Delicious Possibilities
Delicious Possibilities
Blackcaps & Tall Blacks name squads, Kiwi-NRL junior watch, NZ Football's 2024 calendar, Super Smash cricket & Flying Kiwis transfer goss
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2023/24 Super Smash Scout: Finals Preview Extravaganza (Cricket)
2023/24 Super Smash Scout: Best Youngsters Before Finals (Cricket)
Analysing Chris Wood’s Resurgent Burst Of Form Under Nuno Espirito Santo (Football)
Flying Kiwis – January 23 (Football)
Digging Into the Wellington Phoenix Women’s Clunky Away Form (Football)
Looking Back At New Zealand’s U17 World Cup Bronze Medallists, Five Years Later (Football)
Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Three Staples Of Warriors Footy For 2024 (Rugby League)
Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Releasing Ronald Volkman & Updated Depth Chart (Rugby League)
2023 Kiwi-NRL Power Rankings (Rugby League)
Seven Of The Best Kiwi-NRL Junior Halves In Australia For 2024 (Rugby League)
27fm Weekly Playlist: January 26 (Music)
Scotty’s Word
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Blackcaps have announced their Test squad to face South Africa and it looks great. Will O'Rourke is the major inclusion, though he will only join the squad for the second Test, while Rachin Ravindra steps in for Henry Nicholls. This is a squad for Tests in Aotearoa so Ajaz Patel and Ish Sodhi are not required for spin duties but the depth of kiwi cricket is evident in the spin options selected: Mitchell Santner, Glenn Phillips and Ravindra.
A deep dive will be served up Saturday morning so keep an eye out for that. It was also announced this week that the Test against Australia to be played in Wellington's got all sorts of sold-out buzz - as it should. Possible crowds for Tests against South Africa a Bay Oval and Seddon Park will be far more intriguing as they will inform us more about how kiwis feel about Blackcaps Test cricket.
I've previously highlighted how Blackcaps draw big crowds in Aotearoa and the T20 series against Pakistan was just another example. Two games played at Hagley Oval (hitting the same market twice) featured bumper crowds and the other games were also played in front of buzzing crowds. Two Tests against South Africa will be the only chance for folks in Bay of Plenty/Waikato/Auckland to watch NZ play Tests and I'm confident that the health of cricket in Aotearoa will be on display.
Using White Ferns T20I stats since the start of 2023, here are some players who didn't make the most of Super Smash...
Brooke Halliday
T20Is: 10 runs @ 3avg/62sr
Super Smash: 48 runs @ 16avg/75sr
Izzy Gaze
T20Is: 16 runs @ 8avg/72sr
Super Smash: 30 runs @ 4avg/47sr
Bella Armstrong
T20Is: 11 runs @ 11avg/110sr
Super Smash: 16 runs @ 4avg/76sr
Kate Anderson
T20Is: 62 runs @ 15avg/96sr
Super Smash: 182 runs @ 20avg/105sr
Hayley Jensen
T20Is: 10 runs @ 5avg/52sr | 2w @ 26avg/8.6rpo
Super Smash: 58 runs @ 11avg/82sr | 3w @ 76avg/6.9rpo
The Kiwi-NRL junior funk is starting to amp up. NZ Warriors haven't announced their junior squads at the time of writing but Canterbury Rugby League has listed players from their region who are part of NZ Warriors junior squads...
Under 17 Harold Matthews
Micah Sula: Hornby
Bishop Neal: Hornby
Isaiah Savea: Hornby
Lennox Tuiloma: Linwood
Under 19 SG Ball
Noah Harmer-Campbell: Hornby
Meihana Pauling: Hornby
Jackson Stewart: Hornby
Jason Saalilo: Papanui
Ezekiel Faga-Ieti: Papanui
Remember when Bulldogs made a big fuss about their collaboration with Canterbury RL? Well nine juniors from Canterbury RL are joining NZ Warriors and no matter what deal or partnership is in place, players can still choose which NRL system they enter. Here are some other juniors from Canterbury who are making moves...
Richie Tupuailei: Halswell/St Thomas of Canterbury - Sharks Jersey Flegg
Caio Ruri: Linwood - Souths Logan - Sharks SG Ball
Te Kaio Cranwell: Linwood - Knights SG Ball
Dakota Kakoi: Linwood - Eels SG Ball
Chelden Hayward: Linwood - Bulldogs SG Ball
Genesis Sherlock: Linwood - Bulldogs SG Ball
Eli Bijl-Kakoi: Linwood - Norths Devils
Donte Tahuhu-Wilson: Hornby - Brisbane Tigers/Titans
Lots of Canterbury juniors already listed there and those are just players entering their first seasons in NZW/Australia. They join these players who have already played a season or two...
