Diligent Walks
Auckland FC & Wellington Phoenix, Warriors vs Eels, Charlisse Leger-Walker, Blackcaps vs Bangladesh, NZ NBL, and more
Scotty’s Word
NZ Warriors defeated Eels on Saturday night and while the score was close for much of the contest, the NZW grind saw them pull away in the last 20 minutes to seal the win. NZW had a high completion rate once again (86%) and they have now won all seven games when completing over 80% this season. This is also the best start to an NRL season in the two Andys era after nine games...
2023: 5-4 | -6
2024: 3-5-1 | +11
2025: 7-2 | +1
2026: 7-2 | +108
Unfortunately, NZW lost both their games in the lower grades to Eels. Te Hurinui Twidle (Turangawaewae) came back from injury to play in NSW Cup for Eels and he scored a try, having been injured in his NRL debut a few weeks ago. Twidle was joined by Alekolasimi Jones as Kiwi-NRL debutants this season when Jones came off the bench for Bulldogs.
vs Eels
NSW Cup: 14-43
Jersey Flegg Cup: 24-30
This season
NSW Cup: 4-5
Jersey Flegg Cup: 5-4
Here are some per game things for James Fisher-Harris, Tanah Boyd and Chanel Harris-Tavita...
James Fisher-Harris
2025: 114m, 45.1 post-contact metres, 1.3 tackle breaks, 0.2 offloads
2026: 141m, 54.2 post-contact metres, 1.3 tackle breaks, 0.7 offloads
Tanah Boyd
2025: 58.66 receipts, 0.77 try assists, 66m, 385.1 kick metres
2026: 62 receipts, 1.11 try assists, 71m, 537.7 kick metres
Chanel Harris-Tavita
2025: 47 receipts, 0.33 tries, 0.75 try assists, 61m, 200.9 kick metres
2026: 30.5 receipts, 0.5 tries, 0.8 try assists, 37m, 144.5 kick metres
Wayde Egan got injured in the win vs Eels and this opened up game time for Sam Healey who played a season high 51 minutes. Healey is more explosive than Egan around the ruck but lacks the craft and slick passing in both directions of Egan. His running mahi vs Eels lays out his strength...
All runs: 5 runs - 62m @ 12.4m/run
Dummy half runs: 3 runs - 30m @ 10m/run
NZW are well stocked for dummy halves in their system and Egan is also a tough bugger who always seems return from injuries as quickly as Sam Cosgrove. The lack of games coming up may make this a non-issue as Egan will have time to heal up but Te Maire Martin played 80 minutes in NSW Cup and started as a small forward, so he would be the best option to come off the bench if Healey is required to start.
Makaia Tafua is the next best specialist hooker and the Linwood junior from Christchurch shares dummy half minutes with Jacob Auloa in NSW Cup. Both are ruthless defenders which allows them to play as small forwards and Tafua has gathered plenty of experience in reserve grade, most of which came when he was still U21s.
One of the players who made their NSW Cup debuts at 17-years-old was Amasio Tiatia who is another dummy half from Christchurch (also a Linwood) junior. Tiatia is similar to Tafua/Auloa with his physicality, while young Aussie Braelen Marsh has had a crack at NSW Cup while mainly playing U21s. Marsh is more similar to Egan/Healey as a play-maker around the ruck.
Another deep cut for NZW was Connor Bowden making his NSW Cup debut. He started at edge forward and could have covered the outside backs having played all 80 minutes. This is funky because Bowden started this season in U19s and while Jeremiah Lemana didn’t play U19s this year, they are joined by Bishop Neal as U19s who played NSW Cup vs Eels.
Bowden was playing 1st 15 rugby for Botany Downs Secondary College and dabbled in league for Cook Islands in local cultural tournaments, before entering the NZW system. He was mainly a centre but got more game time at edge forward in U19s and then U21s this year, which is a very similar recipe for Kahu Capper. They have started games as the two edge forwards in U19s this season.
Bowden was promoted to NSW Cup ahead of Capper and Dezman Laban, both of whom have been grinding through edge forward mahi longer than Bowden at NZW. This may suggest that Bowden’s better than those two but NZW also throw different guys up a grade to give them a taste and with so much competitive depth in the system, players are moved up and down the grades often.
Tanner Stowers-Smith dipped out of the squad vs Eels and Eddie Ieremia-Toeava got game time instead. Whenever Ieremia-Toeava plays NRL he’s usually getting big minutes for a bench forward and he is someone to watch out for in the undercover bracket as he is already a reliable NRL forward at 21-years-old.
Young forward minutes vs Eels
Leka Halasima: 57
Eddie Ieremia-Toeava: 34
Demitric Vaimauga: 32
Jacob Laban: 23
Lots of NZ Warriors and Blackcaps stuff is there for paid subscribers. There’s also the podcast round up recorded late last week that cooked up the ‘Curtis Heaphy Experiment’ available for paid subscribers and the Patreon whanau.
Blackcaps won the third T20I vs Bangladesh with Bevon Jacobs playing a match-winning knock of 62* @ 200sr. This was Jacob’s best T20I knock for Aotearoa and he’s building an impressive career record at 23-years-old...
