Cleaning & Redecorating
Charlisse Leger-Walker, Warriors vs Storm, Blackcaps & NZ-A, Auckland FC/Wellington Phoenix, Football Ferns, NBL, and more
Scotty’s Word
Delightful win for NZ Warriors vs Melbourne Storm in the NRL although the trend of losing weekends continued with two losses below the NRL level.
NRL: 38-14
NSW Cup: 24-32
Jersey Flegg Cup: 24-26
Three 17-year-olds have played NSW Cup for NZW this season. I knew Bishop Neal was 17 when he debuted a few weeks ago but I couldn’t confirm the age of his Christchurch homie Amasio Tiatia for his debut, as well as Jeremiah Lemana who played at centre vs Storm. NZW confirmed the ages for Tiatia and Lemana in their NSW Cup game preview, as well as laying out that Neal turns 18 on May 10, Lemana turns 18 on July 31, and Tiatia turns 18 on August 9.
That’s a great nugget to have tucked away for your own yarns. I thought Neal would be alone in playing NSW Cup at 17, especially because Leka Halasima had done this previously during the two Andys era. Neal is similar to Halasima as an edge forward, but Tiatia is a hooker and Lemana is a fullback/centre.
NZW showed the kinda of response and resilience that was lacking in losses vs Tigers and Sharks. Not only did they bounce back from those losses to find their groove, Storm also scored their two tries between 15-25 minutes into the game and that was the same zone when Tigers/Sharks got busy in their wins vs NZW.
NZW scored a try in the 30th minute to stop the rot, then they controlled the second half with and without the footy. Control with the footy is evident in 88% completions and the kicking game of the halves. Control without the footy was all about dominating the collision and thus the ruck speed.
In their four wins this season NZW have restricted their opposition below 20 points. They have conceded less than 15 points in three of their wins this season and currently have a points differential of +76, which was -18 after their first six games last season.
Updating the average set distance/completion rate combo from the last dispatch...
vs Roosters: 39.26m | 39.52m - 81%
vs Raiders: 36.19m | 37.88m - 86%
vs Knights: 38.37m | 40.01 - 87%
vs Tigers: 32.79m | 37.35m - 77%
vs Sharks: 35.9m | 44.84m - 76%
vs Storm: 32.2m | 30.5m - 88%
NZW finally made more metres per set than their opponent. They did have their lowest set distance of the season but that was balanced by restricting Storm to the lowest set distance of Warriors opponents this season - first game conceding less than 36m/set.
Other bits and bobs...
Ali Leiataua has won all six NRL/NSW Cup games played this year. He has won 13 NRL/NSW Cup games in a row.
Chanel Harris-Tavita is 17-10 in the last season and a bit. He had a losing record in his first five seasons and went 14-10 last season, now 3-0 to start this season.
NZ Warriors forward pack minutes vs Storm
James Fisher-Harris: 54
Wayde Egan: 62
Jackson Ford: 80
Leka Halasima: 80
Marata Niukore: 34
Erin Clark: 39
Sam Healey: 18
Jacob Laban: 52
Demitric Vaimauga: 41
Tanner Stowers-Smith: 26
Taine Tuaupiki tackle breaks in each game this season
vs Raiders: 6
vs Knights: 7
vs Tigers: 6
vs Sharks: 3
vs Storm: 5
Demitric Vaimauga had the most passes (10) and offloads (3) of the non-hooker NZ Warriors forwards vs Storm. Vaimauga had more touches (28) than Jackson Ford who played all 80mins and had twice as many passes as Erin Clark who usually leads Warriors forwards for passing.
For paid susbcribers I have NZ Warriors deep cuts, NSWRL U19 finals try-scorers and more NZ-A information after their one-day series in Sri Lanka. I’m also doing audio hits covering NZ-A and Blackcaps for paid subscribers and the Patreon whanau, big ups helping to fund our mahi.
There have been a few tweaks to Blackcaps and NZ-A squads. Blackcaps are preparing for the tour of Bangladesh that starts later this week and Kristian Clarke was injured playing for NZ-A, so he won’t slide into the Blackcaps series. Ben Lister has been promoted from NZ-A to Blackcaps and Ben Sears dips out of the ODI series for a T20 job, before returning to Blackcaps for the T20I series.
My focus here is on Lister. He was selected for NZ-A ahead of Ray Toole who was the leading wicket-taker in Plunket Shield last season and the young lefty Thomas O’Connor. Lister has already played 15 games for Aotearoa and was part of the NZ-A group last year, as well as being called into the Blackcaps squad during their tour of Zimbabwe.
