Double Dipping
Kiwi-NRL notebook, Chatham/Kate Sheppard Cup semis, Wellington sporting prowess, Tim Southee's all format wickets, plus Tauihi basketball
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Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Career Best Mahi With Dylan Brown (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Wellington Mana With Nelson Asofa-Solomona (Rugby League)
Juniors Ferns Antics at the 2022 FIFA Women’s U20 World Cup (Football)
Looks Like The Wellington Phoenix Blokes Are Embarking On Another Aussie Cup Run (Football)
Flying Kiwis – August 16 (Football)
Returning To The Suzie Bates Status-Quo (Cricket)
Sean Marks Is Finally Putting His Foot Down At The Brooklyn Nets (Basketball)
2022 Blackcaps Tracker: Matt Henry Keeps Gathering Wickets (Cricket)
2022 Blackcaps Tracker: (Devon) Conway The Machine (Cricket)
27fm Weekly Playlist: August 22 (Music)
Scotty’s Word
NRLWahine started this weekend and the Auckland wahine final was also played, with Manurewa defeating Pt Chevalier. Manurewa won the final 16-6 and they were strongly led by Maitua Feterika, Krystal Rota and Kararaina Wira-Kohu who all played for Knights earlier this year in NRLW. Feterika was my favourite player from that final, playing on Manurewa's left edge but popping up for crucial runs everywhere.
Pt Chev had Katelyn Vaha'akolo and Charlotte Scanlan, both of whom also played for Knights in NRLW. Vaha'akolo is especially funky as she played for Auckland Storm in rugby union on Saturday then for Pt Chev in league on Sunday. Vaha'akolo is one of a few ladies who did this cross-code double most weekends but this weekend was super impressive as both games were on telly and one of them was a final.
This is why I lean towards celebrating Aotearoa's footy abundance instead of the 'union stole this player and league needs this or that' type of narratives. I don't know every player who is doing such double-dipping, I do know about Charntay Poko who has been playing union for Canterbury and league for Sydenham (made the Canterbury final). Onjeurlina Leiataua was playing league and union in Auckland as well.
Everyone just does what they want and this should not be viewed as some kind of referendum for either code. This weekend amplified these notions as Will Warbrick scored a double for Sunshine Coast and Gayle Broughton played her first game of NRLW, both in their first year of rugby league after leaving Sevens rugby.
I’m actually kinda tapping out from sporting referendums. Every cricket story is about this format’s death and future predictions. Let alone the ‘state of rugby’ type of yarns. Everything is fabulous, most sports are flourishing in Aotearoa and I just want to enjoy Aotearoa’s excellence.
Now is not the time for dramatic NRL takes as the season winds down and the best teams beat up the worst teams. I had a focus on Eels, Roosters and Raiders heading into this round, resulting in big wins for Eels and Roosters while Raiders rallied in a tricky contest against Knights. Joseph Tapine returned to footy after an injury and he went straight back into his excellent mahi.
Tapine was injured in round 21 vs Panthers where he played just 31 minutes. Take that game out of this equation and Tapine has 10 consecutive games with over 150m, now averaging 161m per game. Tapine averaged 125m/game in 2020, then 120m/game last year, and his leap up to 161m is bonkers but in alignment with a bunch of Aotearoa Kiwis playing their best footy.
Three of whom are from Wellington. Tapine (Harbour City) is joined by Nelson Asofa-Solomona (Upper Hutt) and Jahrome Huhges (Harbour City) as three of the best in their positions from Wellington. Jordan Rapana is also a hearty Wellingtonian and while there isn't quite the same presence from Wellington in wahine rugby league, Wellington sport is damn impressive.
Sophie Devine is the best T20 player in wahine cricket. Wellington is an excellent cricket region with Jess and Amelia Kerr right there with Devine, while the likes of Rachin Ravindra and Ben Sears lead an almighty crop of young cricketers on the blokes side. The Wellington vibe is evident in how Devon Conway and Finn Allen flourished after moves to Wellington.
