Crispy Passing
Warriors bits and bobs, Flying Kiwis Transfer Tracker, Tall Ferns Asia Cup squad, domestic cricket contracts, Vic Esson at the Nix & more
Scotty’s Word
NZ Warriors bits and bobs...
Luke Metcalf's 30 run metres was the second lowest of his season behind 9m vs Roosters in round three.
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad has four consecutive games with 200+ metres and 5+ tackle breaks.
Wayde Egan's 69m/game is the highest of his career and only season over 52m/game.
Erin Clark had no offloads vs Panthers which was only his third game of the season without an offload. He has 2+ tackle breaks in nine of 14 games and 130+ run metres in every game.
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck has a linebreak in five of his eight games, 3+ tackle breaks in six games and 150+ run metres in seven games.
Halves per game mahi…
Luke Metcalf: 74m, 384.3 kick metres, 88.5% tackling
Chanel Harris-Tavita: 61m, 222.7 kick metres, 89% tackling
Adam Reynolds: 41m, 418.3 kick metres, 88.2% tackling
Ezra Mam: 82m, 63.4 kick metres, 77.7% tackling
Adam Pompey in two Andys era...
2023: 27 games, 5 tries, 11 try assists, 9 linebreaks, 104m/game, 85.6% tackling
2024: 14 games, 2 tries, 1 try assist, 2 linebreaks, 80m/game, 89.1% tackling
2025: 14 games, 5 tries, 2 try assists, 4 linebreaks, 104m/game, 89.3% tackling
For the generous folks funding all our mahi in the Patreon whanau and with paid Substack salutes, I have NSW Cup and Jersey Flegg Cup notes for their games vs Sea Eagles, plus I've dropped a couple sneaky NZ Warriors juniors that you may not know about. Jack Thompson deserves a special mention here though as he continues to impress in the U21 team playing alongside Jett Cleary - everyone knows about Cleary but Thompson seems just as good if not better right now.
This week there is a minor tweak with Thompson named in the #7 jersey and Cleary at #6. Keep in mind that Thompson is a year younger than Cleary and hasn't played U19 SG Ball Cup, while Cleary had two years of U19 footy at Panthers before settling in the NZW U21 team.
Thompson had a funky flick for Joseph Ratcliffe's try vs Panthers and got an inside pass from Cleary to help set up the Brandon Norris try (also featuring Ratcliffe making the big break). There's also crisp pass for a try from a few weeks ago...
Another sneaky NZW junior is Gordon Afoa (Papatoetoe) who is apparently still at school but he’s already played U21s footy this season as a middle forward.
Josiah Karapani (Otahuhu) vs Deine Mariner (Marist) this year for Broncos…
Josiah Karapani: 2 games, 2 wins, 4 tries, 4 linebreaks, 151m/game, 85.7% tackling
Deine Mariner: 8 games, 3 wins, 3 tries, 4 linebreaks, 117m/game, 86.5% tackling
Xavier Willison (Whatawhata) minutes per game…
2023: 18.7
2024: 38.6
2025: 44.1
I reckon Joseph Tapine is the best Kiwi-NRL player right now. I'm not sure who is second but Jahrome Hughes is the strongest contender which would mean that the two best NRL players from Aotearoa are both Harbour City juniors from Wellington. Tapine's leadership for Raiders is the important addition to his mahi which is now just as good as Fisher-Harris' leadership for NZ Warriors.
Fisher-Harris isn't a statistics monster but this offers a nice gauge of how awesome Tapine has been this season for the best NRL team (all per game stats)...