Tanner Stowers-Smith: Halswell - NZW NSW Cup
Makaia Tafua: Linwood - NZW Jersey Flegg
Bronson Reuben: Northern - Bulldogs SG Ball
Sosaia Alatini: Hornby - Bulldogs SG Ball
Oliver Lawry: Halswell - Tigers Jersey Flegg
Josiah-Ekkehard Neli: Hornby - Storm Jersey Flegg
K-Ci Newton-Whare: Riccarton - Storm Jersey Flegg
Felix Fa'atili: Hornby - Sharks Jersey Flegg
Other junior squads are being announced and there are far too many Kiwi-NRL juniors to cover. There are some key wrinkles on offer though...
Jodeci (Harold Matthews) and Josiah (SG Ball) Vaha'akolo-Fifita are named in Panthers squads. Best information has them as Otahuhu juniors.
Hemi (Harold Matthews) and Dallas (SG Ball) Blackburn-Kingi are named in Sharks squads. They are Dannevirke juniors and this sparks some tangents...
Dannevirke rugby league is ahi right now. Javahn Stevenson-Hala is with Eels SG Ball and Kylem Vunipola is with Broncos, apparently part of their wider NRL squad. Braxton Wilson-Clune has also moved to Queensland where he may be in the Titans system. All are from Dannevirke.
The Sharks SG Ball squad has a heavy dose of Kiwi-NRL juniors. Along with Cairo Ruri and Dallas Blackburn-Kingi who are already mentioned, they have...
Manako Piutau: St Paul's College
Pharrell Gray: Rongotai College
Tipene Thompson: Papakura
Sione Latu is also named but there is no clear junior information available. There was a Sione Latu who played 1st 15 for Scots College last year and given how Sharks are recruiting from all regions, with a 1st 15 skew, it could be him.
A few more 1st 15 lads to note down...
Levi Gwynne-Tuitahi was a loose forward for Kings College 1st 15 and captain last year, now he is in the Tigers SG Ball squad.
Inga Kokohu was a loose forward for Hamilton Boys High School 1st 15 last year, now he is in the North Sydney Bears SG Ball squad. Bears have linked up with Melbourne Storm, so Kokohu is in the wider Storm mixer. As well as their own junior teams who will compete in NSWRL competitions, Storm have links with Bears, Brisbane Easts and Sunshine Coast.
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
The Oceania Men’s Nations Cup draw took place this past week, while the Football Ferns have some pretty imminent Olympic qualifiers on the horizon themselves. All of which has got me wondering about what 2024 might have in store for the various international football teams of Aotearoa... and when I wonder about things like that they often find their way into this newsletter.
The Footy Ferns will get us underway when they travel to Samoa very shortly for Olympic Qualifiers. That tournament will be held from 7-19 February and will be the first time the Fernies have played against OFC nations since the 2018 Nations Cup. Grace Jale made her debut on that tour – with NZ winning all five games by a combined scoreline of 43-0. NZ will face Tonga, Samoa, and Vanuatu in the pool phase before a semi-final and final. Only the champions progress to Paris 2024... which shouldn’t be an issue for the Ferns and no doubt a few players will enjoy the chance to improve their international goal-scoring records.
Maybe not all of the regulars though. Typically, these games won’t fall within a standard FIFA window. Being a confederation tournament, they may still be allowed to pick their top players but that has to be balanced with club duties and the NZF are usually very accommodating with such things. Some of the continental Europe based players are on winter break which probably frees them up. Don’t bank on those in England being around though, nor even some of the A-League clubs. The Wellington Phoenix are rearranging one of their fixtures suggesting that they’ll have a strong presence. Beyond that we’ll just see how it tracks. Should get a squad named very soon and there are some uncapped/non-regular players who’ve made strong impressions since the World Cup.
There are then FIFA windows in April, May, and July leading into the Olympics in July/August. Followed by two more in October and November. Fingers crossed we get a bunch of games scheduled. Don’t hold your breath for Olympic success though: only 12 teams get to go to those things and we’re going to be by far the smallest/weakest side there. But I guess you never know. The focus is the four-year cycle leading into the 2027 World Cup though. Jitka Klimkova has already started adjusting her selections with that stage in mind and the Olympics will likely fall into that context too. As they should.
