Effort-Intensity-Mana
Effort-Intensity-Mana
A tough Warriors loss, Tall Blacks World Cup draw, U20s football squad named, Blackcaps in Pakistan, Kiwi-NRL/domestic footy notes & more
Kia ora and welcome to The Niche Cache. There are many ways to support our mahi. Patreon has an extra podcast each week. Make a donation via ‘Buy Me A Coffee’. Word of mouth works great too. Engagement is fabulous and if you’re on our website, dwell on those ads. Love ya self.
Podcast
Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Youtube
Reading Menu
Rejoice For The Wellington Phoenix Blokes Have Scraped Their Way Into The Finals (Football)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Rising Rooster Naufahu Whyte (Rugby League)
Flying Kiwis – Title Challengers, Relegation Battlers & All That (Football)
2023 Blackcaps ODI Tracker: Another Series In Pakistan (Cricket)
The Breakers Struck The Ideal NBL Next Star Balance With Rayan Rupert (Basketball)
What’s Going Wrong With the Wellington Phoenix Blokes Lately And How Can They Fix It? (Football)
Scotty’s Word
Tough loss for NZ Warriors against Roosters at Mt Smart. Not a bad loss, not a 'impressive loss' as I labelled their first loss to Roosters earlier in the season. Just a tough loss that makes plenty of sense.
With a better team available, Roosters were well prepared for wet conditions. Lost in the ‘Sam Walker being dropped’ saga was a defensive angle. A strong Roosters forward pack was bolstered by having Joseph Manu in the halves. Luke Keary was the only bloke to target and he spent most of the game rushing up to pressure Shaun Johnson. Manu is a massive body and Roosters condensed their defensive line, winning the physical battle and dictating ruck speed.
Warriors didn't have the personnel to match that. The effort, intensity and mana was on display once again though. This has been evident in every game so far this season and continues to be the most important development under coach Andrew Webster.
Warriors didn't score any points thanks to Roosters defensive class and a lack of attacking weapons. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak is the third choice fullback behind Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad and Taine Tuaupiki. Watene-Zelezniak doesn't have a passing skillset because he is a winger. Warriors also lacked a passing combo in their middle forwards.
Earlier in the season this came via Tohu Harris and Dylan Walker, with Nicoll-Klokstad offering slick hands on the edges. When Te Maire Martin was playing he provided a fabulous passing game down short-sides.. No Martin hinders this, let alone missing three other key passers in their ideal roles.
Otahuhu junior Demitric Sifakula made his debut and after watching the Warriors win their NSW Cup game against Roosters, this is the funkiest Warriors wrinkle. Sifakula played 19 minutes through the middle and was all good physically, showing the same shoulder-whack that stood out in pre-season trials.
In his absence, NSW Cup Warriors stayed 1st by dominating a strong Roosters forward pack. Roosters had veterans Dylan Napa and Nathan Brown in their pack, along with Naufahu Whyte who I covered in a Kiwi-NRL Spotlight this weekend. I've also covered Siua Wong for Roosters who has earned plenty of hype.
17-year-old (!!) Leka Halasima was better than all those Roosters forwards. Halasima started in the middle for Warriors and was immense, then he shifted to centre when fullback Geronimo Doyle left the field injured. This kid from Mangere played middle forward against fringe NRL lads and then handled centre with ease.
Leka Halasima’s game logs in NSW Cup…
vs Bulldogs: 19mins, 2 tb, 5 tackles, 44m
vs Mapgies: 44mins, 1 tb, 26 tackles/1 miss, 93m
vs Knights: 38mins, 5 tb, 21 tackles/4 misses, 88m
vs Sea Eagles: 52mins, 2 tb, 21 tackles/1 miss, 86m
vs Eels: 56mins, 2 tries, 3 linebreaks, 8 tb, 20 tackles/1 miss, 108m
vs Roosters: 70mins, 1 try, 21 tackles/1 miss, 145m
Zyon Maiu'u and Isaiah Vagana were also solid as middles. Along with Halasima, these three are the young forwards who are being developed for NRL. I reckon there is a realistic chance of a Warriors NRL bench featuring Tom Ale, Demitric Sifakula, Zyon Maiu'u and/or Leka Halasima this season. All four are from Auckland and came through the Warriors pipeline.
Christchurch's Tanner Stowers-Smith is the third Warriors junior to play SG Ball and NSW Cup this season (joining Halasima and Jacob Laban). Stowers-Smith made his debut vs Roosters and should get more game time as he looked comfortable. Warriors also have a balance to keep things steady in NSW Cup as Paterika Vaivai, Michael Sio, James Gavet etc are really good reserve-graders who provide leadership and guidance.