Joseph Tapine: 52.8mins, 2.1 tackle breaks, 1.9 offloads, 145.5m, 33.2 tackles, 1.8 missed tackles
James Fisher-Harris: 47.4mins, 1.4 tackle breaks, 0.3 offloads, 99.4m, 36.3 tackles, 2.1 missed tackles
Matthew Timoko (Otahuhu/Ellerslie) last four seasons…
2022: 26 games, 9 tries, 5 try assists, 9 linebreaks, 109m/game, 87.9% tackling
2023: 25 games, 11 tries, 5 try assists, 14 linebreaks, 158m/game, 87.2% tackling
2024: 24 games, 4 tries, 6 try assists, 4 linebreaks, 159m/game, 86.6% tackling
2025: 15 games, 6 tries, 4 try assists, 6 linebreaks, 136m/game, 88.1% tackling
Alec MacDonald (Auckland) is back in the Storm mix. Played the first 10 games before missing a chunk and returned vs Rabbitohs..
vs Rabbitohs: 17mins, 3 runs - 20m @ 6.6m/run, 14 tackles @ 100%
Tackling efficiency | Minutes per game
2022: 95.4% | 33.5mins
2023: 93.5% | 33.8mins
2024: 94.2% | 35.6mins
2025: 96.6% | 38.7mins
20 Of The Best Kiwi-NRL Juniors In Australia From The First Half Of 2025
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Aublix Tawha Debut For Dolphins
New Zealand Warriors Mt Smart Losses, Broncos Preview & Junior Deep Cuts
First round of domestic contracts came through this morning and I’ll cook up a deep dive into the funky movers tomorrow (Canterbury hadn’t announced their list before I had to venture out into the world) …
Auckland
Sid Dixit, Cam Fletcher, Matt Gibson, Rohit Gulati, Bevon Jacobs, Harrish Kannan, Simon Keene, Ben Lister, Jock McKenzie, Angus Olliver, Dale Phillips, Samrath Singh, Sean Solia, Lachie Stackpole, Jordan Sussex
ND
Xavier Bell, Josh Brown, Joe Carter, Katene Clarke, Kristian Clarke, Henry Cooper, Matthew Fisher, Zak Gibson, Brett Hampton, Scott Kuggeleijn, Robbie O'Donnell, Ben Pomare, Bharat Popli, Tim Pringle, Jeet Raval
CD
Doug Bracewell, Tom Bruce, Will Clark, Josh Clarkson, Dane Cleaver, Toby Findlay, Dean Foxcroft, Curtis Heaphy, Jayden Lennox, Ajaz Patel, Brett Randell, Angus Schaw, Brad Schmulian, Blair Tickner
Wellington
Liam Dudding, Nick Greenwood, James Hartshorn, Nick Kelly, Callum McLachlan, Samuel Morgan, Sam Mycock, Amogh Paranjpe, Tim Robinson, Gareth Severin, Michael Snedden, Jesse Tashkoff, Logan van Beek, Peter Younghusband, Yahya Zeb
Otago
Matt Bacon, Jack Boyle, Max Chu, Mason Clarke, Jacob Cumming, Danru Ferns, Luke Georgeson, Jake Gibson, Andrew Hazeldine, Llew Johnson, Troy Johnson, Ben Lockrose, Jarrod McKay, Thorn Parkes, Jamal Todd
Below are some basics for NZ-A women in England and County Championship cricket. Beyond the wall and for the Patreon whanau there are some expanded stats for notable players in these lists such as Izzy Gaze, Bella James, Tom Latham, Nathan Smith and Tim Robinson plus we chat through lots of this stuff in our Bonus Pod. Robinson reflected on his funky County Championship debut for Northamptonshire in the second video...
