Common Archetypes
Blackcaps in Zimbabwe, Bev Priestman x Wellington Phoenix, Warriors wrinkles, Kiwis in A-League, Tall Blacks on tour, and more
Scotty’s Word
NZ Warriors wrinkles vs Dolphins…
Demitric Vaimauga is named to start for the first time this season. He has played 35+ minutes in the last six games after hitting that mark twice in the first 12 games. M
Minutes per game
2023: 18
2024: 19.3
2025: 29.3
Vaimauga has two offloads in each of the last four games, seven consecutive games with at least one offload. Three seasons over 90% tackling...
2023: 90.9%
2024: 93.1%
2025: 96.5%
Te Maire Martin and Tanah Boyd kicking metres per game with their running metres per game in NSW Cup this year ...
Te Maire Martin: 117.5 kick metres | 126 run metres
Tanah Boyd: 300.5m | 68m
Boyd is averaging 468.2 kick metres per game this year - his second NRL season over 400. 2024 is Martin's only NRL season over 100 kick metres per game. Boyd averaged 1.2 try assists per game in NSW Cup this season, Martin averaged 2.5 try assists.
Another Massive Weekend For New Zealand Warriors In NRL & NRLW
Dummy half running vs Titans
Wayde Egan in 13mins: 3 DHR - 26m @ 8.6m/run
Rest of team combined: 2 DHR - 17m @ 8.5m/run
Sam Healey DHR in NRL
vs Cowboys: 14mins, 1 DHR - 12m
vs Sharks: 47mins, 7 DHR - 67m @ 9.5m/run
DHR in last his three NSW Cup games
vs Sea Eagles: 61mins, 5 DHR - 44m @ 8.8m/run
vs Magpies: 80mins, 9 DHR - 109m @ 12.1m/run
vs Rabbitohs: 41mins 6 DHR - 83m @ 13.8m/run
Wayde Egan NRL this season: 67m/game | 93.7% tackling
Sam Healey in NSW Cup this season: 95m/game | 96.4% tackling
NZW are playing against Dolphins and Cowboys so here's their Aotearoa flavour…
Kiwi-NRL Dolphins
Jamayne Isaako (Aranui), Kodi Nikorima (Burnham), Jeremy Marshall-King (Whakatane), Connelly Lemuelu (Tangaroa College), Aublix Tawha (Turangawaewae)
NRLWahine Cowboys
Abigail Roache (Richmond), Rosie Kelly (Hokitika), Hailee-Jay Ormond-Maunsell (Invercargill), Najvada George (Melbourne)
Three Kiwi-NRL fullbacks named in NSW Cup...
Te Hurinui Twidle: Turangawaewae - Eels
Geronimo Doyle: Otahuhu - Warriors
Mawene Hiroti: Western Suburbs (New Plymouth) - Newtown (Sharks)
Three Kiwi-NRL fullbacks named in U20/U21s
Joseph Ratcliffe: Outkast Mana - NZW in Jersey Flegg Cup
Cullen Gray: Hikurangi - Knights in Jersey Flegg Cup
Meihaha Pauling: Halswell - Titans in NRLQ
Six Kiwi-NRL fullbacks and just one from Auckland.
Rabbitohs and Panthers don't have NRLW teams but they have wahine from Aotearoa in their NSW Women's Premiership teams
Rabbitohs: Kesha Church (Poroporo), Kiana Rae (Rangataua), Jazmon Tupou-Witchman (Ellerslie)
Panthers: Dejah Tuliau (Hornby), Kahu Cassidy (Kaikohe), Harmony Covacich (Northern Wairoa)
For paid subscribers and the Patreon whanau I have more rugby league notes including a NZW juniors team, plus an update on Kane Williamson and Suzie Bates winters in England. Big ups all the folks funding our mahi.