I'm no expert on football in Wellington but it's obvious that Wellington is a football hub of Aotearoa. The best football academies are in Wellington and a long list of Aotearoa's best footballers come from the capital. Wellington has always been a major factor in Aotearoa basketball as well. The combination of Wellington brewing world-class athletes and also developing those who move to Wellington into that echelon is an enticing coaching/development/culture idea that I'll keep pondering.
Raiders are now ninth on 26 points chasing Roosters, Rabbitohs and Broncos on 28 points. Roosters are a Kiwi-NRL powerhouse and I want them in finals footy, leaving Rabbitohs and Broncos battling with Raiders for the last two finals spots. Broncos are battling some adversity late in the season and the return of Te Maire Martin had no impact as they were smoked by Storm.
Storm continue to impress in their adversity pocket.
Broncos have Martin and Jordan Riki, neither of whom has me eager to see Broncos crack finals footy and I'd be happy seeing Raiders take their spot. Warriors fans will be curious about Martin's mahi and Riki is hunting Kiwis World Cup selection but they don’t offer enough funk to override Broncos vibes.
Matthew Timoko isn't from Wellington, nor is he among the best in his position, but his progress continues to intrigue with Raiders. Timoko had 11 runs for 102m with a try assist and 12 tackles @ 85.71% vs Knights and I'd love to see Timoko step up to finals footy.
Timoko played two games in his debut season, nine games last year and 22 games this year which means Timoko has started every game this season. Timoko came up through Auckland rugby league and Auckland Grammar School 1st 15 as another sign of cross-code abundance, now he is pushing for Kiwis World Cup squad selection - perhaps ahead of Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad.
Nicoll-Klokstad played for Kiwis late in 2019 at centre and he is currently playing fullback for Raiders NSW Cup. This means that Nicoll-Klokstad is behind Timoko in the Raiders centre depth chart and while Nicoll-Klokstad is a nifty fullback, Aotearoa's depth is such that he is unlikely to be selected from reserve grade. This also frames Nicoll-Klokstad's move to Warriors as he has dipped behind Timoko/Sebastian Kris as Raiders centres and Xavier Savage at fullback.
Speaking of Warriors recruits, Luke Metcalf is a starting half for the best NSW Cup team. Metcalf has started all 12 of his games for Newtown (Sharks feeder team) in the halves and he has 14 tries, six try assists, 10 linebreak assists while also averaging 202.5 kicking metres per game.
Redcliffe U21s didn't play this weekend, still sitting third with their crop of Warriors juniors. The Redcliffe Q Cup team had a 49-10 win and whether you're the joker moaning about a big Warriors loss, or how weird the scorelines were this weekend; the trend exists across most of the late-season footy so chill.
Redcliffe are still third in Q Cup, with Rocco Berry and Adam Pompey starting in this win. Jackson Frei, Aaron Pene and Pride Petterson-Robati also played as Warriors squad members. Berry is cooking in Q Cup...
Berry has played nine games with six wins and two draws. Berry has two tries, three try assists, seven linebreaks, averaging 122m/game and he has made 143 tackles with just three misses.
Wildcard’s Notebook
We now know our finalists for both the Chatham Cup and the Kate Sheppard Cup. The semis took place over the weekend and served up a curiosity as all four remaining teams are from Auckland. Auckland City will face Eastern Suburbs for the fellas. Auckland United will face Northern Rovers for the ladies. The KSC has had quite a few all-AKL finals, mostly during the spells of dominance of Glenfield Rovers (now merged into Northern Rovers) and Lynn-Avon United. The Chats has had a couple too – 2016 and 2017 both also had all four finalists from Auckland.
Eastern Suburbs beat Hamilton Wanderers 1-0 at Madills Farm in a game that didn’t entirely captivate, gotta be honest. Both teams were good defensively and short on options up top. It felt for most of the way like Wanderers would eventually break things down as Derek Tieku was easily the most creative dude on the park but it never quite went his way and instead the decisive moment was a penalty awarded to Suburbs midway through the second half.
