the Football Ferns coach himself. Also fresh from working in the Liverpool women’s coaching staff, kiwi Emma Humphries, who is married to Priestman, recently got the job as director of women's football development at the Vancouver Whitecaps. And the Ferns have played Canada a couple of times recently, losing 2-0 at the 2019 World Cup and then losing 3-0 in a friendly tournament in China soon after.
The two nations also drew 0-0 at the 2015 World Cup which Canada hosted... though you have to go back to the very first time they played, in December 1987, for the only instance of New Zealand beating Canada in a senior women’s international. So, yes, the major point here has to be that it’s great news to see the Ferns kicking into their next era – and by effect their build up towards the 2023 World Cup – a mere couple months after the Olympics. That’s ideal. The more that Klimková gets to work with the squad the better they’ll be. Getting that first introduction out of the way nice and early (although remember quite a few of the team are already familiar with JK from her time with the youth teams) is exactly what needs to happen and this quote from CEO Andrew Pragnell in the press release is hitting some good areas, particularly the bit about future games...
“Of course we’re delighted to have secured this series against Canada. Despite the challenges posed to international football by the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s vitally important that we are able to get Jitka and the squad together, and begin planning a route to success in 2023. Our expectation is that all future international windows for the Football Ferns will be filled, and filled with high quality opposition. The preparation for our opening game at Eden Park starts now, and opponents don’t get much higher quality than Olympic Gold medallists.”
Except for one bit. See, the Footy Ferns are no strangers to playing against ‘high quality opposition’. They qualify for every World Cup and Olympics. In the last five years they have played USA four times, Canada twice, Australia twice, England once, Sweden once, Japan once, Netherlands once. And what do those games have in common? Apart from a wonderful 1-0 win against England in preparation for the last World Cup, the Football Ferns lost the lot of them. They have not won again since beating England in June 2019. They’ve drawn one and lost 11 of their last 12 fixtures.
We’re co-hosting the next World Cup. We’ve played against all these star players and great teams before. If anyone’s still got glittery eyes over the idea of playing against ‘high quality opposition’ then they’re not paying attention. That’s underdog material and the Ferns have been in that position for long enough for it to get boring. These players didn’t leave the last World Cup or Olympics happy to have been there, they left devastated after three defeats. They’re trying to bridge the gap to these teams. They’re out there for results.
The problem is that they’re caught in a space between being way too good for their own confederation but not good enough for the major tournaments they therefore qualify for. They don’t play hardly any fixtures against teams of their own level where they can work on the things they need to work on. So while it’s nice to see games on the calendar and I can appreciate that they’re taking what they can get on some level – one of the main reasons they play fairly often against the USA is that the USA can afford to pay for everything - forgive me for wondering if these are the best kinds of matches for the team to be playing at the moment.
Oh and also they reckon the squad will be ‘predominantly’ players based in Europe and North America for logistical reasons. Which is one of the main reasons why Klimková hasn’t moved to New Zealand yet, so as to be available for the October international window. That wasn’t a problem for the All Whites but it might be more of one for the Ferns. Not an unsurmountable one by any means but there are seven players currently contracted with A-League W clubs and more to come with the SheNix now a thing. Not to mention those based in Aotearoa at the moment.
You’ll still have the likes of Ria Percival, Abby Erceg, Ali Riley, Meikayla Moore, Olivia Chance, Anna Leat, CJ Bott, Katie Bowen, Betsy Hassett, Emma Rolston. Presumably. Injuries or availability could be a factor on any individual basis but let’s assume they’re all goods. Chuck in Katie Rood who wasn’t in the Olympic squad to complete a baseline starting eleven. There’s also Vic Esson as a backup keeper. Not sure what’s up with Jana Radosavljevic, who missed the Olympics with injury and is yet to sign with a new club since being released by Werder Bremen in June. Whether she’s fit enough to play, that’s doubtful. But even if she is then that’s still nowhere near a full squad, is it?
Hence what I suspect we’ll see is quite a few college players being called up. That went well for Gabi Rennie at the Olympics where she scored on debut against Australia. Having half a squad of pre-professionals though... up against the Olympic champs on their own turf... that’s tricky. At least the ‘predominantly’ bit does lend a little hope that one or two others may be able to feature.
Kiwi Steve in the NBA...
Following on from a couple trends at Media Day, the Memphis Grizzlies have cracked into training camp now and reporters have again been in attendance which means an abundance of Steven Adams stuff. Seriously, they absolutely love the dude there already. It’s like night and day from the Pelicans experience, where he found himself on a team without an identity, where he was yet another moving piece as they tried to figure that out, and where his personality wasn’t able to shine because of covid restrictions/regulations. But this time it’s different. All signs point directly towards a massive bounce back season from the main man.
First trend is that he’s already getting deep into his role as a teacher within the unit...
Second trend is that the Zach Randolph incident of his rookie year is not gonna be a factor...
Third is that the relationship with Jaren Jackson Jr is coming along nicely, although how JJJ thought that watching Love Island was gonna help with with New Zealand accents in any way is beyond me...
And a bonus one is that the free throws remain a work-on...