Matt Henry took 6 wickets and Nathan Smith took 3w for Blackcaps in the first Test vs Zimbabwe…
Matt Henry
Wickets on the tour of Zimbabwe: 3, 3, 2, 2, 6
Wickets in Tests since start of 2024: 8, 9, 8, 2, 5, 4, 6, 6
Last five years
2021: 29.5avg/2.9rpo
2022: 26.3avg/3.3rpo
2023: 29.2avg/2.8rpo
2024: 18.5avg/3.2rpo
2025: 6.5avg/2.5rpo
Nathan Smith
First summer in Tests: 7w @ 48.4avg/5.9rpo
First-Class: 26.9avg/2.9rpo
2023/24 Plunket Shield: 33w @ 17.1avg/2.9rpo
2024/25 Plunket Shield: 3w @ 24.6avg/3.2rpo
County Championship: 14w @ 28avg/3.1pro
T20 Blast: 8w @ 31.8avg/8.8rpo
New Zealand Test Tour Of Zimbabwe Preview
New Zealand T20 Tri-Series In Zimbabwe Debrief
White Ferns ODI bowlers since start of 2024…
Jess Kerr: 16w @ 22.5avg/4.2rpo
Amelia Kerr: 14w @ 27.4avg/5.1rpo
Hannah Rowe: 12w @ 23.4avg/4.6rpo
Eden Carson: 10w @ 38.4avg/4.7rpo
Suzie Bates: 6w @ 22.5avg/4.2rpo
Sophie Devine: 6w @ 44.5avg/5.3rpo
Fran Jonas: 6w @ 44.8avg/4.6rpo
Lea Tahuhu: 6w @ 29.6avg/5.2rpo
Molly Penfold: 5w @ 47avg/5.7rpo
Rosemary Mair: 4w @ 28.5avg/5.7rpo
Brooke Halliday: 4w @ 33.7avg/6rpo
Bree Illing: 4w @ 29.2avg/4.1rpo
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
The worst kept secret in kiwi football is out: Bev Priestman is the new coach of the Wellington Phoenix Women. Everybody’s known this was coming but we had to wait for her one-year ban from football to elapse before it could be confirmed (that happened a couple days ago). Priestman, of course, was heavily implicated in the drone spying that Canada did at the last Olympics (and beyond), and ironically it was New Zealand that uncovered the conspiracy. Shout out to Drone Enthusiast Rebekah Stott…
Priestman won gold at the 2021 Olympics with Canada (and bronze in 2016), has twice been nominated at the FIFA Best awards, was an assistant for her native England at the 2019 World Cup when they made the semis, and holds the highest coaching qualifications. This is by far the best appointment the Nix could have dreamed of – and even then it was only made possible by a very convenient set of circumstances.
Among those circumstances, of which her Drone Lady status is first and foremost, is the fact that she is married to former Football Fern Emma Humphries who is the current head of the Wellington Phoenix Academy so if you’re wondering how the Nix have been allowed to make transfers and re-signings while their purported coach was suspended... that’s a pretty useful loophole right there. There’s no doubt that the impending presence of Priestman has helped with the recruitment of players like Vic Esson, Tessel Middag, and Lucia Leon. Not to mention keeping the likes of Mack Barry and Grace Jale around when they could easily have chased overseas spots.
Just quietly, this is also a very ambitious move from the Nix at a time when they’ve seen Auckland FC’s presence derail their men’s team a little bit, now they know they’ve possibly only got a one-year window until there’s an AFC women’s team so they’re going to want to strike now. Especially given the WahiNix’s own issues with underperforming in recent years.
But it’s also a hugely controversial move. Priestman just served a 12-month ban for repeated acts of cheating. There were cultural issues that go beyond the drone stuff too – although that seems to be part of the wider cultural degradation in Canada Soccer which has also had dramas with its non-transparent board, its dodgy financials, broadcasting rights, player treatment, and more. Personally, I’ve got faith that Priestman has learned from that experience and that the Wellington Phoenix (and wider Aotearoa) culture is not going to allow room for any shenanigans. Priestman’s in a different environment now and we all deserve the chance to learn from past mistakes. I also love the poetic irony of getting caught by New Zealand and now serving penance in New Zealand, it’s almost like community service.
And I think the Welly Nix will benefit from having a harder-edged coach with standards that stem from the highest professional levels, following after three coaches who all came from more nurturing and forgiving development/academy/youth backgrounds and weren’t able to get the results. One thing BP made very clear from her intros is that she’ll demand a very hard-working team with the hunger to win.
Regardless of what anyone thinks, the Phoenix obviously realised that this hire would have its detractors because they went all out with the public relations. No drone jokes whatsoever, which was a missed opportunity. Before anything else there was a pre-recorded video from BP where she could lay out her perspective unchallenged (didn’t realise she had such a thick Geordie accent), as well as a statement from chairman Rob Morrison explaining why this is definitely a good move. There was also a social media vid featuring welcoming messages (aka endorsements) from a bunch of kiwi footy personalities: Katie Duncan, Maia Jackman, Giancarlo Italiano, Wendi Henderson, Tom Sermanni, Lucia Leon, Mackenzie Barry, Manaia Elliott, and Alex Rufer. They really tried to get out in front of this one.