Lister still sits behind a bunch of seamers across the formats and that’s most evident in Clarke being ahead of him, let alone all the others. Coach Rob Walter does seem to like Lister though and I also like his style of lefty seam bowling in which he usually moves the ball away from righties, into lefties. Not traditional lefty swing styles and that’s helped Lister gather a strong career record across the formats.
Lister’s career mahi
ODI: 39.5avg/6rpo
T20I: 28.7avg/8.5rpo
FC: 26.3avg/2.7rpo
LA: 35.2avg/5.4rpo
T20: 26avg/8rpo
Lister also seems to be often injured and was the worst seamer for NZ-A in Sri Lanka, as well as having down phases in domestic cricket. None of the stuff below screams out Blackcaps selection but Lister has been around the group for a long time and his Blackcaps status moving forward will depend on whether he can snap up this opportunity.
NZ-A one-dayers in Sri Lanka: 1w @ 75avg/6rpo
2025/26 Plunket Shield: 11w @ 27avg/2.7rpo
2025/26 Ford Trophy: 6w @ 42.8avg/4.8rpo
2025/26 Super Smash: 1w @ 72avg/10.2rpo
Best NZ-A players for one-dayers in Sri Lanka
Muhammad Abbas: 132 runs @ 132avg/80sr
Matt Boyle: 102 runs @ 51avg/110sr
Curtis Heaphy: 71 runs @ 71avg/75sr
Tim Pringle: 6w @ 24.6avg/5.4rpo
Simon Keene: 6w @ 25avg/6.7rpo
Adithya Ashok: 4w @ 41.2avg/6.8rpo
Musical jam...
Nick’s Notebook
The WNBA didn’t invite Charlisse Leger-Walker to the Draft on Tuesday NZT. That doesn’t mean she won’t be there and it certainly doesn’t mean she won’t be drafted. They only gave official invites to 15 players... and five of those went to UCLA teammates: Lauren Betts, Angela Dugalic, Kiki Rice, Gabriela Jaquez & Gianna Kneepkens.
For CLW to be the only senior left off the list is extremely rude. Not sure what the procedure is there (Does she have to pay for a ticket? Does it mean she has to sit further back?) but she’s already travelled to New York with all the rest of them so she’ll be in attendance regardless. Might even get picked ahead of some of the others. She’ll definitely get picked ahead of some of this lot, the other ten players given official invites...
Nell Angloma (France), Awa Fam Thiam (Spain), Azzi Fudd (UConn), Flau’jae Johnson (LSU), Raven Johnson (South Carolina), Ta’Niya Latson (South Carolina), Cotie McMahon (Ole Miss), Olivia Miles (TCU), Madina Okot (South Carolina/Kenya) and Marta Suarez (TCU/Spain).
UCLA’s coach, Cori Close, is also in New York along with almost her entire staff (except for the bloke who handles their transfers since he’s busy replenishing the roster for next season beyond all these graduates). They’re making a whole party about it, rightfully tying it into what they’ve achieved with their national title. Respect to Coach Close because she understands what’s going on…
Cori Close on CLW: “I think Char is predicted to go anywhere between 13 and 17, probably, which is late first round to early second but she might be one of the most pro-ready players on our team — basketball IQ-wise, how she processes, how she connects the team, what she understands. Like, her ability to take what I’m asking for and then translate it to the team in a way that really brings them together, she’s one of the top-five locker room players I’ve ever coached, so whatever WNBA team gets her, they’re very, very smart. I think she’s going to be the steal of the draft.”
Naturally her coach is going to go to bat for her... but that’s fascinating what she said because a lot of the critique of CLW in the mock drafts centres around her not being a player who is going to evolve much. That she’s already the player that she’s going to become and they say it like it’s a bad thing, as opposed to making her “one of the most pro-ready players” in the whole class.
The same is true of her evolution at UCLA where she’s stopped being the star player and go-to scorer that she was at Washington State and embodied an intelligent, game-managing role where she contributes in a lot of different ways... mirroring much more of what she’s going to be asked to do in the WNBA playing alongside and against the best in the world. You know exactly what you’re going to get from her. It’s normal for draft speculators to get over-excited about the future potential of others but CLW is a perfect bench addition for a contending team. I think she could go higher than people realise (though as always with draft thingamajigs, dropping lower for a better fit is never a bad thing).
