Double Bangers
Double Bangers
Filming the Haka, Steven Adams starts his new season, FIFA World Cup draw, Kiwis in WBBL, Welly Nix Wahine scholarship signings, NZRL rep round + MNL Team of the Week
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2022 Rugby League World Cup: Aotearoa Defeats Lebanon, Joseph Manu Ascends (Rugby League)
Flying Kiwis – October 19 (Football)
The Memphis Grizzlies Extended Steven Adams' Contact, Now To Go Win Some Championships (Basketball)
2022 Kiwi-WBBL: Undefeated Starts For Suzie Bates, Sophie Devine and Maddy Green (Cricket)
2022 T20 World Cup: Blackcaps Pre-Tournament Notebook (Cricket)
2022 Plunket Shield: Thorn Parkes and Otago's Win Over Auckland (Cricket)
Scotty’s Word
Lydia Ko is currently playing in Korea, sitting tied-6th after the first round. Ko would have started her second round by the time of dispatch and she is chasing her third top-10 finish in a row.
Women's Big Bash League will also be live by the time of dispatch with two games being played Friday afternoon. Perth play their next game on Saturday and won their game vs Melbourne Stars last night, taking them to 3-0. Sophie Devine hasn't played a dominant innings yet, with her knock of 44* leading her to 48 runs @ 96sr. Devine finished with 34avg/128sr in Perth's WBBL07 championship run. After a relatively steady start, Devine has ample room to explode.
Devine has also chimed in with a wicket in all three games so far. Last season Devine took 10w in 10 innings with a bowling strike-rate of 16.2. This year Devine has a T20I bowling strike-rate of 13.7 - below 20sr is fantastic. Devine is operating at 22sr in WBBL08.
Maddy Green has had a strong start with Perth hitting 61 runs @ 124.48sr. This is Perth's highest batting strike-rate so far and Green's T20I career strike-rate is 94, pointing to an expansive start to the campaign for Green. Green is also in her best year of T20I batting (23.14avg/108sr).
In yesterday's podcast we discussed how to film haka and how Aotearoa’s mediocre example is being followed. Sky Sports loves to stick a camera in front of haka, usually at grasshopper height, looking up at the players. This works fine for All Blacks because they don’t move and compared to Kiwis haka, All Blacks barely pukana. When Kiwis play in Aotearoa, players waltz past a stationary camera and in the Rugby League World Cup there have been a few funky examples.
At least in England there is no stationary camera, just poor chaps backing up out of the way…
Peeping back in time, the 2017 RLWC chucked up this low key moment in the Samoa vs Tonga pre match festivities. Led by Siliva Havili, Tonga take up the space left by Samoa and venture over halfway. Samoa respects the mic placement, Tonga doesn’t care and nor should they. Consider it a sign of mana as well - Havili waited at halfway before claiming the space.
Aotearoa Kiwis have named their team to face Jamaica with a bunch of changes. We'll have to wait for knockout stages to learn about Michael Maguire's best 17 and the coach will need to balance brewing combinations with rotating the squad against weaker teams. The spine of Joseph Manu, Dylan Brown, Kieran Foran and Brandon Smith is selected again among changes elsewhere.
As the Rugby League World Cup rolls along, junior footy and the movement of players is ramping up. There is a fabulous NZRL representative round on Monday in Auckland where girls and boys fixtures at Under 16 and Under 18 levels will be played. The U16 games are Aotearoa Whaanui vs Auckland Invitationals and the U18 games are NZ Clubs vs NZ Schools - as we saw in 2020.
Roughly half of the 2020 Clubs vs Schools teams have moved on to NRL clubs or Super Rugby. NRLW is only growing and those club will be tapped in with the U18 wahine fixtures as well. This is a major checkpoint is connecting with best junior rugby league talent that will filter into NRL systems.