But fair play because Priestman also then fronted up for a 25-minute press conference where she faced down all the tough questions. She mostly tried to keep the focus on the task ahead, and couldn’t obviously speak on any specifics of the Canadian stuff probably for legal reasons, but that’s to be expected.
Aotearoa Domestic Football Roundup – July 28
Most Test Wickets For Blackcaps
Richard Hadlee – 431
Tim Southee – 391
Daniel Vettori – 361
Trent Boult – 317
Neil Wagner – 260
Chris Martin – 233
Chris Cairns – 218
Danny Morrison – 160
Lance Cairns – 130
Matt Henry – 126
Current Blackcaps Innings Streaks Without A Test Century (Pre-ZIM)
0 – Kane Williamson (156 vs ENG, December 2024)
2 - Tom Blundell (115 vs ENG, December 2024)
4 – Henry Nicholls (200no vs SL, March 2023)
11 – Rachin Ravindra (134 vs IND, October 2024)
14 – Michael Bracewell (No Test Centuries)
19 – Mitchell Santner (126 vs ENG, November 2019)
27 – Daryl Mitchell (102 vs SL, March 2023)
27 – Glenn Phillips (No Test Centuries)
30 – Devon Conway (122 vs PAK, January 2023)
36 – Will Young (No Test Centuries)
38 – Tom Latham (113 vs PAK, December 2022)
The Tall Blacks have had wins against Montenegro and Brazil since Monday’s newsletter. The Montenegro win wrapped up their Solidarity Cup and saw both Jordan Ngatai and Tohi Smith-Milner make their first involvements of the tour so far. They returned for an impressive 89-82 win against a higher-ranked opponent with Flynn Cameron scoring 22 points and Mojave King and Tohi Smith-Milner each adding 11.
There wasn’t any footage of the Brazil game, played after the team switched bases from Guangdong to Shenzhen, but that was a 90-89 victory sealed by a Mojave King tip-in at the end. King scored 22 points while Flynn Cameron had 14p/7r/7a. It was Brazil who dealt the TBs their only loss of this tour so far so this was fine revenge. Especially since Brazil is ranked even higher than Montenegro.
These are only friendly games played in preparation for the Asia Cup but the signs are extremely good if they’re ripping off wins like these. Flynn Cameron’s been a common denominator (/dominator) in all of these performances. They’ve got another game tonight, dunno who against, and then it’s off to Saudi Arabia for next week’s Asia Cup. Should also find out soon which of the Luca Yates/Hayden Jones/Jordan Hunt trio has won the final roster spot for that tournament.
Tall Blacks at the Asia Cup
NZ vs Iraq on Tuesday 5 August at 8pm NZT
NZ vs Philippines on Friday 8 August at 3am NZT
NZ vs Chinese Taipei on Sunday 10 August at 6am NZT
We ought to finish top of that group (Philippines will be the toughest opponent), in which case it’ll be straight through to the quarterfinals where we’ll face a team that came through the earlier playoff round. Assuming that Australia and Japan top their own groups, we’d face one of: Qatar, South Korea, Lebanon, Guam, Syria, Iran in that quarter. South Korea are the best team from that lot (although that means they might end up in a different arm of the bracket). We beat them 88-78 in the same stage of the 2022 Asia Cup and that was with a very young squad. Players in common from the 2022 squad and the 2025 squad: Max Darling, Taylor Britt, Taine Murray, Flynn Cameron, Jordan Hunt, and Tohi Smith-Milner.
Recapping the Junior Tall Blacks at the FIBA U19 World Cup
Recapping the Tall Ferns at the 2025 Asia Cup
Chatham Cup Semi-Finals
Auckland United vs Nelson Suburbs
Eastern Suburbs vs Wellington Olympic
Kate Sheppard Cup Semi-Finals
Auckland United vs Eastern Suburbs
Wellington Phoenix Reserves vs Cashmere Technical
There’s not a whole lot of transfer stuff to speak on right now, as we’ve hit that lull where seasons are about to begin so the early business is all concluded and the late business won’t happen until coaches see how bad their teams are in the first two games and panic. Many of the women’s seasons are a couple of weeks behind so that’s the main area to track. Confirmed free agents who we’ve gotta stay tuned for: Matt Garbett, CJ Bott, Grace Neville, Tommy Smith, and Zoe McMeeken are probably the top five. Also waiting on some Marko Stamenic and Alex Paulsen loan action. A-League stuff should be accelerating soon as well... so check the paid section for a round-up on how the kiwis in that competition are tracking.
Musical Jam...