Controversial one too – not because of any doubt about the foul, just as to whether it was actually inside the penalty area. Needless to say Wanderers weren’t happy. I’ll admit I thought the contact was outside the box but it’s not like the livestream was conclusive or anything. If the ref said it was inside then fair enough, he was a lot closer than me. Adam Thurston buried the spottie just after the hour and there were no more goals. There was a mass underage pitch invasion from the local youngsters though...
Then a day later we had a belter of a game between Auckland City and Wellington Olympic at Kiwitea Street. Auckland City fresh off winning the OFC Champions League. Their second trophy of the year to go with the Northern League title that they clinched weeks ago. Albert Riera’s team are still undefeated in 2022 with only one draw. They hit this one up on a 26-game winning streak in all competitions.
Meanwhile Wellington Olympic were as well-positioned to beat them as anyone. The current leaders in the Central League (with a ginormous clash against Miramar Rangers on Wednesday evening potentially gonna decide that trophy) and coming off an 11-1 win over Western Suburbs a week earlier.
But ACFC are just so good right now. A beautifully designed set piece move didn’t quite work to perfection but the ball still fell for Dylan Manickum to slide in the opening goal after ten minutes. You sorta felt the game would have been better off with an early Olympic goal because this way City were then able to move the ball around with confidence, running things through that midfield, and making sure they stayed in calm control. But they did add a crucial second in first half stoppage time as Joe Lee’s shot deflected in.
The Greeks weren’t out of it by any stretch. Jesse Randall banged in a mean finish on 54’ to close the gap, making things a bit sweaty for the home fans. Until Emiliano Tade (who won the Chatham Cup with Central Utd way back in 2012 – scoring in the final) came off the bench and provided a third for City with a beautifully taken side-footed lob over Scott Basalaj after Justin Gulley had misplayed a defensive header. Olympic gave it a good crack but couldn’t find another goal despite a few decent chances. 3-1 to Auckland City... who are going to be huge favourites going into the final.
Flipping it back to Saturday, that’s when Auckland United faced Palmerston North Marist in the first Kate Sheppard Cup semi-final, at Keith Hay Park. A really strong United team who are prepping for the National League several weeks down the line, interesting to see Ruby Nathan there on the bench so soon after the U20 World Cup. Also note Katie Duncan, Football Ferns centurion, there in defence. PN-Marist do have a few gals who’ll soon be a part of the Central squad for the National League, most notable probably being Georgie Furnell and Hannah Kleinsman.
It took awhile for Auckland United to capitalise on their favourites status. Lots of possession but only half chances at first, several injury stoppages helping to break up the flow. But Marty Puketapu busted it open in the 31st min, taking a touch to control a cross from winger Isabella Richards before calmly picking out the top corner with an excellent finish. Eight minutes later Bree Johnson made it twos, pouncing after Puketapu had held off a couple defenders.
Ruby Nathan came on for AU at the half but despite United seemingly picking up where they left off, it was Marist who scored next. 54 mins on the clock and United’s keeper Aimee Feinberg-Danieli spilled a corner kick to allow Kleinsman to tap in from basically on the goal line. All of a sudden the energy had switched... but only for about a minute before Puketapu scored again. Unmarked at the back stick from a corner. No worries there.
In fact Puketapu went on to add two more. First on 66’ as Alosi Bloomfield won yet another ball in the midfield, pushed it forward to Penny Brill, and PB wasted no time in feeding Puketapu on the run. The finish was then Pure Striker Areas from the 4-cap Footy Ferns forward. Her fourth goal was pretty sharp too, MP with too much pace and strength running in behind followed by a thumping finish on 79’.
Holly Kleinsman did pull another one back late on. Again from a corner. Again lurking at the far post. This time it was a flicked header from defender Amber Phillips which she pounced upon at close range. Two for Kleinsman to give her a bit of confidence to take into the National League. 5-2 the final score with Auckland United comfortably booking a place in the KS Cup final.
