El Niche Cache
Podcast
TNC Variety Show - Episode 12
The Niche Cast: God In Drag (Blackcaps Test Squad)
Reading Menu
2020/21 Plunket Shield All Stars (Cricket)
The Premmy Files – Team Wellington 2020-21 Season Review (Football)
27fm Album Jukebox – March 2021 (Music)
Monday Morning Dummy Half: Kiwi-NRL Roosters Leadership (NRL)
Coming To Grips With An Absolutely Baffling Welly Nix Campaign So Far (Football)
Flying Kiwis – April 6 (Football)
Scotty’s Word
NZ Warriors…
I’m working through some NZ Warriors seeds after their loss to Manly Sea Eagles. Something feels different about this Warriors outfit, even with some of their best players unavailable and yet the results are awfully similar to previous Warriors teams. The attack vs Manly was super boring and that is in contrast to how the Warriors have scored points to start this season - I’ve highlighted simple set-plays for Warriors tries in Diary entries.
One obscure idea here is Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and his influence on winning. I’m a massive RTS fanboy, we’re South Aucklanders and he’s the mantis. Against Manly, RTS had 30 runs for 259m. For non-NRL folk, that is absolutely bonkers. For NRL folk, it’s pure RTS. This is the third season in a row with RTS averaging 200+ running metres per game and for context; in the seven years prior, RTS had one season averaging 200+ metres.
Three seasons averaging 200+ running metres and all three seasons feature a winning percentage of 40 or below. Translation: RTS has had a losing record in all three seasons.
A lot goes into winning a NRL game, let alone a season’s worth. RTS is doing all he can as an individual, yet he has a very limited influence on results. I’m not suggesting this is a massive negative for RTS, it’s merely a juncture where my journey in observing sports has led me to ponder winning meets NZ Warriors and RTS. The RTS bit there is intriguing because it bleeds into Auckland Blues ideas.
RTS was emphatic vs Manly and I’ve seen that exact performance on repeat with NZ Warriors. Take the idea of RTS being amazing and the Warriors struggling to score points with you on your travels, ponder that.
I don’t think NZ Warrior suck defensively. Hence, something feels a little bit different but it’s hard to lay these out as a concise case for Warriors optimism. Stats suggest that the Warriors are exactly where many thought they would be in sniffing around the bottom portion of the top-8.
Warriors are 11th in missed tackles and 11th in points conceded. That missed tackle mark is funky because it may seem like same ol’ Warriors missing heaps of tackles and yet 10 teams have missed more tackles. The Warriors also have just two players in the top-50 for missed tackles. Kodi Nikorima is 19th, Tohu Harris is 48th. Far from bad.
The key may be penalties conceded. The Warriors are good holding the footy and aren’t among the worst defensive teams. Without the footy though, they welcome teams into their territory with penalties (NRL.com doesn’t have set restarts conceded) and are 4th in penalties conceded. Of all possible issues, conceding penalties is one of the more fixable issues and from what I’ve seen; this is still a Warriors team capable of snapping up a finals spot between 6-8th.
IPL…
No kiwi has played since Trent Boult and Kyle Jamieson got the tournament started.
Kane Williamson will usually player for Sunrisers but was absent, while Mitchell Santner (Chennai) and Tim Seifert (Kolkata) didn’t get a start. Santner has Ravi Jadeja ahead of him at Chennai and the two blokes in the Kolkata top-order that I don’t know (Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi) both scored 50+. The blokes in Kolkata’s line up that I do know and you’ll probably know: Shubman Gill, Andre Russell, Eoin Morgan, Shakib Al Hasan.
Sooooo …. don’t expect too much from Seifert.
Super Rugby…
As fun as Hurricanes vs Crusaders was and as bloated as Jordie Barrett’s boot is, Crusaders weren’t going to lose yesterday. If you’re Super Rugby team is in a tight contest entering the clutch phase against Crusaders, the Cantabs will probably win and if you’re team snatches a win then that’s really good. No rugby team other than the All Blacks in international footy have this vibe and both teams serve as educational tools for learning rugby.
If you want to know what the latest trend or scheme in rugby is, watch Crusaders games. These trends are quickly scattered around Aotearoa (perhaps sent down from All Blacks), however Crusaders are always at the front of the pack. As an Aucklander, I love watching Crusaders play as I get that insight of what’s happening in rugby right now. Unrelated notes from that game…
Turnovers Won
Ardie Savea: 4 | Sam Whitelock: 3.
No other player in this game had 2+ turnovers won. Creme de la creme.