There are 15 picks in each round and there are three rounds. None of them come with guarantees of making the roster or playing WNBA minutes but obviously the higher up you go, the better the chances. CLW also happens to be entering the league at the exact moment that a new CBA comes into effect meaning the salary cap has just exploded from US$1.5m to US$7m. The average WNBA player salary will move from around US$120k up towards US$585k, with the maximum individual salary only about a hundy thousand shy of what it used to be the figure for the entire roster. It’s also now mandatory to have 12-player rosters whereas some teams used to get by with 11 so that also aids the chances of Charlisse holding down a WNBA contract.
Whatever history she made last week by winning the NCAA national championship (and it was plenty) she’s about to exceed that with what she does next. The WNBA Draft is on from 11am on Tuesday NZT on ESPN if you wanna catch the action live. To this day, the only previous NZer to play in the WNBA is Megan Compain who made five appearances for the Utah Starzz back in 1997.
Check beyond the paywall, for those of you brilliant and talented paid subscribers, for yarns about the NZ NBL and NZ U18s basketball along with some Football Ferns and a couple more Wellington Phoenix things
Big adoration for an extremely eventful Auckland FC vs Melbourne Victory game on the weekend. Really enjoyable 2-2 draw at Mt Smart in which AFC twice came from a goal down. Without even getting into Steve Corica’s red card or Lachie Brooke’s free kick or the budding rivalry between these two teams, here are some of the things that game got be pondering...
Michael Woud was included on the bench despite being ruled out for three weeks... apparently a half-fit Woud was going to be more helpful in case of emergency than any of the youngsters? To be fair, they had OFC Pro League in Fiji to deal with on top of their injury crisis and when the reserve team played earlier in the day they had to sign a new goalkeeper to make up the numbers (Hugo Lodewyk from Taradale). Danny Hay said afterwards that Woud was fit enough to “do a job” if necessary and that they didn’t want to expose another youngster, in such an unforgiving position, to what they (correctly) expected to be a playoffs-type environment.
Nando Pijnaker was subbed off in the first half with what looked like a very painful shoulder injury... a blow not only for AFC’s season but also potentially for the World Cup if he’s done any serious damage. Pijnaker had ankle surgery in preseason, he rolled an ankle prior to the third derby in a separate injury, and now comes this shoulder issue. Not that he was any guarantee to make the squad (I had him outside the 26 at last glance) but this’ll prevent him making a case to change that if it’s the worst case scenario.
Van Fitzharris got a debut off the bench and was honestly fantastic, every contribution being a positive one. He’s ordinarily an attacking midfielder but they put him on the wing (in place of a tired Jesse Randall) and he brought so much hustle and class. VF was an U17 World Cup rep last year where he started 2/3 games. Played as a regular for his hometown Tauranga City in the 2025 Northern League, then joined AFC Reserves for the National League. Has already played three times in the Pro League which means he joins Luka Vicelich as the second dude to complete the set for AFC (Adama Coulibaly became #3 with an OPL debut on Sunday). Vicelich was also at that U17 World Cup... Fitzharris is only four months older than him.
Luka Vicelich started this game too. Arguably at fault for both goals, having been sucked way out of position for the first and then giving up the ball for the second, but the response was very good from him and the fact he was starting an A-League game at all, still a month shy of his 18th birthday, is mental. AFC have made it clear that they rate this guy extremely highly – it’s tough to get minutes as a youngster under Steve Corica within this deep squad but Vicelich is managing it.
Also on the bench were James Mitchell and Jonty Bidois, who both played, and Finn McKenlay who didn’t. That was McKenlay’s first matchday squad of the season and I’ve been a bit surprised that a guy who was so good for the Ressies last year hasn’t gotten more opportunities. See the last sentence of the last paragraph for a partial explanation. But he’s close. I’m hoping he flips over to Fiji in the midweek for some OPL too.
As for the game itself, it was a third straight without a win for Auckland FC but the thing I’ll say about that is they’ve all been exciting, entertaining games. AFC have some faults and a long list of injuries is making that worse. But they’re always competitive and they’ve shown an ability to change the course with in-game alterations. I’ve got no doubt they remain a title challenger and with Newcastle Jets needing a last minute goal to salvage a 1-1 draw vs Adelaide there’s still a good chance that Auckland can finish top. Their last four games have all been against the other teams in the top four... except, funnily enough, for the one they lost against Macarthur. This ability to scrape out draws is going to suit them in finals footy.