Bringing us to the last of these games, which was Northern Rovers versus Dunedin City Royals. The NFF Premier champs (effectively the women’s Northern League but the so-called alignment isn’t all there yet) against the runaway Southern champs. Dunedin City bossed their way through their regional league with 11 wins from 11 games with a +85 goal difference. However they were beaten 4-1 by Coastal Spirit two weeks ago in what was effectively the decider of the South Island Championship. With Southern United and Canterbury Pride still in National League existence this was their last competition to play for (whereas Northern Rovers will be taking on Southern and Canterbury in the NL).
So a fascinating game at McFetridge Park... and sadly the only one that wasn’t live streamed. Therefore can’t give you too much colour commentary but the raw details go that Leanna Ryan scored first on 13’ for Rovers. That lead lasted for the rest of the half before Shontelle Smith equalised after 55 minutes following a strong start to the second spell. Both teams had chances to win it late, neither took any. Off to extra time we went.
Northern Rovers were first to strike in extras. Michaela Foster’s cross headed in by substitute Kate McConnell on 100’... yet only five minutes later a free kick from Shontelle Smith was headed in by Hannah Mackay-Wright to make it 2-2. With nothing to split the two teams it was off to a penalty shootout. Both teams went two for two but then Ellen Blount saved DCR’s third and with her team remaining flawless from the spot the rest of the way that was that. 2-2 after extra time. 5-3 to Northern Rovers on penalties. It’ll be Northern Rovers vs Auckland United in the final.
Tim Southee is nudging his way towards 200 ODI wickets and that’s some rare territory for any bowler, let alone one from Aotearoa. His hauls of 2/39, 4/22, and 1/47 in this series against the West Indies (7 wickets @ 15.42 average) have lifted him up to 197 in total. That’s 40th all time – going ahead of Dale Steyn with his last strike. Here are the top ODI wicket takers for the Blackcaps...
Dan Vettori – 305 wkts | 31.71 ave | 4.12 rpo | 46.0 sr
Kyle Mills – 240 wkts | 27.02 ave | 4.72 rpo | 34.2 sr
Chris Harris – 203 wkts | 37.50 ave | 4.28 rpo | 52.5 sr
Chris Cairns – 201 wkts | 32.80 ave | 4.84 rpo | 40.6 sr
Tim Southee – 197 wkts | 33.83 ave | 5.43 rpo | 37.3 sr
Trent Boult – 177 wkts | 24.75 ave | 4.98 rpo | 29.7 sr
Not bad, not bad at all. Of course Tim Southee is also one of only four men to have taken 100 wickets in T20 internationals. His 114 wickets there are second only to Shakib Al Hasan (121) with Rashid Khan close behind on 112 wickets and Lasith Malinga retired on 107 wickets. Ish Sodhi is fifth with 99, narrowly missing out on a major milestone in that Windies series but he’ll get there sooner rather than later.
Plus Tim Southee has amassed 347 Test wickets as well. Third for NZ behind Richard Hadlee (431) and Dan Vettori (362). He’s almost surely gonna catch Vettori. He’s actually a decent chance to catch Hadlee too, to be honest – although know that Southee’s already played more Tests than Hadlee did in his career. Trent Boult also has 317 Test wickets but for obvious reasons his chances of eventually topping the list are suddenly much lower than Southee’s.
Only 36 men have taken 300+ Test wickets worldwide. Of them only 18 have also taken 200+ ODI wickets. Some of those have taken 300+ in both. Some have 500 Test wickets and 300 ODI wickets. Old mate Muttiah Muralitharan is the only bloke in the 800/500 club. Here’s the full list (Test wickets/ODI wickets)...
Muttiah Muralitharan (800/534), Shane Warne (708/293), Jimmy Anderson (658/269), Anil Kumble (619/337), Glenn McGrath (563/381), Courtney Walsh (519/227), Kapil Dev (434/253), Shaun Pollock (421/393), Harbhajan Singh (417/269), Wasim Akram (414/502), Curtly Ambrose (405/225), Makhaya Ntini (390/266), Waqar Younis (373/416), Dan Vettori (362/305), Chaminda Vaas (355/400), Mitchell Johnson (313/239), Zaheer Khan (311/282) & Brett Lee (310/380)
Yet absolutely none of them are anywhere close to 100 T20I wickets. Largely because most of them never got the chance but that’s their problem. This’ll change as more current players reach enough years into their careers however right now, as it stands, the fella from that 300 Test wickets & 200 ODI wickets club with the most T20I wickets is... well, it’s a tie between Dan Vettori and Mitchell Johnson with 38 each.