I’m not loving how much the second man play is used in SRA, or maybe how it’s used as it is often used in the least effective way; ball is passed straight back behind decoy and slows down backline moves. This type of second man play though, is hugely effective and is the key movement in rugby union right now…
Hurricanes go short-side. Two defenders brace for Julian Savea (who usually steams it up), then Dane Coles running a hard line. Ball goes out the back to Jordie Barrett with an overlap. SRA teams will continue to get funkier with these plays and All Blacks will stay ahead of the curve. In NRL, Barrett has to catch this pass on the outside of Coles but this isn’t quite as clear-cut in SRA and one could make the case that Barrett catches the ball then runs behind Coles.
Also, standard Codie Taylor work in lead up to Crusaders first two tries. The first snap has Taylor just before hitting a short ball, the next two snaps have Taylor getting in position to throw a long pass…
That’s the hooker doing all that. The hooker who made 14 tackles while his opponent Dane Coles made 7. I really love Codie Taylor.
Watching the Hurricanes had me deep in Aotearoa rugby depth as Ruben Love started at #10 and then Cameron Roigard looked good coming off the bench for Luke Campbell at halfback. None of these three lads are regular names for rugby fans and it’s a reminder of Aotearoa’s depth as there are always new players coming through the ranks. As long as this is the case, never bemoan a player leaving Aotearoa rugby as they are always replaced.
Cameron Roigard…
I had previously enjoyed the work of Jonathan Taumateine and found this morning that both Roigard and Taumateine are from Counties Manukau. Roigard went to school at St Peter’s in Cambridge (Waikato) but played for Onewhero in the Counties competition - Onewhero is kinda smack bang between Auckland CBD and Hamilton. I thought Taumateine was Wellington hardcore, yet he went to Wesley College and also played for Counties Manukau.
None of which is noted against Wellington, it just shows how talent can end up anywhere in Aotearoa rugby. There’s simply so much talent that every major region has overflow and the best get picked up elsewhere.
Listening to…
Enjoying Colapinto bros (vintage surf film and their latest WSL edit)…
Wildcard’s Notebook
Bit of Flying Kiwis x W-League glory right here...
Claudia Bunge and Annalie Longo doing what needed doing and lifting the trophy, Bunge doing so having played every minute for the Melbourne Victory as they kept eight clean sheets in 14 matches. Longo scored three goals as a deep-ish playmaker for the team. Longo also, of course, got this done straight after winning the NZ Women’s Premiership with Canterbury United. This is Longo’s second W-League championship after winning with Sydney FC eight years ago, while it was Bunge’s first at her first attempt. Outstanding areas. Gonna be even better next year when that’s the Wellington Phoenix women’s team lifting the trophy, right?
Fresh from the realm of unexpected opportunities:
The college thing must be plenty of fun for Krystal Leger-Walker because she’s coming back for another year. She just finished her senior season which ordinarily means you’re doneskees with college basketball but because the 2020 season was a washout due to coronavirus the NCAA chucked in a bonus year of eligibility for anyone who wants it. Some are happy to declare for the WNBA Draft and be outta there. Others are itching for pro careers elsewhere. But the Washington State Cougars were onto something decent this year with their first national tournament appearance in three decades, hence the chance to build on what they just achieved was too tempting to turn down for KLW. She’s coming back for her senior+1 year.
It’s sister Charlisse who gets most of the spotlight but KLW was probably the second most important player on that roster. Extremely reliable point guard, playing top notch defence and knocking down shots as well as being an outstanding passer. She’d only joined the Cougars two years back as a transfer, following her old North Carolina head coach Kamie Ethridge, meaning that she had to sit out the first of those years under the transfer rules. Add that basketball gap year to the bonus senior year and what would ordinarily have been a four year college career is going to last six years instead.
KLW was the only senior of the crew, so what this means is that WSU will be bringing back the entirety of their starting five for the 2021-22 campaign. There was unfinished business about the way that their tournament ended with a disappointing loss to South Florida, unable to convert their chances down the stretch, plus obviously with Honourable Mention All-American selection Charlisse Leger-Walker only going to be better in her second year that means there’s every reason to think that WSU can make a run next time. They already know what it takes – the two tournament finalists were Stanford and Arizona and both play in WSU’s Pac-12 conference (champs Stanford’s star player Aari McDonald has already declared for the 2021 Draft – UCLA’s Michaela Onyewere was the only other player to average more points per game than CLW in the conference and she’s also expected to be drafted pretty high).
Exciting times at WSU... especially with Wellingtonian guard Leah Mafua (Hutt Valley High School, there you go) gonna join the programme next season too for her freshman year.
