El Niche Cache
July 13th, 2020
Scotty’s Word
Let’s start with Harmonious Ra going on this crazy mission…
Below are some thoughts on every NRL club. Just stuff that’s popped in and out of the rugby league brain…
Aotearoa Warriors
I heard Nathan Brown (former Knights coach, was NZ Warriors assistant pre-lockdown) on the Triple M Sunday show podcast thing offered a few notes:
-NZ Warriors job simply isn’t for him.
-However Brown relayed the strong direction of the club under owner Mark Robinson and did so because a different coach had asked him about the Warriors situation (possible candidate). Brown spoke pretty damn positively of the Warriors.
-Brown talked about the Warriors SG Ball team (under 18 team replaced their U20 Jersey Flegg team) which started this year, being a great move. All the Australian clubs can offer kiwi talent a place in their under 16 and 18 teams, thus a development pathway. NZ Warriors had little more than an academy before Stephen Kearney came in, now they have Future Warriors (under 16) and SG Ball. That’s key in providing something for the heavily scouted age bracket in Aotearoa, who simply get far better offers to go to Australia - hence the idea of the Warriors having some mandatory first crack at kiwi talent is a bit of a myth.
I’ve thought a bit about Blake Green - who does not deserve another deal on anything close to similar value as his current deal. I may dive deeper into Green being mediocre in the coming weeks; trust me when I saw he’s really mediocre. I can see a future for Green at the Warriors if he is willing to take less money and be a leader for…
Paul Turner and Sione Moala.
I’ll dive deeper into Warriors rebuild stuff soon as well and this little taster has been the crux of my thinking on the rebuild - who replaces Blake Green? Never take who the Warriors are linked to too seriously as they’ll be linked with everyone and I’m definitely of the view that the Warriors need to focus on being a development club. Who the halves coming through is the major point in this and right now, the two in the pipeline are Turner and Moala…
Turner: Northland, same Northland under 15 team as Dylan Brown (Eels), played round one in the halves for reserve grade this year.
Sione Moala: Manurewa Marlin, was Jersey Flegg half last year (u20), then SG Ball half this year (u18), NZ u18 and u19 Junior Kiwis last year.
Of course Chanel Harris-Tavita and Kodi Nikorima are in the halves mix, Adam Keighran is one of 12 players coming off contract. 12 players off contract is great as this can help a rebuild pivot.
North Queensland Cowboys
The Cowboys have the craziest list of juniors they let go doing excessively well at other NRL clubs: Kayln Ponga, Braden Hamlin-Uele (recruited from NZ), Brandon Smith (recruited from NZ), Viliame Kikau.
Brisbane Broncos
Great win over the Bulldogs … who are 16th and played without their two of their best players in Will Hopoate and Adam Elliott.
Next few games: Tigers, Storm, Sharks, Rabbitohs, Raiders.
Hold those Broncos assessments until after those games.
Gold Coast Titans
Two former Warriors played well in their win on Friday night…
Erin Clark: hooker, 50mins, 26 tackles @ 92.6%.
Sam Lisone: 27mins, 10 runs for 88m @ 8.8m/run, 1 tackle bust, 1 offload, 18 tackles @ 94.7%.
Nifty recruitment considering Clark joined on a train and trial deal last November, Lisone made the move just before the season started.
Newcastle Knights
Kalyn Ponga is the fullback who does halves things the most - this is off-set by Kurt Mann doing less half things than most halves.
Ponga has 41 kicks and next best for pure fullbacks is Clinton Gutherson’s 18 kicks all season.
Ponga had 55 touches vs Eels and Gutherson had 33 in the same game.
You can decide who is better or what style is better, point being there are many different ways of playing fullback in the NRL.
In this instance: both are tremendous runners, but one is play-making in the line and the other picks his moments.
Manly Sea Eagles
There is an opportunity for Danny Levi to seal a mid/long-term Aotearoa Kiwis hooking job behind Brandon Smith if he desperately wants in. Levi’s got a little window with a younger wave of hookers not quite at that level yet and a lot depends on the form of Manly - tough times now with Tom Trbojevic out.
South Sydney Rabbitohs
Really don’t think about the Rabbitohs too much tbh lol g2g.
