El Niche Cache
January 18, 2020
Reading Menu
Kiwi Steve in the NBA #1: And So It Begins... (NBA)
Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Starting 2021 (NRL)
2020/21 Blackcaps Test Summer Notebook (Cricket)
2020 Lydia Ko Mixtape (Golf)
The Premmy Files – 2020 Women’s Premiership Team of the Season (Football)
Monday Morning Dummy Half: Storm Reinvigoration/Brewing Aotearoa Tigers (NRL)
Monday Morning Dummy Half: Canberra Raiders Love Aotearoa (NRL)
Scotty’s Word
Sailing isn’t high on our list of sports to cover, although I have been tuning in to see some of the pre America’s Cup shenanigans. One of the reasons is to see Auckland via the various cameras, hearing how the winds, currents and landscapes of my hometown operate in this context and generally seeing the lay out of Auckland from a bird’s eye. Whether it’s North Head (North Shore), Bastion Point (Mission Bay) or Musick Point (Howick/Pakuranga) I love how these little spots that serve as key kick back spots for Aucklanders then become grand stands for a bit of boat racing.
The funk though, is in having the National Surfing Championships on the west coast of Auckland at Piha. The Prada Cup is on the east coast of Auckland and my favourite yarn about Auckland to travelers is about seeing two harbours or oceans on either side of Aucklad. Piha’s a bit further out west and the idea of Auckland hosting a surf championship on one side and an international sailing competition on the other side is pretty damn cool.
Aotearoa National Surfing Championships…
Saffi Vette from Gisborne won the women’s title. Vette is 19-years-old and she defeated two more fancied rivals in Paige Hareb and Ella Williams who both have more international experience. Saffi and her younger brother Finn helped Gisborne Boardrider Club win the overall title.
Billy Stairmand won the men’s title. This was Stairmand’s eight national title since 2010 and he has spent a few years on the World Surfing League Qualifying Series - perhaps a smidge below Aotearoa’s WSL trooper Ricardo Christie. Stairmand defeated Kehu Butler in the final and surfing, like all sports is getting a definitive younger twist at the highest levels.
Vette won the women’s title, Williams is 26-years-old and both her and 30-year-old Hareb are closer to veterans than ‘groms’. Stairmand and Christie are the kaumatua of this generation and then the likes of Butler and Eliot Paerata-Reid are on the rise trying to crack that WSL level. Between Vette, Butler and Paerata-Reid, I reckon there will be more WSL yarns coming up following this surfing kiwis.
Here are some videos of these folks to spark a kiwi surfing rabbit-hole…
Latest from NZ Warriors boss man Cameron George’s Facebook…
George documented a fitness session with one group wrestling, one group running 400s. They alternate and then do skills, followed by a 13 vs 13 game with four tackles. Staff jammed some lawn balls, as well as a attending a rodeo event and now the younger players will move to Redcliffe while the NRL group continue the next phase of their training.
Those younger players moving up to Redcliffe (northern Brisbane area) will be by themselves with support of the Warriors and Redcliffe Dolphins. This means that they are getting the ‘away from home’ experience that can be beneficial - Redcliffe Dolphin team lists perhaps in Under 18s, definitely in Under 20s and Intrust Super Cup will be funky viewing to start the season.
Blackcaps T20I x Super Smash…
11 bowlers have 7+ wickets and I’ve eight of those bowlers as having some connection to Blackcaps T20I business. Otago Volts lefty-leggy Michael Rippon is a stretch, though he has been involved in some Blackcaps camps and ‘A’ squads, with an all-round skillset that is decent. Otherwise, these bowlers all have a solid case for an opportunity and even the likes of Blair Tickner, Scott Kuggeleijn and Hamish Bennett aren’t certified Blackcaps T20I 1st 11 players.
Matt Henry: 1st, 9w @ 18avg/8.23rpo/13.1sr.
Will Somerville: 3rd, 9w @ 19.88avg/9.42rpo/12.6sr.
Blair Tickner: 4th, 9w @ 20avg/7.82rpo/15.3sr.