The U16 Aotearoa Whaanui teams are made up of players from around Aotearoa. Six of the seven lads Whaanui backline are from the South Island team, with the halfback from Wellington. The girls team has players from Northern Swords down to South Island as well. I'm not too fussed about assessing talent at that age bracket, but the spread of girls and boys from around Aotearoa is aligned with Kiwi-NRL/Aoteaora Kiwis talent.
The Clubs vs Schools fixture is a natural lead in to NZ Warriors SG Ball. Some players in this game will already be signed to Australian NRL teams, while many of Aotearoa's best juniors are already in Australia and not in the mix for this game. More players will be recruited from this game as well.
Various junior squads are being announced for NRL teams and I'll drop notes as these flow through. Sione Moala was named in the Bulldogs squad after leaving Warriors SG Ball to join Canberra Raiders during the pandemic. Moala was one of the best junior halves in Aotearoa and then played a bit of hooker for Raiders last season, so where he develops with Bulldogs will be interesting.
Most of these notes will revolve around U21 squads in New South Wales and Queensland with sporadic updates of SG Ball/Mal Meninga Cup at the U19 level. Roosters named notable Kiwi-NRL juniors Salesi Foketi, Benaiah Ioelu, Javahn Stevenson-Hala and Cassius Tia in their SG Ball squad.
Blackcaps are 4-10 in T20Is against Australia. This improves to 8-12 against England with Blackcaps winning three of their last five games.
Wildcard’s Notebook
The new NBA season is underway and Steven Adams and his Memphis Grizzlies are 1-0 thanks to an overtime win against the New York Knicks. A funky game in which Adams served up an extremely typical performance ticking most of his usual boxes:
A game-high 14 rebounds (including six offensive ones)? Check.
A sneaky 3 assists hovering around that career-best per game mark of last season? Check.
Very little emphasis on scoring, with only 3 points (the only Grizz starter with less than 12pts)? Check.
Some paltry free throw shooting, going 1/4 from the line? Check.
A king’s ransom worth of screen assists? Check.
A particular tendency towards crucial hustle plays in the latter stages of the fourth quarter? Check.
An injury sustained from being a tough bloke – in this case being elbowed in the head by Julius Randle, leading to Randle’s fouling out of the game? Check.
That elbow to the face came early in overtime and led to Adams leaving the game, so that’s one to pay some attention to moving forwards. Hopefully no damage sustained. But otherwise it was golden Steve-o doing all the things he’s supposed to do in his usual reliable manner. No jump shots, let alone three-point attempts. Don’t expect him to make a habit of any of that jazz. He doesn’t need to. He does what he does and it helps his team win, as they did here once again.
A few more things looking at some of the advanced stats... Steven Adams had an offensive rating of 119.7 in his 32 and a half minutes – the best mark on his team (although his defensive rating was also the worst, something to work on... and possibly a fallout from not having Jaren Jackson Jr playing). He was also credited with 4 screen assists for 9 points which feels a bit stingy to be honest.
But maybe the best indication of what Steve-o got up to was that Mitchell Robinson, the second best offensive rebounder in the league, only had 5 points and 2 rebounds in 13 minutes with 5 personal fouls. He had a torrid time against The Great Funaki.
That’s especially funny because Knicks coach Thom Thibodeau claimed several times over preseason that Mitchell Robinson is the best offensive rebounder in the league. That’s just a coach pumping up the tyres of his guy, fair enough, but it got funnier when Adams was asked about it and responded like this...
“Probably. Dude’s really good. Jumps high. Good positioning. Very talented. He’s really good for their system. How they attack and whatnot. I’d rather not get as many offensive rebounds because that means we make shots. So, fuck, who cares, mate? Get some rebounds, who cares, as long as you get the bloody win, mate.”
(As long as you get the bloody win, mate – the mantra of Steven Adams.)
Considering he led the league in total offensive rebounds, offensive rebounds per game, and offensive rebound percentage last season it’s pretty clear that, even if he’s too humble to say it, Adams is number one. Even though the New York media chose to take Adams at his literal word in “conceding” the offensive rebounding title belt.