Auckland FC When They Score First
2025-26: 11 wins – 4 draws – 2 losses
2024-25: 16 wins – 4 draws – 0 losses
Auckland FC When They Concede First
2025-26: 0 wins – 3 draws – 3 losses
2024-25: 0 wins – 3 draws – 4 losses
There have also been two 0-0 draws in their history. Two things to take from that stat:
Auckland FC have never won after conceding the first goal
Auckland FC have only conceded the first goal on 13/52 occasions (25%)
We can pretty much rule out the Wellington Phoenix from finals contention after they lost 2-0 to Melbourne City away. They’re now five points out with two games left and goal difference is not their friend – meaning Melbourne City basically only need one more point to eliminate the Nix... two points will do it for certain. City have won 4/5 since they were eliminated from the AFC Champions League. A draw and the Nix would still have been right there in range but defeat at this stage against the team you’re trying to overhaul means doom.
That puts the Nix in a very curious situation. All along, Chris Greenacre has talked about one game at a time with the full intention of trying to make the finals. Taking three points from a two-game trip to Melbourne is actually above expectations... the much bigger drop was the 1-0 home loss to Sydney in Greenie’s first game where he inexplicably kept the same team (barring one suspension) that Italiano had picked for the 5-0 thrashing by Auckland that cost him his job. It wasn’t until game three that Greenie finally ditched the back three and picked a line-up more in keeping with his own coaching identity. It’s been a back-to-basics approach since then and that’s exactly what they needed after the overcomplicated Chiefy system failed to yield results. He should have done that straight away and maybe they’d still be in the hunt.
I’ve been saying from the start that I don’t think they should hire Chris Greenacre full time. He’s a nice bloke and we all respect what he’s given to the club (remember when there was a rumour he was going to join AFC as an assistant coach?) and that’s been well suited to interim duties. But the full-time gig comes with different requirements. Interims clean up the mess. Permanent coaches are there to redecorate the room. Hiring him would be easy, cheap, and non-disruptive. Should those be the priorities of this football club right now? I’m not too sure about that. Let’s be honest though, if he’d stormed them into finals footy then there’s very little doubt how that story would have ended.
Instead we’re in this place where he’s done good but not great (3 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses... with two games to go). Greenacre did say in his press conference that he’s going to approach the next game the same as all the other ones and of course that’s what he said. He’s very good at saying the “right” thing. Lots of talk about pride and playing for the fanbase and giving maximum effort and treating every game as the most important... and then at the end you feel like you’ve learned absolutely nothing. The Nix play before City or Macarthur next week so they’ll still be mathematically in contention for that game at least. Sarpreet Singh should be back in some capacity but otherwise don’t expect any rotation with next season in mind.
Percentage of Minutes Given To Phoenix Academy Graduates This Season
Giancarlo Italiano - 31.5%
Chris Greenacre - 16.2%
Wellington Phoenix Players Coming Off Contract:
(Ranked by Mins Played Under Greenacre)
Josh Oluwayemi (540), Paolo Retre (523), Ramy Najjarine (480), Kazuki Nagasawa (478), Alex Rufer (450), Ifeanyi Eze (430), Dan Edwards (302), Manjrekar James (211), Carlo Armiento (185), Sander Kartum (72), Nikola Mileusnic (28), Fin Roa Conchie (7), Sarpreet Singh (0), Luke Supyk (0)
This is how I see all that going...
Gotta Keep Them: Nagasawa, Rufer, Edwards
Should Re-Sign If Fates Align: Retre, Eze, Roa Conchie, Singh
Let ‘em Go: Oluwayemi, Najjarine, James, Armiento, Kartum, Mileusnic, Supyk
Eze and Singh are in the Fates Align category because I really don’t think the Nix have a chance of keeping them except as a fallback option from those players’ perspective (they already were a fallback for Singh). Armiento and Najjarine are at the bottom because I think they can get better fitting players of the same abilities, though that does depend on who the next coach is and they might be bumped up depending on that decision.
Same with Retre. I’m also kinda sceptical about how likely they are to retain any of those Aussies who’ll always prefer an offer from the other clubs and who no longer have the link to the coach who brought them over (and if Chiefy gets another ALM gig straight away, hope he does but we’ll see, Armiento will be one of his first signings mark my words). I’d like to see Roa Conchie stay but I suspect it’s time for him to test the waters overseas.
Musical Jam...