Some stats from the ever-reliable Mike Lacey...
Krystal’s not a massive point-scorer so she’s not likely to figure on that list even with the extra year. She’s scored 794 total points to fate – including postseason. Charlisse on the other hand... with 452 points as a freshman she’s every chance given three more seasons with that as a baseline.
How about the late heroics from the Wellington Phoenix last night? Definitely not the Nix at their best but that hasn’t tended to matter this season. What matters is that they found a way to get three more valuable points for the tally at a time when injuries continue to hamper them...
Three aspects to this goal. Ulises Davila’s pass out to the left is exquisite. Then you’ve got Sam Sutton gassing up the wing, making his first start of the season having only played once off the bench (for stoppage time minutes only), to get into the penalty area where he chipped in a nice cross into the danger area. Then you’ve got Ben Waine – who is definitely bigger than he looks – leaping up to head in the winner. 19 year old Sam Sutton and 19 year old Ben Waine. Both coming through the academy to get to this point. With injuries in the squad and depth being tested and the team really needing a win... two teenaged academy grads combined to deliver a crucial three points. In the 90th minute of a feisty game against their manufactured rivals, no less.
Wildcard’s Album Per Annum Project – 1960s
1960: Joan Baez – Joan Baez
1961: Ray Charles – Genius Sings The Blues
1962: Howlin’ Wolf – Howlin’ Wolf (The Rocking Chair Album)
1963: Bob Dylan – The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
1964: Johnny Cash – Bitter Tears
1965: Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited
1966: Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
1967: Albert King – Born Under A Bad Sign
1968: Van Morrison – Astral Weeks
1969: Flying Burrito Brothers – Gilded Palace Of Sin
Swinging sixties, baby. And not a Beatles album in sight, curiously, but what are you gonna do? Sgt Pepper’s not my favourite and the rest got swamped by other icons. But this project isn’t about what didn’t get picked.
Joan Baez’s debut album is the most recent of these that I listened to for the first time, a simple and gorgeous record of traditional folk tunes right at the birth of that folk revival that grew out of the beatnik era. A scene whose most famous son is a fella called Bob Dylan and he features twice here and very nearly snuck in a third for 1966 with Blonde on Blonde. Freewheelin’ was the peak of his early acoustic period, the album where his incredible songwriting first shone through and it’s stacked with classics. Then Highway 61 Revisited is quite simply one of the most important rock albums ever made. Dylan had flirted with electricity with the half-and-half Bringing It All Back Home earlier in 1965, also a 10/10 album... but it was H61R that changed the whole scene. There’s still nothing quite like it. From that opening burst of organ on Like A Rolling Stone to the hip twilight poetry of Desolation Row.
Ray Charles singin’ the blues, speaks for itself really. This was Brother Ray at his peak playing tunes that let him really churn. Hard Times is as good as it gets. Speaking of the blues, Howlin’ Wolf’s Rocking Chair Album is chock full of belters, many of them songs that’d get more famous as white guys from England got to covering them. But this is hit after hit, man. Chicago Blues. The Wolf in full voice. Some of Willie Dixon’s absolute best tunes to work with (except maybe for Wang Dang Doodle). And shout out to Albert King too whose Born Under A Bad sign sprung an upset in winning that highly competitive 1967 year. Pretty sure Jimi Hendrix would agree with me on this one though. BUABS is smooth, it’s classy, it’s funky, and it sounds amazing. The production on this one is pure.
Johnny Cash’s Bitter Tears is a concept album dedicated to the plight of the Native Americans in the post-colonial age. It’s an underrated record in his long, storied discography but it shouldn’t be. Great songs, including five by folk singer Peter LaFarge who may or may not have been of Narragansett descent. He claimed he was but that’s unproven (Cash himself thought he had indigenous heritage at the time but it turned out later that he was mistaken there). Either way it’s a stunning album that remains as relevant now as it was back then.
Three more to go, with Pet Sounds a bit of an obvious one. God Only Knows is as pretty as popular music can be. This album rightly remembered as Brian Wilson’s magnum opus (give or take some Smile sessions). Astral Weeks is in the same category. It might be the best album ever made. It’s incredible, evocative, nostalgic, innovative, shimmering with beauty and resonance. Van The Man at his poetic best, long before he let his grumpiness overtake him. And then a little dose of Gram Parsons for the speakers with the Flying Burrito Bros and that good cosmic american music. It’s both country and rock without being country rock. The pedal steel guitar has never sounded quite so woozy and string out.