Ali Leiataua, Sanele Aukusitino and Moala Graham-Taufa are the main NRL backline prospects. Interestingly, Graham-Taufa and his twin brother Lani returned to Aotearoa after rising through the Roosters system. Lani is playing Fox Premiership for Marist and has NSW Cup talent.
Prior to this season I pondered how Dylan Brown is a better #6 than Kalyn Ponga. Here was their match up in a big Eels win over Knights...
Brown: 1 try, 21 runs - 192m @ 9.14m/run, 2 linebreaks, 5 tackle busts, 27 tackles @ 90%
Ponga: 9 runs - 77m @ 8.55m/run, 1 linebreak assist, 2 tackle busts, 13 tackles @ 56%
Ponga has made 32 tackles @ 74.4% this season, Brown has made 218 tackles @ 92.8%.
Ponga averages 64m/game, Brown averages 135m/game.
Ponga has won 41% of his games with Knights, Brown has won 64% of his games with Eels.
Ponga made his debut as an 18-year-old ... so did Brown.
Wiremu Greig had his best/busiest game for Eels vs Knights...
44mins, 13 runs - 134m @ 10.3m/run, 34 tackles @ 92%
Most minutes, tackles and metres this season for Northland's Greig.
I'm loving Hayze Perham's mahi at fullback for Bulldogs. Perham was everywhere vs Dragons and while Reece Walsh is top-5 in errors for the second season in a row, Perham's not in the top-50. Perham vs Dragons...
20 runs - 192m @ 9.6m/run, 1 linebreak, 2 linebreak assists, 4 offloads, 1 tackle @ 33%.
Bulldogs also gave Randwick junior Karl Oloapu his NRL debut. Oloapu joins Isaiya Katoa as the youngest halves in NRL right now and both are from Wellington. Like Katoa, the notable thing about Oloapu's debut was how he had no dramas with the physicality and his duties as an NRL half.
There was another heavy dose of Kiwi-NRL funk in the NSW Harold Matthews Cup final this weekend as a young half from Aotearoa lined up in both teams. Bulldogs won with Bronson Reuben wearing #6 and Knights had Haami Loza wearing #7.
Reuben is from Canterbury where he was a Northern Bulldogs junior and went to St Bede's College. Loza appears to be from Rotorua where he went to Rotorua Boys High School before moving up to Auckland where he dominated with De La Salle College, also playing for Mangere East and Otara.
Tavita Henare-Schuster scored four tries in his second game for Roosters Jersey Flegg (PNBHS 1st 15, Hurricanes U20s etc). Cassius Tia (Marist) joined his Roosters SG Ball homie Benaiah Ioelu in moving up to Flegg, with Tia starting in the halves.
John Fineanganofo and Elijah Rasmussen also jumped up from Redcliffe U18s to U21s. Fineanganofo played in the halves during their U18 championship and started at centre for U21s, Rasmussen came off the bench.
Blackcaps lost again to Pakistan, down 0-2 in the series. Daryl Mitchell has back to back centuries, which are his only 50+ scores in 10 games this year. Mitchell averages 45.52 in ODIs and 57.21 in Tests, with a healthy T20I record of 26avg/138sr.
Tom Latham also hit his first 50+ score in 10 games this year. Latham is averaging 21.6 after averaging 55.8 in 13 innings last year.
Mark Chapman has 16 runs @ 8avg/94sr after his whopper T20I series.
Three Blackcaps have bowled in both games...
Ish Sodhi: 20ov, 2w @ 65avg/6.5rpo
Matt Henry: 19.2ov, 1w @ 104avg/5.37rpo
Rachin Ravindra: 17.3ov, 1w @ 128avg/7.31rpo
Black Sticks lost all four games this weekend in FIH Pro League…
Men vs GB: 1-6 loss
Women vs GB: 1-6 loss
Men vs Aus: 2-4 loss
Women vs Aus: 1-2 loss
Eight games, eight losses over the past week or so. Black Sticks have a combined record of one win, three draws, 12 losses in 16 Pro League games. Safe to say they are down the bottom of the Pro League ladders.
Musical jam...
Wildcard’s Notebook
So, how about that Tall Blacks World Cup draw? The ping pong balls were cast and the kiwis were served with USA, Greece, and Jordan in pool play. The best team on the planet and the best player on the planet (well, top three at least). Speaking there of the USA national men’s basketball selection which could pick a third-string team and it’d still be the envy of the rest of the tournament. USA did lose to France in the quarters last time but not sure if that should be encouraging because they may not take it 100% seriously or discouraging because this time they’ll have a point to prove. That was the first time they’ve ever missed the final. Steve Kerr will coach them at the FIBA event.
