Dangerous Outfits
NZ Cricket contract things, All Whites vs Costa Rica reaction, Kiwi Ferns squad, Corey Webster x Perth Wildcats & more
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Podcast
Reading Menu
Rolling Through This Football Ferns Squad for the Norway & Wales Friendlies (Football)
Flying Kiwis – June 14 (Football)
The Many Wrinkles Of Glenn Phillips' Move To Otago Volts (Cricket)
Turns Out Trent Boult Is The Best Number 11 In Test Cricket (Cricket)
Michael Bracewell Is The Latest Slow-Cooked Blackcaps Test Cricketer (Cricket)
The Differing Fates of Junior Fa, Hemi Ahio & David Nyika at Kambosos vs Haney (Boxing)
Scotty’s Word
As we approach Aotearoa's domestic cricket contracts being announced, Jimmy Neesham won't have a contract with Wellington and apparently he won't have any contract in Aotearoa cricket. There appears to be some confusion as to what these contracts mean and we only need to look back at how Neesham's lack of NZC Blackcaps contract was covered a few weeks ago; Jimmy Neesham can and will play for Blackcaps without a Blackcaps contract.
Hop over to White Ferns matters and Amy Satterthwaite's retirement delivers further insight. Satterthwaite was in a group of veteran wahine cricketers who did not receive White Ferns contracts and Satterthwaite then opted to retire. Satterthwaite was not forced to retire and I'm fairly confident that we will see the likes of Lea Tahuhu and Frances Mackay continue to demand White Ferns opportunities - without contracts. If Satterthwaite really wanted to, she could continue to play.
Blackcaps and White Ferns contracts are merely a gauge of who selectors deem important. They do not represent the best players, only the opinions of a few folk. At various stages during our time covering kiwi cricket and across various formats, blokes and wahine have played multiple games for Aotearoa without Blackcaps/White Ferns contracts.
For Neesham, his lack of any contract will have no impact on selection. Neesham could still play for Wellington without a contract but suggested that this partnership was over, so Neesham could still play for any other domestic team without a contract. Neesham could pop up playing Plunket Shield and demand a Test call up for example, without a contract.
Colin Munro seemed to go about his 'no contact mahi' the wrong way. Neesham suggested that he has been clear and transparent in communicating with NZC/Wellington, while Munro's departure from the NZ scene felt more niggly. Munro may have prickled some folk, voiced some complaints, and thus the working relationship was over.
Having a contract can be restrictive - players contracted to NZC or domestic teams are highly unlikely to play Big Bash League because their contracts tie them to Super Smash. If a player wants to play BBL in this example (without a contract), they can also return to NZ at any stage to pick up Super Smash/Ford Trophy/Plunket Shield games as long as the domestic team wants them. Players without contracts can earn match payments for games played, with income boosted by their overseas gigs.
Having a contract (international or domestic) ties the player into training and corporate commitments. In Neesham's case, he is now free to do whatever he wants whenever he wants and that sounds kinda attractive. It's easy to tie this into T20 cricket - do what you want, when you want usually means floating around the world playing T20 cricket. Neesham and any other player in this situation can play any cricket, anywhere and that might include Plunket Shield stuff in Aotearoa.
Every year there are players who play at each level without a contract - either a relevant contract or no contract at all. Not having a contract means the power is with the player as they choose what they do and Neesham may be setting a tone here for other players to follow. Munro seems to have niggled NZC and thus they won't open that door again, while Neesham has gone about it differently and could play more games for Aotearoa in the next 12 months than he did previously.
Which is why I generally find these contract lists to be overrated. The fresh wrinkle is to ponder what benchmark Neesham's move sets for player power and ownership of their careers.
As noted previously, keep this in mind for White Ferns cricket. At some point coach Ben Sawyer may see that the best wahine cricketers are dominating the domestic circuit without contracts and then select them ahead of the players with contracts.
Daryl Mitchell Test Batting
2019: 1inns, 73 runs @ 73avg, 1 x 50.
2020: 2inns, 51 runs @ 25.50vg.
2021: 4inns, 176 runs @ 58.66avg, 1 x 100, 1 x 50.
2022: 8inns, 476 runs @ 68avg, 2 x 100, 2 x 50.
Trent Boult is in the midst of his best patch of Test bowling since his 2011 debut. Boult has averaged below 25 in five of his 12 years playing Test cricket. First was 2011 when he took 4w @ 20avg in his debut outing, then in 2017 (27w @ 24.77avg) and 2018 (33w @ 23.90avg). Now Boult is in this patch...
2021: 16w @ 20.62avg.
2022: 21w @ 22.28avg.
Boult took more wickets at slightly higher averages in that 2017-18 window while this current patch is pure efficiency. Boult was also Aotearoa's best bowler at the T20 World Cup last year (13w @ 13.30avg/6.25rpo) and hopped from IPL to England where he is Aotearoa's best bowler in this Test series vs England (12w @24.50avg).