NZ-A Women vs England A
Izzy Gaze: 81 runs @ 137sr
Bella James: 80 runs @ 93sr
Emma Black: 32 runs @ 110sr | 9ov @ 5.6rpo
Hannah Rowe: 30 runs @103sr | 8ov @ 4rpo
Izzy Sharp: 25 runs @ 81sr
Emma McLeod: 17 runs @ 48sr
Georgia Plimmer: 14 runs @ 64sr
Amie Hucker: 3 runs @ 150sr | 9ov @ 8.3rpo
Bree Illing: 1 run @ 100sr | 10ov, 2w @ 5.1rpo
Flora Devonshire: 0 off 4 | 4ov, 1w @ 7.5rpo
Jess Watkin: 0 off 3 |10ov, 1w @ 5rpo
New Zealand's 10 Best Young Cricketers After The Summer Of 2024/25
New Zealand's 10 Best Young Women's Cricketers After The Summer Of 2024/25
2025 New Zealand A Tour Of Bangladesh Debrief
2025 New Zealand A Women's Tour Of England Preview
One funky thing I'm tracking for NZ-A women is the battle of lefty seamers. Bree Illing had a good start to this series and England A has a lefty seamer in Alexa Stonehouse who bowled 8 overs with 1w @ 7rpo.
County Championship
Tom Latham: 385 runs @ 55avg/47srsr
Matt Henry: 34 runs @ 17avg/77sr | 13w @ 25.5avg/3.4rpo
Nathan Smith: 72 runs @ 24avg/58sr | 14w @ 28avg/3.1rpo
Mitchell Santner: 1w @ 42avg/2.6rpo
Henry Nicholls: 176 runs @ 17.6avg/42sr
Jacob Duffy: 31 runs @ 5.1avg/54sr | 19w @ 28.5avg/3.9rpo
Will O'Rourke: 2w @ 64.5avg/4.9rpo
Logan van Beek: 293 runs @ 36.6avg/56sr | 30w @ 24.9avg/3.2rpo
Tim Robinson: 60 runs @ 30avg/55sr
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
Gotta be honest, I was pretty underwhelmed by the Tall Ferns squad named for the Asia Cup. After new coach Nat Hurst included seven debutants for the series against Australia, following a couple of previous tours in which there already seemed to be a focus on youth and expanding the depth, it would have been nice to see a few more of the renowned players rejoin the squad. Particularly those who did so well at the previous Asia Cup. But yeah nah that’s not what’s happened.
Cast your mind back to the 2023 Asia Cup where an inexperienced kiwi side, led by the emerging Charlisse Leger-Walker, produced our best ever performance at that tournament by finishing fourth. It was a fantastic effort that was anchored by CLW along with the likes of Penina Davidson, Krystal Leger-Walker, and Stella Beck. It also heralded Tera Reed and Tahlia Tupaea as key players moving forward while the likes of Tayla Dalton, Esra McGoldrick, and Ritorya Tamilo also showed heaps of promise. That felt like the beginning of a few era for the women’s national team. Now, two years later, only three of them are back for the 2025 edition (Dalton, McGoldrick, and Tamilo).
The press release doesn’t go into any details about players who weren’t included and unfortunately only one or two other media outlets even bothered to cover this announcement and they only parroted that original BBNZ press release. Obviously, Charlisse LW remains injured after her ACL tear in January 2024 – its been 18 months so she’s fully recovered now but she redshirted last season in order to have a full campaign with UCLA this upcoming college season in her final year of eligibility (before hopefully launching into the WNBA) so she hasn’t played a competitive game in a long time. This just wasn’t the time for her.
CLW on 3 June 2025: “Yes, I’m fully back. 100% cleared. Been back for probably two months. I was actually training towards the end of last season, obviously I wasn’t going to play, but yeah my knee feels great. Don’t really think about it at all which is amazing. Feel really strong. Back to hooping, it’s been really fun.”
Beck and KLW are only Tauihi players these days and that’s in its offseason. Plus KLW had a baby not that long ago so there are understandable reasons why they might not have been available. But Tupaea (Inner West Bulls) and Davidson (Keilor Thunder) have been doing NBL1 things in Oz while Reed has just linked up with the Gold Coast Rollers. They’re currently active. It’s a strange one. We don’t know if this is a new coach coming in with new ideas or if those senior players made themselves unavailable or if this is being used as another stretch-the-depth exercise. Maybe all of the above. We don’t know so we can’t jump to conclusions.