Win in Bangladesh: 62* @ 200sr
Win vs South Africa in Zimbabwe: 44* @ 147sr
Loss vs South Africa in NZ: 36 runs @ 189sr
Jacobs’ career mahi
T20I: 26.1avg/143sr
FC: 44.95avg/66sr
LA: 27.4avg/97sr
T20: 35.61avg/148sr
Ben Sears was also a key inclusion for Blackcaps with 2w @ 5.1rpo. Sears has 10w @ 12.8avg/6.2rpo in T20Is this year and now averages 21.12 in T20I bowling. That’s similar to Jacob Duffy (20.25) and Trent Boult (21.43). It’s better than than Tim Southee (22.38), Ish Sodhi (23.01), Matt Henry (23.07), Mitchell Santner (23.85), Adam Milne (24.64).
These two were part of a funky group of emerging Blackcaps who chipped in with winning mahi in the third T20I...
Josh Clarkson: 3w @ 4.5rpo
Ben Sears: 2w @ 5.1rpo
Nathan Smith: 2w @ 7rpo
Jayden Lennox: 1w @ 9.3rpo
Bevon Jacobs: 62* @ 200sr
Tim Robinson: 23 runs @ 164sr
Dean Foxcroft: 15* @ 100sr
White Ferns start their tour of England with a one-dayer vs England Development on Wednesday night. Here’s all the recent women’s cricket yarns...
2025/26 Super Smash: Debrief Of Champions (Wellington Blaze & Northern Brave)
2026 South Africa Women's Tour Of New Zealand: White Ferns T20I Squad Breakdown
2026 South Africa Women's Tour Of New Zealand: White Ferns T20I Review & ODI Basics
2026 South Africa Women's Tour Of New Zealand: ODI Series Win For White Ferns
New Zealand's 10 Best Young Women's Cricketers After The Summer Of 2025/26
2026 New Zealand Women's Tour Of England: ODI Series Preview
Musical jam…
Nick’s Notebook
It was a bit of a tumble back down to earth for Charlisse Leger-Walker in her second WNBA preseason game. After a slow start vs Toronto in G1, she’d lit it up in the second half with her smooth playmaking and a couple tough lay-ups. But that was against an expansion team. At home against expected title contenders New York Liberty (who were champs two years ago), it was a contrasting learning experience.
Once again she was the first player subbed on – this time getting out there within two minutes due to fouls, which gave her a bit more time sharing the court with the starters (particularly Brittney Griner who they haven’t stretched out very much during these games) as well as going up against Liberty starters like Sabrina Ionescu, Brenna Stewart, and former Connecticut star Jonquel Jones. But she only logged 14 minutes this time, during which she put up an ignominious box score of: 0 points (0/1 shooting), 0 assists, 0 rebounds, 3 turnovers, 2 personal fouls.
The good news is that she was still signalling plays, pointing players around the court, and taking the lead in huddles, et cetera. She looks like she belongs among the best in the world. But against a scaled-up defence her passing wasn’t as crisp as it needed to be and she wasn’t getting into shooting positions. Granted, she played about ten minutes less than in game one with a lot of that being alongside the other rookies. Most of the fourth quarter was given to the players competing for roster spots and CLW is in a tier above that. We’re expecting her to get signed and she should be getting some sort of role in the rotation... though let’s not get too carried away before the ink is dried. This game showed that there’s always a rookie bump.
That’s one of the reasons why it’s fine that she’s not been starting these games. Little bit odd that they’re not chucking a specialist point guard out there to begin games but this way it means there’s not so much pressure on Leger-Walker when she’s still trying to figure out how to get her own game going, let alone controlling the whole team’s offence like that. When Leila Lacan, their actual starting PG, returns from her French season it’ll mean CLW is playing off the bench regardless so this better mirrors what her actual role is going to be. Lacan was awarded Young Player of the Season in EuroLeague and MVP of the French league in which her Basket Landes team are about to contest the finals. That’ll keep Lacan away for another fortnight at least.
On that note, remember that CLW started alongside Kiki Rice for UCLA last college season so she’s perfectly capable of sharing the court with another point guard so Lacan’s return doesn’t have to mean Leger-Walker gets marginalised. That’ll be all down to how she performs. Some words now from the coaching staff...
Sun head coach Rachid Meziane: “She really impressed me by her level of leadership, level of presence on the court. For me, she’s ready. But I need to see that now in games, when the adversity will probably be a little bit higher, how she can respond to this adversity, but I am confident about what she can bring to our team. I see her as someone who is very complementary with Leila. Their sizes are different, their speed. Leila is maybe someone who can finish more than Charlisse… if we combined them, we’d have the best point guard in the world.”
Sun assistant coach Ashlee McGee: “Day one, she’s coming down the court, and she’s telling BG (Brittney Griner) what to do. She’s like, ‘KB (Kennedy Burke), here.’ She’s organizing veterans. There’s no fear in her. There aren’t a lot of point guards in this league. There aren’t a lot of point guards that are sound. It’s not really a dying breed but it’s just a hard position. As basketball has evolved to positionless basketball, now you’ve got point-forwards. So, a true point guard is really hard to find, and you know, maybe we found that with (Leger-Walker).”