Initially, the All Whites weren’t going to enter the Nations Cup seeing as there’s no longer a Confederations Cup to qualify for. They were going to organise overseas friendlies instead… but they’ve changed their minds and it sounds like boosted world ranking points were a large factor in that decision. The FIFA Rankings may be stupid... but they seed the World Cup draws and there’s an automatic spot for Oceania at the next WC. So yeah suddenly the rankings do kinda matter. The Nations Cup runs from 15-30 June and NZ has drawn New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, and hosts Vanuatu in their group. Same format with semis and then a final.
Prior to that the All Whites are taking part in the “W Cup” in the UAE in March. There we’ll face Egypt in the first game and either Croatia or Tunisia in the second game, depending on results (it’s framed like a semis/final format so it’s winners vs winners and losers vs losers). Either way it’ll be two games against very strong opponents.
There’s a FIFA window just before the Nations Cup, so not sure we’ll get anything booked there... although there is a chance they could do something based around their U23s squad given that they’ll also be at the Olympics, with Darren Bazeley coaching both of those sides. Even beyond the three overage players there should be a bit of overlap in selections with the senior squad. Marko Stamenic, Matt Garbett, Alex Paulsen, Ben Waine, Tyler Bindon, and Finn Surman are all eligible from the AW’s squad that faced Greece and Ireland last time out.
Beyond that, it’s expected that the All Whites will play friendlies overseas in the September window, and they’re hoping to staple a home friendly onto the calendar in October during the same window as their first World Cup qualifier. There’ll be two more WCQs in the November window. New Zealand enters those Oceania quals in the second round group stage so those three games will determine their progress onwards to a single-leg semi and final. The champions advances to the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup. The runner-up goes into the inter-continental playoffs.
But wait there’s more! There will also be the Women’s U20 World Cup in September (hosted by Colombia) and then the Women’s U17 World Cup in October (hosted by Dominican Republic). Aotearoa has already qualified for both, breezing through the Oceania stuff (apart from a very tough 1-0 win over Fiji in the final of the younger group). The youth grades run in two-year cycles, one for qualifying and one for the tournament itself. So if it’s the turn of the women to have their World Cups then the men must be in qualifying mode. Thus the Oceania U19s Championship will take place in Samoa in July with the U16s Championship in July/August in Tahiti.
And that’s a pretty stacked year of international football. To summarise:
Football Ferns Olympic Qualifiers (February)
All Whites in W Cup (March)
OFC Men’s Nations Cup (June)
OFC U19s Men’s Championship (July)
OFC U16s Men’s Championship (July/August)
Olympic Games (July/August)
U20 Women’s World Cup (September)
U17 Women’s World Cup (October)
OFC Men’s World Cup Qualifiers (October & November)
Plus possible Football Ferns internationals in April, May, and July; as well as possible additional All Whites friendlies in June, September, and October.
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Still awaiting confirmation of that final Tall Ferns squad for Olympic Qualifiers. However there’s been a Tall Blacks side named for February’s Asia Cup qualifiers. The TBs will face Chinese Taipei (away) and Hong Kong (home) in the first of three qualifying windows leading up to next year’s Asia Cup in Saudi Arabia. These are games that the lads ought to win comfortably and thus, as often tends to be the case, there’s a fair bit of rotation here. Only four fellas from the World Cup squad remain. Here’s the fab fourteen themselves:
Taylor Britt, Walter Brown, Tobias Cameron, Max Darling, Dan Fotu, Julius Halaifonua, Tyrell Harrison, Izayah Le’afa, Alex McNaught, Jordan Ngatai, Dion Prewster, Ethan Rusbatch, Sam Timmins & Tom Vodanovich.
The three World Cup reps are Britt, Le’afa, Ngatai, and Brown… however two of these guys did get to see their brothers selected for that event (Fotu & Cameron). Got some serious experience in there – note the return of Dion Prewster! - but the real focus is on the international rookies. Tobias Cameron has gotten the phone call from dad (coach Pero Cameron) having watched brother Flynn begin to establish himself at that level. TC had a pretty solid NZ NBL season last year after finishing up at college.
And then there’s Julius Halaifonua. Just 17 years of age and currently with the NBA Global Academy. He’s seven feet tall already. JH has been around the Tall Blacks environment a little bit in the past, more in a training/developmental capacity, now here he is in a proper squad. This fella’s got serious potential.