This is the squad that’s been picked...
McKenna Dale (Tauranga Whai & Mandurah Magic)
Tayla Dalton (Townsville Flames)
Bailey Flavell (Northern Kāhu & Launceston Tornadoes)
Pahlyss Hokianga (Tauranga Whai)
Esra McGoldrick (Mainland Pouākai & Casey Cavaliers)
Rebecca Pizzey (Eltham Wildcats)
Emme Shearer (Mackay Meteorettes)
Ashlee Strawbridge (Mainland Pouākai & West Adelaide Bearcats)
Ritorya Tamilo (University of Hawai’i)
Ella Tofaeono (Melbourne Tigers)
Charlotte Whittaker (Toulouse Metropole Basket)
Olivia Williams (University of California – Irvine)
Also, Ella Brow (Baylor University) and Maia Jones (Santa Clara University) have been included as reserves.
That press release made a note of how “the squad maintains a solid-core group of players from May’s Trans-Tasman Throwdown” but remember that they picked seven debutants for that series and were beaten heavily in all three games. And, curiously, two of the players who impressed the most during those games against Australia were Sharne Robati and Tegan Graham... neither of whom have been selected here. Robati just signed a WNBL contract with the Adelaide Lightning linking up with Tall Ferns assistant coach Kerryn Mitchell yet she didn’t get picked for those very same Tall Ferns – at least in her case Coach Hurst did specify that she was unavailable.
It could be as simple as this not being as consequential of a tournament as the last Asia Cup. That 2023 Asia Cup doubled as Olympic qualification whereas this one aligns with the World Cup and more teams progress there. We had to get top four to progress in 2023 whereas. This time top six will do the trick as far as the next phase of World Cup qualifying is concerned... and in an eight-team competition (there’s also a Division B section for the lesser teams) that shouldn’t be too hard even for an understrength side. Win against Indonesia and that oughta do it. So perhaps not everyone’s seen the need to skip out on work/studies for this.
China (the hosts and defending champs) and South Korea are the other nations in our group. We beat South Korea to make the semis last time with a stronger squad, though that’s going to be much tougher this time around without Nina Davison running the show from the paint. In Nat Hurst’s own words: “Success looks like getting ourselves through to the next round”. That’s settling for less than last time but with a lesser squad that might be a fair reflection.
The Asia Cup begins on 13 July and is live on TVNZ+ (FIBA always has a heavy YouTube presence too). Check out beyond the paywall for some more about this specific squad, including the two debutants. Might try and work these notes into a full article next week too, we’ll see how it goes. Here are a few other basketball yarns to have a geeze through…
The Breakers Have New Owners And They’re On A Mission Of Restoration
Steven Adams Is Rocking And Rolling Within The Houston Rockets Double Big Line-Up
Steven Adams Was Resurgent In The NBA Playoffs, Next Comes Free Agency
As Expected, Steven Adams Has Re-Signed With The Houston Rockets
Victoria Esson has signed with the Wellington Phoenix for the upcoming season. That’s the Football Ferns number one onboard in the A-League... which is not ideal for the Ferns but it’s amazing for the Phoenix. As far as the national team goes, Anna Leat’s currently off the scene and there’s a chasm behind those two. Brianna Edwards started one game in goal during the 2024 Olympic Qualifiers but she’s yet to establish herself as an ALW starter. That start was the only one of the last 28 matches where it wasn’t Leat or Esson between the sticks for the Fernies. Erin Nayler’s no longer playing. Claudia Jenkins is the big hope to bridge the chasm but she’s yet to play for NZ having recently switched allegiances from Oz.