Scott Kuggeleijn: 5th, 9w @ 27.77avg/10rpo/16.6sr.
Jimmy Neesham: 6th, 8w @ 16.25avg/6.96rpo/14sr.
Hamish Bennett: 7th, 8w @ 19.37avg/6.94rpo/16.7sr.
Michael Rippon: 8th: 7w @ 19.71avg/6.90rpo/17.1sr.
Doug Bracewell: 10th, 7w @ 26avg/9.10rpo/17.1sr.
Doosra alert: Bracewell is the worst of these bowlers and yet Bracewell is 13th in runs with a strike-rate of 187.69. The best Super Smash batting strike-rates for batsmen with 100+ runs has Finn Allen dominating (194.97sr) and next best is Bracewell. There is a rather similar vibe for batsmen in the Super Smash and this will form the crux of my next Super Smash yarn as the following players have all done some nifty things with the bat thus far from outside the Blackcaps T20I top-tier: Finn Allen, George Worker, Daryl Mitchell, Cole McConchie, Will Young.
Between those bowlers and batsmen, there are 13 players. Some are in the top-tier, some are closer to the T20I top-tier than others, the main idea here though is purely the number of players and the names involved (Henry, Worker, Young, Mitchell). I’m fascinate to see how this flows through the climax of the Super Smash and who can lead their team to wins, then the T20I squad that is named to face Australia and how they perform.
Guess who is the leading run-scorer for Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash League?
Colin Munro. Perth are 5-4 from their 10 games, 4th on the ladder and Munro is 9th overall for BBL runs. Munro followed three consecutive 50+ knocks with a 34 over the weekend in their loss vs Sydney Sixers. Perth won all three of those games in which Munro passed 50 and Munro is operating at 127.23sr - healthy but not frantic Munro.
Sydney Thunder are 2nd (6-4) and after winning five of their first six games, the Thunder have now lost three of their last four. In these four games, Adam Milne has taken 1w and Milne has 3w in his seven games played @ 7.44rpo. It seems as though Munro is keeping himself in the frame, while Milne’s BBL excursion in search of a Blackcaps T20I sniff isn’t quite working out in his favour.
Listening to this while writing…
Big up to a some of our veteran Patreon supporters from 2018:
Mathew Pordish, Matt Steele and Dean Bartle.
Wildcard’s Notebook
Everybody loves a good comeback story so how about this one...
That, dear friends, is Winston Reid back in training with West Ham United. As to whether this means he’s in any sort of consideration to play that’s still probably unlikely but with his loan ended in Kansas City he’s returned to London and at the very least will be chipping away at training staying fit until the next MLS season.
I’d still say that’s the most likely outcome, that he returns to SKC. They want him back but by the sounds of it they weren’t willing to pay the transfer fee for their permanent option – though a similar loan deal to this one would make sense. David Moyes never showed much interest in playing Reid before and his team’s actually going pretty good now, with Craig Dawson taking care of the veteran defender spot in the squad. Reid would have to be re-registered to play in the Premier League too... although it’s January so the window is open for them to do that. An FA Cup fourth rounder against Doncaster on Sunday morning is the best chance he’ll get, methinks.
Also, from what I recall I think his wife and kids remained in London while he was in the States so this is also him spending time with the fam. We can hold out hope of a cheeky Hammers cameo or two though, even if it turns out to be a farewell tour for him. He’d have already been long gone but for that massive contract he signed a few years back, a terribly ill-advised move from West Ham (no surprises there) which has kinda kept Reid’s career alive during all his injuries. Shout out to crap football capitalism.
I’ve also been reading a fair bit about Chris Wood and the season he’s been having. Trying to get a feel for how his lack of goals is being received by Burnley fans and by smart footy people and all that. I’m planning on writing something on this later in the week if I get the time but here’s some research if you dig the burgeoning Premier League Analytics scene...
Quite a few wrinkles to all this, not the least of which being that Burnley as an entire team has been useful on attack – nine goals in 17 games and Wood still has three of those – but as far as The Woodsman himself goes the thing to look at there is shots within the six yard box which is where he scored a lot of his goals last time either heading in from close range on those crosses or tapping in rebounds and short cut-backs.