Forget about the meaningless scraps about bests and seconds bests though, instead focus on two top pros paying respects to each other’s prowess in an underrated art within the game. Because, from the same article linked above, Mitchell Robinson himself is quoted saying this about Adams...
“I’ve seen Steven Adams, how he does it. He kind of goes from the baseline, works his way in. He is strong, so that’s kind of one takeaway I got from him. Other guys use their quickness. Nine times out of 10, they get to the spot where the ball is going. It really is getting in the right position, owning your space.”
The respect is mutual. Love to see it.
The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup draw is happening tomorrow in Auckland. Very big deal. All them FIFA dignitaries swooping in and taking over (apparently council workers are having to work from home for the next couple days rather than their Aotea Centre offices lol). Apparently more than 800 guests will be attending including FIFA president Gianni Infantino and footy legends Ian Wright and Carli Lloyd. Jacinda Ardern is going to be there (although the Aussies have only sent their minister for sport). Pretty hectic.
But we don’t care about the formalities or the celebrities. That stuff’s all for show. Fair enough, gotta do it, but there’s no need to throw a microphone in Ian Wright’s face and ask him what he thinks of New Zealand (although you can safely assume that somebody will... if they can get close enough to ask. FIFA runs a very tight ship as we well know - they’ve got to in order to keep the books tidy).
Nah the main reason that World Cup draw is so enticing is because of what it means tangibly for the Football Ferns, who have never won a game at a World Cup before and will never get a better chance to do so. As co-hosts, we’ll be allocated a ping pong ball in the first seeding bowl. That means we won’t have to play any of the other teams in the first bowl which would normally mean an automatic defeat. Keep in mind how the recent results of this team have pretty much played to a pattern based on how strong their opponents are…
Ranked 1-10: W 0 | D 0 | L 3 | 1 GF | 11 GA | -10 GD
USA (L 0-5), Canada (L 1-5 & L 0-1)
Ranked 11-20: W 1 | D 0 | 6 L | 5 GF | 12 GA | -7 GD
Iceland (L 0-1), Australia (L 1-2 & L 1-3), Norway (L 0-2), South Korea (L 1-2 & W 2-0), Japan (L 0-2)
Ranked >20: W 2 | D 2 | L 0 | 3 GF | 1 GA | +2 GD
Czech Republic (D 0-0), Wales (D 0-0), Mexico (W 1-0), Philippines (W 2-1)
That’s a summary of their gamse since Jitka Klimková took over as coach, divided into three tiers of strength based on current FIFA rankings (flawed though those may be) – as explored deeper in this article. Now take a peek at the seedings for tomorrow night’s draw.
The Fernies are ranked 22 by FIFA’s latest numbers. Same as they were before they lost to Japan. That would ordinarily have them in between Switzerland and Republic of Ireland for a spot in pot three, same as they were last time (in drawing Netherlands, Canada, and Cameroon – losing all three). Keep in mind that they’ve also expanded this upcoming World Cup from 24 teams to 32 teams so there are more groups and eight additional qualifiers who wouldn’t previously have made it.
Whichever nation the Ferns get from pot 4, it’s going to be a potentially winnable game. Nigeria at 45 are the highest ranked team currently there (although the three so-far-unknown qualifiers will be tough). Also the Ferns did just play Philippines and beat them 2-1 despite missing a number of key players. Gotta back them to win whoever they’re drawn against from that lot... just as you’d have to assume they’ll be beaten by their pot 2 opponent.
Meaning that pot 3 is the one to really zone in on. Denmark are very good, they’d probably topple us. Switzerland and Ireland would have the slight edge although home field advantage could swing that back our way. But the rest of them are absolutely beatable. The Ferns defeated Colombia at the 2016 Olympics. They defeated Argentina in that quad-series they played in Australia in 2019 (CJ Bott scored that famous goal). Obviously Costa Rica would be the ideal draw so as to get a bit of revenge after their men’s side knocked ours out of qualifying.