Other than that, it’s fringe ALW and USA college players who’ve been filling out the goalkeeping crews. Geo Candy, Alina Santos, Muprhy Sheaff, Aimee Danieli, et cetera. I’d still like to see Una Foyle given a crack but unfortunately her Cork City team keeps losing so she’s been conceding a lot of goals. She was benched for their most recent game – whether that’s natural rotation or something else, we’ll find out in due course.
So, yeah, the Ferns need to fix that... beginning with Anna Leat’s return. It was assumed she’d be signing with Auckland FC but Code Sports is now reporting behind their paywall that there will be no ALW expansion this season because the league is broke and can’t afford to stump up the added centralised costs (including travel and accommodation). Bunch of tight-arses… but this is the last year of the current broadcast deal so if they negotiate well on the next one then we may only have to wait one more year. There were a few NZers whom I was keeping an eye on with regards AFC. Clearly that’s no longer an option for next season.
The lack of goalkeeping depth for the Ferns ain’t Vic Esson’s fault. She’s 34 years old and has been playing overseas for many seasons and obviously wanted to come home (she’s from Christchurch but close enough – especially with all the ex-Pride players in that team). The writing was on the wall when Tessel Middag signed from Rangers, Esson’s former team, and then Carolina Vilao said her farewells. Interesting that both Middag and Esson made a point about wanting to play in a more competitive league where there isn’t such a gulf between the best and worst teams. Especially Esson as a goalie - she had countless clean sheets in which she didn’t have a difficult save to make over her time there. Last season alone she was involved in a 14-0 win, an 11-0 win, a 10-0 win, and a 9-0 win… despite only playing 40% of the games.
Esson’s a local keeper with import level ability so that already clears up space for them to use that visa spot elsewhere, having signed foreign keepers for each of the past two campaigns. Like the three recently signed imports, Esson adds plenty of experience. She’s played at a World Cup same as Middag... but unlike Middag (and Ellie Walker and Lucia Leon), she’s a New Zealander who’ll be able to both relate to the youngsters coming through and also provide an example to them of what they can (and should) strive for. Always important to have some local connection in that leadership group, especially following the retirement of Annalie Longo.
Also, for those of you who see the Women’s team make a great signing and have the immediate reaction of: but what about the blokes!? Well, the Nix ALW squad now has 13 players (including three imports) and no coach. The men, even after losing Kosta Barbarouses, Sam Sutton, Scott Wootton, etc, have 18 players (inc three imports) under contract and a coach returning for his third season. They’re miles ahead. As for who’s going to play against Wrexham... surely you already know that it’ll be filled out with academy players. They do the same thing for the Aussie Cup games and that’s (sort of) a real competition. This is just a money-making friendly game.
All Whites at the Canadian Shield Tournament: Victory vs Côte d'Ivoire
All Whites at the Canadian Shield Tournament: Defeat vs Ukraine
Checking In With The NZ Men’s U20s After Their Trip To Chile
Aotearoa Domestic Football Roundup – 24 June
Flying Kiwis Transfer Tracker
The big news since publishing the weekly FKs yarn yesterday is that Moses Dyer is on the move. Fresh from his goal and red card in the derby for Galway against Sligo Rovers, word came through that Derry City had activated his release clause in an attempt to raise him up a few spots on the ladder from seventh to fourth. Derry City could climb within five points of leaders Shamrock Rovers if they win both of their games in hand, though it’s unlikely they mount a title challenge from here. However, they are in the mix for some European qualification with a big push over the rest of the campaign. It would have been a funky move.
But Moses Dyer won’t be playing for them. Instead he rejected the offer and agreed to a shock move to Phnom Penh Crown in Cambodia. They also activated the release clause (estimated to be around €60,000) and it sounds like they probably offered a higher salary than what he’d have gotten to stay in Ireland. PPC were second in the Cambodian league last year but have won it more times than any other club. They’re regulars in Asian continental competitions (they were in the same group as Macarthur in the AFC Cup last year, winning 3-0 at home and losing 5-0 away). This is a strong, successful, and ambitious team... but damn it’s a weird move. No sooner had Dyer gotten himself onto the fringes of national team selection than he suddenly opts for a transfer that promptly takes him back out of it.