Lydia Ko sits Tied-45th at the Meijer LPGA Classic after round tahi. Ko shot -2 and she is chasing her fourth top-10 finish in five tournaments, which will see her settle even deeper into her standing as the best player on the LGPA Tour. The two players ranked ahead of Ko in the CME Globe Season are Minjee Lee and Brooke Thompson, who have won more tournaments but aren't quite as consistent as Ko right now.
Last Five Tournaments
Minjee Lee: 3T, 13T, 1st, 35T, 1st.
Brooke Thompson: Withdrawn, Cut, Cut, 15T, 1st.
Lydia Ko: 18T, 3T, 12T, 5th, 4T.
International rugby league is back with squads being served up. I covered the Aotearoa Kiwis squad yesterday and will provide Kiwi-NRL angles to Samoa and Tonga squads, as well as a Kiwi Ferns squad breakdown. The Kiwi Ferns squad features Amy Turner who is from Tokoroa and represented Australia in Sevens - winning Olympic gold in 2016.
I missed the Turner NRLWahine angle as she has been battling away with the dominant Broncos wahine outfit - no Amber Hall in this Kiwi Ferns squad. Page McGregor is another new selection and she has also previously represented Australia in Sevens rugby while older sister Raecene is a Kiwi Ferns veteran who represented Australia Sevens at youth level.
Another curious selection is Roxy Murdoch-Masila who is married to Warriors forward Ben Murdoch-Masila. Roxy had been in England prior to the whanau's return to Australia - soon Aotearoa with NZ Warriors and their time in England saw Roxy selected in the 2020 England wahine performance squad.
Laishon Albert-Jones and Christyl Stowers are the only players named who were not part of the last NRLWahine cycle. Stowers has previously represent Aotearoa Maori wahine via her mahi with Counties Manukau. Albert-Jones was named Auckland RL Player of the Year for 2021 via Richmond Rovers before helping Akarana wahine win the NZRL National Women's competition earlier this year, also named MVP for that.
There has been high turnover of Kiwi Ferns players since the last major cluster of international games and some players may be opting to represent Samoa/Tonga in upcoming games, thus the World Cup later in the year. Higher turnover means more players and most of this Kiwi Ferns squad come directly from NRLWahine - which has now expanded to include Raiders, Tigers, Sharks and Cowboys for 2023.
Not sure how NZ Warrior wahine fit into this, but Aotearoa's footy abundance will ensure that plenty of wahine pick up gigs in an expanded competition. The second NRLWahine competition for 2022 will stay with the same six teams (Broncos, Titans, Knights, Eels, Dragons, Roosters) and Titans announced the re-signing of Georgia Hale this week.
NRLWahine Signings
Broncos: Nita Maynard, Annetta Nu'uausala, Crystal Tamarua, Amber Hall, Lavinia Gould, Amy Turner.
Titans: Madison Bartlett, Georgia Hale.
Knights: Kiana Takairangi, Autumn-Rain Stephens-Daly.
Eels: Gayle Broughton.
Dragons: -
Roosters: -
Te Maire Martin is back in the Aotearoa Kiwis squad…
Wildcard’s Notebook
More All Whites vs Costa Rica Fallout
The more I think about it, the more the contrasts in the two teams played into the result. The All Whites had that sloppy start, conceding a silly goal right off the bat. It was the kind of slow start that comes not so much from intimidation as from overeagerness. A young team caught out by an older team, a team who’d never experienced an international game of this magnitude before (although the Olympics and U20 stuff have helped close the gap, let alone various club yarns) against one with several key dudes still remaining from the 2014 crew that made the World Cup quarter-finals.
The All Whites did more than enough to win that game under more fortuitous circumstances so it’s hardly like their youth was a hindrance. But it was a factor. Aotearoa had five starters aged 23 or younger and only two older than 30. Costa Rica had two under 23 and five over 30. There was more than three years between the average ages of the two starting line-ups.
All Whites starting XI by age:
26, 33, 23, 27, 23, 30, 23, 21, 25, 20, 26
Average age of 25.2 yrs
Costa Rica starting XI by age:
35, 27, 34, 33, 22, 32, 18, 29, 24, 29, 30
Average age of 28.5 yrs
That age factor meant that for Costa Rica this was the last chance for a golden generation to play at a World Cup. For the New Zealand team it was the first opportunity to do so. The sense of desperation was the same on both sides but the flipside of defeat means that the kiwis get to learn and grow from the disappointment (eventually, once it subsides a bit) whereas Costa Rica would have had a bunch of dudes instantly retiring.
Winston Reid is the only dude whom it’s hard to see in the mix in four years time. Danny Hay constantly says that Reid is in the best shape of his life... yet every time he plays he seems to get injured. Like, every time. That’s not a great sign. Maybe regular club football will help him there, fingers crossed. If not I still get the feeling he’ll make an outstanding addition to the coaching staff.