No matter how the ping pong balls swirl, the Ferns will have their best ever opportunity to grab a World Cup win. But if they swirl right in pot 3 then there’s a decent chance they could even win twice and make it out of the group stage. We won’t know until tomorrow night whether that’s a realistic target... but it might be.
The Wellington Phoenix have been up to a few things filling out their wahine squad for season two... adding their four allotted scholarship players (two more than they were allowed last time). Those four players are: Michaela Foster, Charlotte Lancaster, Georgia Candy, and Te Reremoana Walker
Cannot tell you what a beautiful thing it is to see Michaela Foster in there. I wrote in this newsletter recently that she might just be the best player in the Women’s National League right now, contributing an unstoppable supply of goals and assists whilst covering literally every outfield position on the field. She’s best as an attacking midfielder but can be a striker, can play deeper in midfield, does well on the wing, has plenty of fullback experience, and can even chip in at centre-back. Brilliant player. Plus she’s got a predilection for scoring directly from corner kicks... which she can take with either foot. Glad to see that Natalie Lawrence has been reading The Niche Cache.
Also got Charlotte Lancaster returning on a second scholarship deal. Wasn’t sure if that was allowed (honestly, it sorta feels like the A-League are making some of these squad rules up as they go along, especially for the Nix) but obviously it is because she’s back again. Lancaster is a left back or left winger. She’s got a rocket of a shot from distance which leads to some fantastic goals (including one at the U20 World Cup recently). Played a few games for Central recently which suggested that the Nix had moved on but nope, false alarm, she’s back. Hopefully will get more minutes this time – her most memorable act last season was probably the game when she volunteered to be the registered reserve goalie when Lily Alfeld was away with the Football Ferns and the team wasn’t allowed to sign anyone else.
That won’t be an issue this season because Georgia Candy has signed on too. An actual third-choice goalie! Actually Candy might well push for back-up status because she’s a huge talent. 21 years old, she was the back-up to Anna Leat with the bronze medal U17s a few years back and was in my 2020 Women’s Prem Team of the Season playing for Capital (as well as being league MVP, just quietly). More recently she’s been with the Welly Nix academy. Expect unreal shot-stopping if she gets out there at any stage.
Finally, it’s a return for Te Reremoana Walker. At a catch, granted: TRM was a fully contracted player last season but has dropped to scholarship status this time. Nat Lawrence made a point of praising Mona’s attitude in taking up this opportunity anyway and that is something genuinely worthy of praise. A lot of people let egos get in the way of things (we recently had an All Whites coach walk away because he was asked to reapply for the job – not that that was the only reason tbf). Walker will be getting a lot less cash this way but she’s also at the club that will offer her the best chance to play regular football.
That brings the squad up to 20 players with two more to be added – one Australian and one Kiwi. Been saying this for a while but if no ALW team is going after Katie Bowen on a short-term deal after she barely played last NWSL season then that’s nuts. She could walk into any ALW team though, probably better if it’s a title contender rather than the Phoenix.
Preseason training has begun in Wellington now so that surely means we’ve seen the last of Mickey Foster and Charlotte Lancaster in the National League... bigger and better things await.
Men’s National League - Team of the Week #3
(By the way, it’s business as usual for the MNL this weekend but the women have two rounds to get through so they’ve got a double-banger labour weekend special upcoming... including two games tonight. That was initially kinda daunting considering I’ve gotta write about them all… but then I realised it’s a double-header double-banger with each of the four fixtures playing both home and away over the course of one long weekend. That’s way cooler. So what I’ll probably do is split the review in half with two match-ups in part one and two match-ups in part two. The next men’s team of the week will therefore be in Monday’s edition... if I get through all the games in time)
GK – Oscar Mason (Napier City Rovers) – It was looking like Birko’s keeper Silvio Rodic in a canter... until he misjudged a stoppage time equaliser. Oscar Mason also conceded a late leveller but it was from a penalty so can’t really blame him. Up until then it was stop after stop as Mason and fellow NZ U19s squadie Joe Knowles went head to head 100 metres apart. Mason gets the edge having had more to do. Some wicked goalkeepers coming through these days, tell ya what.