Meaning that Tim Southee is soon to become the only man in cricket history with 300 Test wickets, 200 ODI wickets, and 100 T20I wickets. Shakib Al Hasan needs another 75 Test wickets to also reach that club but he’s already 35yo and it’s taken him six years to pick up his most recent 75 wickets (albeit with a pandemic in the middle meaning he played no Tests in 2020 – so we’ll say five years tbf). And pretty much all the other dudes up near the top of the T20I wickets are retired or don’t play all three formats.
Mitchell Starc has a chance. He’s at 287/195/63. Also we’ll see where Jasprit Bumrah is at in about four more years, at the moment he’s 28yo with 128/121/69... so it’s Tests where he needs to fire up the most but he averages 21.99 in the format so no reason for him to panic there. Can’t see Ravi Ashwin playing enough to make it from 442/151/64 given that he’s about to turn 36yo and doesn’t always get picked in white ball formats where India has a wealth of spinning options. Kagiso Rabada should get there eventually though. He’s at 250/132/52 at 27yo averaging less than 28 runs per wicket whilst being a first choice option in all three formats.
But Tim Southee’s gonna get there first and by an easy distance. Potentially as soon as in two weeks when the Caps hit up Australia for three more ODIs.
Jill Harmon played for the Southern Hoiho in the Tauihi basketball yesterday. Scored 7 points with 8 rebounds and 6 assists however poor shooting all around meant that the Hoiho fell 63-53 to the Mid-North Whai to end their season then and there. Only one win from 12 games. Four out of five teams make the playoffs – two semis on Friday night and then a final on Saturday night – and the Hoiho are the lone unfortunate team to miss out there.
Which is why Harmon’s appearance was so notable. Jill Harmon is a modern Tall Ferns legend. At 35 years of age she’s been around long enough to have played at the 2008 Olympics – the last time that the Ferns qualified for that event. Micaela Cocks (Northern Kahu) was also in that squad and is playing Tauihi. As was Suzie Bates who back then was 20 years old and already a dual international (she’d stop playing basketball to focus on cricket a couple years later – though she was an assistant coach for the Otago Nuggets in the 2021 NBL season while she was out injured).
That alone is reason to get perked up about Harmon playing in the new Tauihi league. But even more so when you realise that game yesterday was her debut. See, Harmon doesn’t live in Aotearoa. She was born and raised in America and is eligible for the Tall Ferns because her mother was born here. Harmon plays professionally in France and has for several years. 3x3 stuff has kept her involved in the NZ programme recently (she was part of the World Champs and Comm Games squads) but they also interfered with her availability for Tauihi. As did her club work in France.
Thus by the time she was finally able to feature for the Hoiho there was only one game left and they’d already missed out on finals qualification. But Jill Harmon made the trip down anyway to play that one meaningless game. This is what she told the Otago Daily Times about that decision...
“Since I’d committed to it, and we expected at the beginning of the season I’d be able to come for a game or two and then help the team in the final four. It didn’t work out that way this time. But I just wanted to show support for the league and come back and be here. It’s just one game, but I’m still going to go to the final four, watch the other teams play. Catch up with some people. For me it’s about supporting the league and committing to what we started.”
There’s been a lot of chat recently about how invested fans and sponsors have been in both the men’s NBL and women’s Tauihi this year. Here’s a great example of one of the biggest name players in the competition doing exactly the same.
Tauihi Semi-Finals...
Northern Kahu (10-2) vs Mid-North Whai (5-7) – 6pm on Friday
Tokomanawa Queens (8-4) vs Mainland Pouakai (6-6) – 8pm on Friday
Grand Final – 7.30pm on Saturday