Also stoked to see Tyrell Harrison in there. He’s the top performing current NBL player in this group having been superb for Brisbane Bullets lately. Tobias Cameron and Julius Halaifonua are the only two here who’ve never played NBL but only eight are active this season and of those only Harrison and Le’afa are getting consistent minutes. That’s the tier we’re working with when it comes to this squad. Quite like how the Tall Blacks are able to move through the levels depending on the task before them.
Respect to the seven NBA players who voted for Steven Adams to start the NBA All Star game despite him not playing a single second all season...
Flying Kiwis Transfer Tracker
There is one week remaining in the European transfer window, a transfer window that in a wider sense has been very quiet as financial fair play rules have limited many of the top clubs from spending cash. Which then determines how everyone else acts because those jerries have all the money. It was expected to be a quiet month by NZ standards as well, factoring in how many big transfers have been made by kiwi players over the past 24 months... though we’ve still managed to sneak in a few belters. Here are the major moves through January 2024 so far:
Jacqui Hand - Aland Utd to Lewes FC
Alex Greive - St Mirren to Dundee Utd (Loan)
Ria Percival - Tottenham to Crystal Palace (Loan)
Suya Haering - Auckland Utd to Turbine Potsdam
Dalton Wilkins - Kolding to SonderskjyE
Scott Morris - Christchurch Utd to Stoke City
Callan Elliot - Free Agent to Motherwell
Milly Clegg - Western Sydney Wanderers to Racing Louisville
Those last two deals got the treatment in the Flying Kiwis article this week and there’s not been much else happening in the meantime. There are some delicious possibilities though…
Tyler Bindon remains someone who might pop up at a higher level if anyone’s willing to pay poverty-stricken Reading Football Club a transfer fee. His mate Nelson Abbey’s switch to Olympiakos has now been confirmed and Bindon shares an agent with him, as well as having shared the pitch with him many times this season. Kees Sims is currently on trial with Örgryte IS in the Swedish second tier, as mentioned last week. Something could easily happen there. Would still like to see Jamie Searle get a non-league loan similar to what Henry Gray’s done in order to get game-time. That depends on circumstance though. Also, Michael Woud is a free agent after his early release from Kyoto Sanga, hopefully there’s movement on that front soon.
Another one to think about is Joey Champness who scored on debut for Adanaspor then swiftly disappeared again. He hasn’t played since November and this is coming after more than a year out of the sport prior to this gig. It sounds like he got injured on All Whites duty and has been away from the club during his treatment. He’s yet to return and it sorta sounds like they don’t know if he will...
Adanaspor Technical Director Mustafa Kaplan: “Joe Champness, after going to the national team, returned injured and has not been participating in training. He received treatment in his home in Adana. He went through a very difficult process. He had to leave the city again for treatment. If he returns, he will start working with us; if he does not return, we will look at another player instead.”
Also waiting to hear news on the likes of Logan Rogerson, Ollie Whyte, Deklan Wynne, Jesse Randall and a few others. Marco Rojas. Hopefully Gabi Rennie and Ava Collins can find something decent having finished up at their American universities – Rennie had 30 senior international caps and Collins 13 so if they don’t get professional deals then something’s gone wrong somewhere in that equation.
Other than that... how about some local deals? Christchurch United have been going through an overhaul. Ryan Edwards is their new coach and he’s having to rebuild after a bunch of departures so here comes the obvious move: they’ve signed Matt Brazier. Edwards’ best player from Petone is following him down south. Pretty sure Brazier is originally from the South Island anyway – he used to play for Green Island in Dunedin – and after topping the scoring in the Central League he’ll want another crack at the Nationals. This was a predictable one.
It also seems that Oliver Colloty has left Auckland City to sign with Wellington Olympic, where he’ll presumably replace Gianni Bouzoukis in the line-up. Curious times at ACFC because that’s now Emiliano Tade (Western Springs), Ryan De Vries (Auckland United), and Oliver Colloty (Wellington Olympic) all leaving at once. Gotta find some new strikers from somewhere. They’ll have something up their sleeve, no doubt.
Also been hearing it on good account that the Wellington Phoenix Reserves are picking up a couple of U17 World Cup starters from last year: Dylan Gardiner and Matt Foord. Gardiner from Hamilton Wanderers and Foord from Cashmere Technical. Gardiner is either currently away or soon to be away in Spain along with Luke Brooke-Smith (Cambridge) for a month’s training with CF Rayo Majadahonda as part of a development programme thing that they do over there.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, Meatbodies…