RB – Sean Liddicoat (Melville United) – Speaking of last-minute penalty equalisers, Melville got one of those as well. The WeeNix absolutely deserved to win but Melville showed the value of sticking in there as they scrapped and battled to keep it at 1-0 then went wild at the end leading to the goal. Sean Liddicoat scraps and battles with the best of them in that MU back three and towards the end of that game also got involved in the attack as he moved to wing-back. Influential areas.
CB - Tamupiwa Dimairo (Wellington Olympic) – In a potentially tricky contest against Cashy Tech, the Greeks instead bossed their way to a 3-0 win in which Dimairo, having to drop into the back three again, somehow managed to pocket Lyle Matthysen on the way to a clean sheet. It was only in the last fifteen that Olympic stretched out their lead so that dominant defensive effort really deserves its flowers.
CB – Nick Forrester (Birkenhead Utd) - For 80 minutes it was a perfect Birko performance against Auckland City, 2-0 up against ten men and on the verge of a famous win. Didn’t happen. Drew 2-2. But ACFC can do that to anyone. Respect to Birko for a brilliant game plan and some excellent performances across the park with one of the best being defender Forrester who also popped up with their second goal.
LB – Adam Supyk (Wellington Phoenix) – Scored a lovely goal when his team were in need of one and that was a fine reflection of his work up and down the left wing all arvo. Defends well, gets forward, swings a decent ball into the area, apparently he’s got goals too... Ufuk Talay will have been paying attention.
CM – Ta Eh Doe (Napier City Rovers) – You can’t have watched Napier City’s thrilling draw with Miramar and not been impressed by what Doe got up to in that Rovers midfield. Getting stuck into everything, consistently busting up play and allowing his own team to get forward in transition. Doe is 21 years old with Myanmar heritage. Very tidy player.
CM – Corban Piper (Birkenhead Utd) – Only three teams all year have avoided defeat against Auckland City so we need another Birko player in here for sure. That’s pretty easy to do. Here’s 20 year old central midfielder Corban Piper. Aggressive, full of energy, moved the ball well. Great things from the fella.
CM – Fin Conchie (Wellington Phoenix) – Completing probably the youngest TOW midfield combo we’ll get all season is 19yo Conchie, fresh from the Oceania champs with Aotearoa where he was a standout and he’s come back and had two cracking games in a row for the WeeNix. His partnership with Dan McKay, who made last week’s team, is looking all sorts of encouraging.
FW – Jack-Henry Sinclair (Wellington Olympic) – Two goals and an assist for JHS who is probably the MVP frontrunner after three weeks. That combination of pace and skill and vision and finishing is yet to meet its match this season (he has 3 goals & 3 assists overall) and he’s playing in a team that perfectly facilitates him. Just a joy to watch when he’s in this kinda sparkling form.
FW – Gianni Bouzoukis (Wellington Olympic) – It was either Bouzoukis or Sam Mason-Smith... but SMS’s goal was a penalty and whilst he was huge for Rangers he also missed a few chances. So we’ll head across town instead for golden boot leader GB. Another great game from him in the Cashy Tech win. The only dude to have scored in all three rounds, with four goals overall. Love how he manages to drop in and aid the build-up yet always seems to still be in the right area to poach a striker’s goal. His header for the second goal against Tech was picture perfect.
FW – Eddie Wilkinson (Christchurch United) – Chch Utd don’t always look like a team that can break down the best defences... until they get the ball to Eddie Wilkinson whose strength and tenacity on the ball constantly gets him into shooting position and then he also has this tendency to bang in screamers from outside the area. Both goals he’s scored have been long-rangers coming within ten minutes of his team conceding. He was the number one reason his team came away with a draw in week three.