And of course the best player reference was to a certain Giannis Antetokounmpo. Freshly dumped out of the NBA playoffs with his Milwaukee Bucks despite being the two-seed (albeit Giannis was battling through injury) and therefore with plenty of time to rest before the World Cup. Greece were actually in NZ’s group back in 2019 as well, with the Greeks winning 103-97 on that occasion. Antetokounmpo had 24p/10r while Corey Webster topped for the kiwis with 31 points. Good argument to be made that we’ll have a deeper squad this time, maybe they can close that gap. We should at least have a good crack against Jordan whom the TB’s beat in the third-place playoff of the 2022 Asia Cup. That wasn’t a full capacity Tall Blacks team either.
It’s going to be crazy to see how they manage to pick a 12-man squad out of all the available players. More than ever before there are going to be some serious pros who miss out. Alas, one of those pros might be Steven Adams. From fresh speculation that he was close to ending his international hibernation recently, the first time there’s ever been genuine trustworthy positive vibes around Adams playing for the TBs... listening to his general manager at the Memphis Grizzlies speaking at Exit Interviews this morning it’s not sounding likely. Word from Zach Kleiman is that Adams won’t need surgery and they’re expecting him to be return around the start of next season.
“We’ve been been consulting with experts just making sure, we’re putting a pin in the plan before we put anything out. The plan for Steven is a rehab plan in place that Steven’s going to be diving into. The target for Steven is to return at the beginning of next season. That’s the hope for everyone going into this offseason.”
“To clarify on Steven, the approach is non-surgical. Not a procedure, just a dedicated rehab plan that we’re putting in place with the target being that Steven will return at or around the beginning of next season.”
A rehab plan built around the start of next season is probably not gonna allow him to partake in national team exploits two months before that targeted return. Wild to think he’s gonna miss about ten months for an injury that they initially thought would keep him out for 4-6 weeks.
Say look here’s that U20 Men’s Football World Cup squad that we’ve been waiting for...
Nothing too funky there. No Matt Dibley-Dias in the end, although we’ll keep that candle burning in the window until there’s anything definitive. 16 of the 21 players here were part of the squad for the OFC qualifiers with the five additions being: Kees Sims, Norman Garbett, Finn Linder, Alby Kelly-Heald, and Ben Wallace. Sims and Garbett are playing overseas hence they weren’t there for the OFC stuff. Sims with Lujnskile in Sweden (where he’s since been joined by Oli Fay) and Garbett, the younger bro of Matt, is playing in Italy at Primavera level (U19s). Scores a few goals for them too. Excited to see him in this context.
There were heaps of goalies in contention, with Oscar Mason, Joe Knowles, and Matt Foord also having played for this team but missing out on the final cut. Lukas Kelly-Heald is therefore a slightly surprising addition joining his twin brother in the team. Would’ve had Mason and Knowles ahead of him based on National League performances but then that’s only one aspect of all this. It’s pretty cool to have such a plethora of options. Kees Sims should be the starter.
Curious that Finn Linder has snuck in. He wasn’t part of either recent U19/U20 squad but did come along with club teammate Jay Herdman for the U23s games and started the second of those against China. Didn’t do much as part of a back three where the build-up mostly went down the other flank but looked pretty tidy with what he did do. Linder is a dual-nat Canadian baller. He’s also a bit of a rarity in this squad as a lot of the other overseas nurtured options who’ve been tried (Roman Engle, Ty Cobb from Oz for example) weren’t picked for the final group. That includes Canterbury striker Oscar Obell-Hall who has been in Denmark for the last couple years with Esbjerg but must not have impressed enough on the Indonesia tour.
The surprise call amongst the forwards was Ben Wallace of the Welly Nix Academy. I’d been wondering if Josh Rudland, a non-travelling reserve for the qualifiers, might have worked his way in after a bunch of goals for the Central League team recently. He didn’t... but Wallace did. Rudland has 5 goals this CL season, Wallace has 3... though Wallace is a bit more versatile in the positions he can cover. Both good players. The bulk of the goals will surely come through Kian Donkers and Oli Colloty again – the two who shared the Golden Boot in qualifying. Jay Herdman won Golden Ball.
Meanwhile Argentina’s squad have been knocked back a potential star as Manchester United’s Alejandro Garnacho has been refused permission to join their squad. That’s one less bloke for the kiwis to worry about when we play the hosts in the group stage. Garnacho had requested it but the club has an FA Cup final to prepare for plus Garny’s coming back from injury. So he misses out on the chance to be this year’s Erling Haaland – the future superstar who couldn’t score against the NZ U20s.
Also might just mention that Marley Leuluai, not in this squad but will probably captain the U17s at their World Cup later in the year, has made it known that he hasn’t been given a scholarship contract by Manchester City. Been there for several years but the 16yo didn’t make the cut for the next age grade – which is about when things start getting serious, bottlenecking towards the first team and reserves. Leuluai therefore apparently spent most of last month on trial with Rangers in Scotland auditioning for a contract there instead. Guys from out of the Man City academy tend to land on their feet, at least for that first pro gig... and Rangers have had some success looking towards that pathway in recent years.