Research is a bit tricky on this but at least two NZ-born players featured in last year’s Cambodian PL. They were Aarun Lim, formerly of Melville United (though an age-grade international for Cambodia), who played for Tiffy Army and recently made the switch to Boeung Ket for the upcoming season; and also Ashnarvy Mustapha, once of Petone (and also aligned with Cambodia internationally), who signed with Visakha though it’s not clear if he played much/at all and he’s now back in NZ with Christchurch United. That’s an indication of what we’re working with here. But... apparently they pay nicely in Phnom Penh.
In that Flying Kiwis write-up, there are deep dives on the now confirmed Max Crocombe to Millwall move, as well as Jacqui Hand to Kolbotn. Huge move for Crocs who should get half a season playing at Championship level while the main starter there is injured, hopefully longer if he does well enough. Here’s hoping he does because the Champo can be absolutely ruthless on goalies – just ask Stefan Marinovic – and Millwall fans have a reputation for being harsher than most. But they’ll love him if he thrives. And Crocombe has a tendency to bring his best stuff out when he’s being challenged. Just gotta pray they don’t sign an extra goalie for insurance.
As for Hand, this is a fascinating one because she’s joined Kolbotn in Norway for the rest of the year, where she’ll be teammates with Liv Chance and Liz Anton. Three NZers at one club in Norway, how about that? With luck, three will be JH’s lucky number because she’s been relegated with each of her two clubs in England now she’s linking up with the last-placed team in Norway so it’ll be nice if it’s third time lucky for her. Hand’s continued to put up strong Football Ferns performances but her club stuff has stalled since leaving Aland United, mostly because she’s found herself at struggling teams. She was praised for her attitude and effort with Sheffield United but a striker’s only going to have so much to work with playing for a team that keeps losing.
It really seems like Cagliari are the club going hardest in their pursuit of Libby Cacace. Or, at least, they’re the team that keep leaking reports of their interest in the media most often. You never know with these things. Cagliari finished a few points above Empoli last season so he’d be trading a relegated team for a side that narrowly avoided the same fate. That would make sense from the perspective that Cagliari were coached by one of Cacace’s old Empoli bosses in Davide Nicola... except that he’s since left to join promoted side Cremonense. But Cremonense have also been linked with Cacace so there you go. A reminder of the clubs who’ve been named as suitors: Roma, Torino, Cagliari, Pisa, Cremonese, Lecce, Nice (FRA), and Anderlecht (BEL).
It’s not transfer related but over in France there was some crazy news with Olympique Lyonnais told they were being relegated for financial reasons (after finishing sixth last season). They’ve appealed, and knowing how these things work they’ll probably get a reprieve, but just in case you’re wondering (like I was) if that might be a lifeline for Ben Old’s Saint-Etienne... no, it wouldn’t. It’d be Reims that survive in that eventuality despite losing their playoff against Metz (4-2 on aggregate after extra time in the second leg). But it would mean that ASSE get to play against one of their fiercest rivals in the second tier... the last time they played, the game was paused for forty minutes because someone in the crowd threw something at a linesman.
Welsh media made it sound like Zac Jones was an imminent signing for Cymru Premier champs The New Saints when he left Haverfordwest County with the league’s Golden Glove award. To be specific, The Pembrokeshire Herald wrote: “Club officials have confirmed that Jones will now move on to a full-time opportunity, with multiple sources suggesting a transfer to The New Saints (TNS) is imminent—although neither club has officially confirmed the move”.
Except that four weeks later nothing has happened and TNC just signed Nathan Shepperd, a former Welsh U21 international, from Queen’s Park Rangers. Maybe they want two options and they’ll let them duke it out. Or maybe TNS have gone in a different direction. Hmmm.
Musical Jam...