For the Paid Subscribers:
Breakers sign Dejan Vasiljevic
Top kiwi three-point shooters in the NBL
Three Things From Auckland FC’s Penalty Shootout Win vs Melbourne City
Callan Elliot vs Marcus Younis – Tasked with marking one of the most dangerous attacking players in the A-League, the uber-in-form Younis, and doing so on his unnatural side as well, Callan Elliot had a blinder at left-back. This was one area where he may have even been a better option than Francis de Vries specifically because of his pace. Elliot’s workrate was immense for 110 minutes, always making it tough for his marker even when he wasn’t able to dominate things. Pretty telling that the only times Younis really threatened were when he drifted infield and targeted others. Absolutely baffled why City didn’t move him around to get him more active.
The Back Five – It sucks, man. Dunno why Steve Corica is forever bringing on extra defenders in late game situations. They were relatively comfortable until they changed the formation by bringing Nando Pijnaker and Jake Brimmer on in place of wingers Jesse Randall and Logan Rogerson and surrendered all counter-attacking pace from the team (although Liam Gillion would bring it back with a hugely encouraging extra time cameo). They pretty much invited City onto the ball and into their half. It was needlessly negative (note that Danny Hay used to do the same thing with the All Whites) and it hasn’t worked nearly as well this season without the experience of Tommy Smith in those moments. The onus was on City in those moments to change the flow of the game somehow, instead Corica did it for them. Fantastic game of footy though, amazing entertainment throughout.
Penalties – AFC footy boss Terry McFlynn went on the radio this morning and said they’d been so diligent about practising penalty kicks, just in case, that they were even going through the motions of walking from halfway to the penalty spot during the week’s training sessions. Clearly the diligence worked because they took seven spot kicks and were flawless. Cosgrove, May, Brimmer, Gillion, Pijnaker, Sakai, Hall. Every one of them stepped up and confidently converted, even as the coin toss left them shooting second which meant they had the extra pressure of being behind on the scoresheet for all except Hall’s attempt – thanks to Michael Woud making the one big save required of him against Nathaniel Atkinson. Anyone who tells you that penalties are a lottery simply hasn’t put enough effort into them. There’s luck involved same as any aspect of the spot but at their core it’s the sport in a nutshell: one kick, goalkeeper to beat, all the pressure in the world upon the execution of that basic technique. And AFC nailed it.
Three Things From Wellington Phoenix’s First Leg Loss vs Brisbane Roar
Bev Priestman Ball – Above all else, one thing is for certain about coach Bev Priestman and that’s that she must be an incredible motivator. The way she’s instilled belief in this squad throughout the season is proof, convincing these players that they belong at the top of the A-League, and the opening five minutes against Brisbane were as good as it gets – taking the lead through Grace Jale and it honestly could have been 3-0 by the time the game paused for an injury break. But from then onwards it got stale as the Roar shut down the width of the Nix’s attack and happily jumped on the heavy touches of the American forwards. Priestman hasn’t built this team to be precision passers, they’re fighters and scrappers, but they came up against a fighting scrapping team that removed that advantage and the Nix didn’t have enough else (on a rancid pitch, by the looks) to regain control. It wasn’t until Pia Vlok came on for the last twenty that they had anyone who could retain the ball in the attacking half. Frustrating watch. Brizzy were the stronger team and it’s a good thing that Vic Esson brought the goods in goal. But hey it’s only half-time.
Mikaela Bangalan Debut – This came outta nowhere. Bangalan moved from Fencibles in Auckland down to the Nix Academy earlier this year but the Nix Reserves season didn’t start until last week so she hadn’t even played for the club before being called into the squad for a semi-final away in Brisbane... debuting with half an hour off the bench as the first substitute called upon. If I were Daisy Brazendale having played in all but one game this season and found myself as an unused sub in the semis for a youth player, I’d probably be a bit peeved (same for Zoe Benson who wasn’t even on the bench, though she’s a different position). But you could see the vision as soon as Bangalan came on and promptly fouled Roar star Momo Hayashi twice in a row. This was a (wo)man-marking assignment and Bangalan’s obviously shown something in training that convinced Coach Bev that she was the one to do the job.
The Task Ahead – The defeat was annoying, and Priestman’s approach was pretty conservative (the Fraser for Pijnenburg sub should have happened way earlier), but a 2-1 loss leaves this tie very evenly poised. If the Nix had held on for a draw that would have been advantage Wellington. Home advantage is worth at least a goal between these two sides… it was during the regular season. The Nix drew 2-2 in Brizzy thanks to a last-gasp (slightly flukish) equaliser... then whacked them 3-0 in when they met in Aotearoa. This was the first ALW finals game for 75% of the players involved and nerves were evident (after that blistering start). They need to win the second leg but they would have expected to do so anyway. No stress.
Musical Jam...