Onwards with the Domestic Footy Notes...
The funkiest game on the fixture list for last week was for sure Auckland City versus Eastern Suburbs. The ol’ Gridlock Derby between the last two undefeated teams in the Northern League. And... they’re still the last to undefeated teams in the Northern League after grinding out a 0-0 draw in some rotten weather at Kiwitea Street. Luis Toomey had a couple chances in the first half for Subs while ACFC sped it up in the second half but two strong defensive units were unable to be broken. City were missing a couple guys (Howeison, Den Heijer, De Vries, Tade) while the Lilywhites were more or less at full strength. Just a pity the weather wasn’t a bit more forthcoming as we ended up in a stalemate.
Remaining undefeated teams across the three conferences: Auckland City, Eastern Suburbs, Wellington Olympic, Western Suburbs, Christchurch United & Cashmere Technical. Chch Utd and Olympic are the last two with perfect records. Neither had any dramas maintaining those on the weekend as Christchurch Utd won 6-0 away to Ferrymead Bays with Eoghan Stokes and Sam Phillip both getting hat-tricks, while Welly Olympic smoked North Wellington 7-0. Hamish Watson got a hatty in that game.
Back to the Northerns and apart from that City-Subs game there were goals galore on Saturday with every other team scoring at least twice. That trend was spoiled by the lone Sunday game as Western Springs were upset 1-0 at home by West Coast Rangers but in the other game there were two 3-3 draws, a 2-2 draw, and a 3-2 win. Shout outs to Melville for the 3-2 win, they were 2-1 down against Bay Olympic entering stoppage time when Liam Hayes pulled out a couple late goals to flip the script. Including a 96th minute winning penalty kick.
There was late drama also with Derek Tieku scoring an 86th min equaliser for Hamilton Wanderers against Manurewa (3-3), Josh Redfearn doing the same in the 88th minute for Auckland United vs Birkenhead (3-3), and Samu Kautoga waiting even later until 90+5’ for Manukau United’s leveller away to Takapuna. Taka were 2-0 up seeking their first win but couldn’t hang on.
Mad drama in pretty much all of those games except for the top of the table clash (even WCR’s winner against Springs didn’t come until the 75th min – Kees Tweed with the goal). More mad drama in Petone’s 4-3 win over Miramar Rangers. Petone had been 3-0 up after 33 minutes only for Andy Bevin (x2) and Sam Mason-Smith haul Rangers level. But a stoppage time penalty allowed Brynn Sinclair to give the home side the dub as they celebrated 125 years of existence as a club. Petone are also doing good work live streaming their own games on YouTube, making them nice and accessible around the country. I say good rather than great because the cameraperson did forget to follow the ball as they won that late penalty... which is one thing but then somehow they also got so excited they didn’t film the penalty either lol. All the while they had, get this, Patrick Gower formerly of The News providing some extremely enthusiastic colour commentary. Truly one of the most surreal footballing experiences you’ll ever have. Watch the last ten minutes of the stream if you want to experience a mushroom trip without going on a mushroom trip.
Also might just mention Cashmere Tech bagging a 90th minute Zender Edwards winner to beat Selwyn United 2-1 on Friday night. Usually it’s been Christchurch United with the very late winners on Friday nights. Those lights and that Southern climate make for close footy games, apparently.
In the NRFL Women’s Prem, Auckland United got goals from Dani Canham and Shannon Henson in a 2-0 win away to Ellerslie. Seems like that new squad is really starting to click now. They’re top by two points with Eastern Suburbs and Hamilton Wanderers each in range after also winning on the weekend. But National League grand finalists Western Springs are in a spot of bother following a 1-1 draw with West Coast Rangers – in which they needed a stoppage time own goal to avoid defeat. Springs have lost a lot of players from last year but do still have a solid core particularly in defence so to only have one win from five games is quite a shocker. Still heaps of room to turn that around, of course.
Say, look, Taika Waititi’s made a sports movie! Next Goal Wins is based on the famous documentary about the American Samoan football team, the kind of Hollywood feel-good underdog fodder that was always gonna get a theatrical remake at some point. Waititi is clearly the ideal bloke to take charge of a story set in the Pacific Islands although gotta admit to some clear reservations about the veracity of the sporting action based on the trailer here.
To be fair, there are very few examples of football being done well in fictional films. Also, despite this seemingly being their only real purpose for existing, trailers very often don’t give a good reflection of the film they’re trying to market. I’ve got an open mind. I’ll be going to see it regardless.