But the rest of them are not only going to still be around in four years but they’re going to be better players. There’s nothing about Chris Wood’s game that relies upon speed or athleticism. He’s going to be just as effective at age 34 as he is at age 30 barring any serious injuries. We may lose fellas like Tommy Smith and Kosta Barbarouses but they’re easing out gracefully as other dudes emerge which is ideal.
It’s not just the ages of the players though, it’s also the experience. Gotta remember that the All Whites were merely a hypothetical team until last October. Even before the pandemic they were struggling for games. They played just twice across a 1200+ day span. Sixteen months with only one tour: Danny Hay’s inaugural games against Ireland and Lithuania. They managed to cram in plenty of footy over the last eight months but it’s hard not to think that with another year of matches under the belt the All Whites would have been in a better place to take advantage of that opportunity.
I mean, just take a peek at the cap disparity between the two sides. It’s remarkable...
All Whites starting XI by caps:
4, 32, 9, 34, 10, 68, 6, 10, 21, 10, 8
Total caps = 212
Costa Rica starting XI by caps:
107, 28, 151, 68, 7, 72, 6, 117, 12, 74, 72
Total caps = 714
Bill Tuiloma and Chris Wood were the only two NZers with more caps than their age. In fact if you take out Woodsy then Costa Rica’s Celso Borges alone has more caps than the entire rest of that NZ XI. Seven of the eleven kiwi starters had only played 10 or fewer senior internationals. Costa Rica did have a few fresh fellas of their own but they were surrounded by multiple centurions. Chris Wood is the All Whites’ all time cap leader with 68 of them... Costa Rica’s starting team for the playoff had seven separate players with that many or more internationals to their name. Massive diffo.
Also Sapreet Singh, Ryan Thomas, Callum McCowatt, and Marco Rojas all were unable to play. Four very talented attacking players in a match in which we came unstuck being unable to score an equaliser across 88 dominant minutes of footy.
Wildcat Web
Did not see this one coming but there ya go: Corey Webster has signed a two year deal with the Perth Wildcats (second year is a mutual option). A little bit out of the blue after Webster signed with the Wildcats a couple years ago only to withdraw from that deal when an opportunity to play in Europe emerged (he ended up in Israel). Now he’s back for real.
That supposed backflip caused some bad blood there for a while, no doubt with flames fanned by Webster’s part in the Breakers vs Cats rivalry back in the dynasty days, but time heals everything. It was kinda dumb in the first place since he’s hardly the first or last player to leave an NBL contract early for overseas options instead. Webster himself has done the same thing twice since with the Breakers (albeit the second was a club decision). Yanni Wetzell just did similar. Ain’t no thing.
DeAndre Jordan ended up playing for the Mavericks. Steven Adams ended up playing for the Grizzlies. Corey Webster’s ending up playing for the Wildcats. It’s all business.
And great business in this case. Similar to the Kiwi-NRL takeover, supporting Aotearoa success in the Australian NBL goes way beyond the Breakers. Love seeing the Breaks at least attempt to get that kiwi core reestablished again but the fact is that there are far more class kiwi ballers than can fit onto one roster. The sport in this country is better served with players scattered around different clubs and to have Webster at a perennial contender like the Perth Wildcats is fantastic.
We all know how good Corey Webster can be when he’s fit and firing. An elite scorer at this level. Not sure what role he’ll find himself in for the Wildcats, potentially a sixth man gig, but unlike his last couple stints with the Breakers at least you know he’s at a functioning organisation which will find effective and efficient ways to use him. It’s also a bit of a large cohones move from the Wildcats who just had their 35-year playoff streak come to an end.
By the way, Corey made his return to the NZ NBL on Sunday, suiting up for the Franklin Bulls and dropping a chill 31 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists in a win over Nelson. He then followed that with 24p/4r/8a in a win away against Canterbury. The Bulls had been 2-4 now all of a sudden they’re looking like a very dangerous outfit.
NZers Signed For NBL23:
Rob Loe – NZ Breakers
Tom Abercrombie – NZ Breakers
Tyrell Harrison – Brisbane Bullets
Shea Ili – Melbourne United
Reuben Te Rangi – South East Melbourne Phoenix
Hyrum Harris – Adelaide 36ers
Sam Timmins – NZ Breakers
Dan Fotu – NZ Breakers
Tom Vodanovich – NZ Breakers
Izayah Mauriohooho-Le’afa – NZ Breakers
Sam Waardenburg – Cairns Taipans
Corey Webster – Perth Wildcats
The last couple years have hovered around 20-odd kiwis in the league. We’re up to 12 already and there will absolutely be more where they came from. Most teams have open roster spots remaining, plus we haven’t even gotten to the development player/injury replacement round-ups yet when there are always a few high value, low cost Aotearoa lads that pop up.
New Tunes
Got fresh tracks from The Beths and Marlon Williams within the space of a few days. How good?