Public Service Announcement: Yanni Wetzell is good at basketball.
This is a stat-line and a half: 24 PTS | 10 REB | 2 AST | 3 STL | 1 BLK
Shea Ili also had a really nice game one for Melbourne Utd. They were the standouts of the kiwis in that first weekend. By the way I’ve got a big ol’ Breakers preview piece coming out later today. Now for some Premiership football.
Men’s Premiership Team of the Week – Week 8
GK – Danny Knight (Canterbury United) – There really weren’t many standout keeper showings this week but Knight bagged a clean sheet, with one incredible save in particular to deny Ryan Feutz. Knight is the only keeper with three clean sheets this season and the Dragons have won all three of those games. DK hurling the ball up in the air as the final whistle went was a moment for sure.
RB – Haris Zeb (Team Wellington) – In the absence of Jack-Henry Sinclair, Zeb has made a real thing of that RWB role for the TeeDubs. His speed and skill reflect his nature as a forward but he’s doing some legit defensive things too. Beautiful assist for Mason-Smith’s goal.
CB – Brian Kaltack (Auckland City) – Folks, we’re back to Brian Kaltack heroism levels. Bit of a blip with that red card in the middle but now he’s in top form again, absolutely superb against Hamilton Wands as he largely shut down Derek Tieku all arvo then popped up with a crucial goal himself. If Kaltack starts scoring goals on top of everything else then it’s game over, mate.
CB – Ben Mata (Team Wellington) – Another commanding effort from BM. Avoided the mistakes that spoiled otherwise excellent games from his mates around him, made several crucial defensive interventions, and should have had an assist for a pass that most CAM’s would be proud of but Rory McKeown couldn’t finish. One of the breakout stars of this season.
LB – Jaylen Rodwell (Wellington Phoenix) – Played at right back but fitting him in here because I can. Such a fine presence for the WeeNix both with his composed defensive work and also his ability to link up in the attacking third. His combination with Ben Old was a constant threat for the WeeNix.
CM – Hugo Delhommelle (Hawke’s Bay United) – Didn’t realise what HBU were missing while their French midfielder was injured until he came back and showed everyone. A very clever player, deceptively quick across the park. Solid physical presence. Plus he scored a delightful chipped penalty for the equaliser.
CM – Luis Toomey (Wellington Phoenix) – Rodwell + Old was one constant threat, the other was Luis Toomey who was pulling strings from midfield and honestly it felt like he was involved in some way in basically every chance they created. His passing was fantastic from dead balls and living ones.
CM – Yuya Taguchi (Canterbury United) – I hadn’t been as enamoured with the Japanese forward as others, gotta admit. Really good technically but he’d flattered to deceive as very little of what he’d done had led to goals. But playing deeper against Eastern Suburbs he was a bit of a revelation. Involved earlier in those phases which meant more touches of the ball and more attackers in front of him to work with. Only downside is he missed a golden chance to score... but they still won.
FW – Alex Greive (Waitakere United) – Fresh from declaring for the MLS Draft later this week, Greivesy was fired up to show those MLS scouts what’s on offer. Played as a proper number ten rather than a secondary forward and to keep it simple: if Waitakere created something positive then Greive was involved in some way. Fingers crossed for that draft on Friday.
FW – Sam Mason-Smith (Team Wellington) – Scored one goal. Set another one up. Had another one (rightfully) chalked off for an offside. I remember SMS tweeting earlier in the season to clarify that he wasn’t injured he just wasn’t playing. His form hadn’t been great when he had played either. But it must have been the familiar grass Bluewater Stadium or something because here he finally clicked like we know he’s capable of and not a moment too soon with Joao Moreira back from suspension next week.
FW – Hamish Watson (Team Wellington) – Just another indomitable showing from Big Watto. The mullet may be gone but the goals keep coming and he had plenty of touches in the penalty area trying spark his team for a winner late on as well. He’s confidence cup is overflowing these days. That goal was his fifth of the campaign, only one off the lead for golden boot.