Sydney Roosters
Part of Roosters salary cap wizardry are their cheaper up and comers, many of whom were recruited out of Aotearoa. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Siosiua Taukeiaho are cornerstones of the forward pack (Taukeiaho was a bargain when he left the Warriors as a centre), the work of Sitili Tupouniua and Poasa Fa’amausili is fantastic though. Along with Isaac Liu who didn’t play vs Cowboys, here’s what Tupouniua and Fa’amausili did vs Cowboys…
Tupouniua: 38mins, 13 runs for 148m @ 11.38m/run.
Fa’amausili: 16mins, 6 runs for 63m @ 10.5m/run.
Wests Tigers
When I think about the Tigers, I think about Kiwis coach Michael Maguire and how excited I am for Kiwis footy moving forward. Lots of excellent young kiwi players in the NRL at the moment.
Parramatta Eels
Two of the best young kiwis right now were again rather good in a tight win vs Knights
Dylan Brown: 68mins, 14 runs for 155m @ 11.97m/run , 4 tackle busts, 25 tackles @ 92.6%, 9 kicks (most for Eels).
Marata Niukore: 37mins, 11 runs for 119m @ 10.18m/run, 1 offload, 28 tackles @ 96.6%.
Penrith Panthers
14 of the Panthers’ 17 players vs Sharks are Panthers juniors.
Even James Fisher-Harris falls in that bucket as the Panthers recruited him from Northland to play in their juniors.
That’s what the Warriors should be aiming for - much cheaper as you let those who want more money go (within reason) and replace them from within.
Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs
How not to be a good NRL club in 2020.
Bickering in the boardroom, coach can’t recruit because A) the board has a stronger pull and B) coach’s future is up in the air and players want to know who their coach will be.
Constant speculation on coaching candidates, can’t keep info in house let alone offer clarity for their current coach.
St George Illawara Dragons
Dragons are hanging in there, shout out to them.
Cronulla Sharks
Best Youtube stuff comes from the Sharks - both Shaun Johnson and Chad Townsend do the vlogs…
Canberra Raiders
Josh Hodgson’s ACL injury opens things up for Siliva Havili to play hooker.
Havili’s barely played hooker since joining the Raiders and has typically come off the bench as a middle forward. Now he’s got an extended crack at his favoured role.
Melbourne Storm
Tino Fa’asuamaleaui played 80 minutes for the first time in their win vs Raiders, sticking to the right edge role. That’s scary and while he is off to the Titans next year, somehow the Storm always add new wrinkles to their game and adding more minutes to Fa’asuamaleaui as the season rolls on could be a defining factor in Storm success this year. The kid passes the eye test for sure.
Brandon Smith has played 50+ minutes in his last three games also - the Storm are doing some funky stuff with Bran and Cameron Smith playing together, at the same time as the two halves; Cam, Ryley Jacks and Jahrome Hughes play as three halves.
Super Rugby?
Here’s a Super Rugby mind dump…
Beauden Barrett’s attacking stats by game…
Round 1 vs Hurricanes: 11 run metres, 7 runs, 1 ‘beaten defender’, 10 passes.
Round 2 vs Chiefs: 15m, 4r, 6 bd, 9ps.
Round 3 vs Highlanders: 13m, 6r, 1bd, 7ps.
Round 4 vs Crusaders: 10m , 6r, 0bd, 7ps.
In three games, one player has had more kicks than Barrett.
Not a complete science here but in the four games, the opposition fullback had a ‘busier’ stat line with the footy; Chase Tiatia, Damian McKenzie and David Havili.
Scott Gregory (Highlanders) is the only one who didn’t.
Against Crusaders Barrett and Otere Black combined for 10 run metres, 0 beaten defeders, 1 line break.
Richie Mounga himself had 48m, 6 beaten defenders and 1 line break.
Black was all good - 2 try assists. I’m thinking about style of play and Mounga’s style is beautiful considering how eager he is to run, how effective he is and how it compliments general #10 skills. Barrett’s a great runner himself, he just doesn’t do that so much now … despite being in a team with two first-fives who in theory can handle the kicking/control.
Merely let that and this spark your own thought rabbit-hole…
Mounga averages 3.3m per run, tackling @ 81% and has 11 try assists.
Compared to other first-fives…
Otere Black: 1.6m, tackling @ 83%, 3 try assists.
Jackson Garden-Bachop: 2m, tackling @ 57%, 5 try assists.
Aaron Cruden: 2.1m, tackling @ 78%, 11 try assists.
Mitch Hunt: 4m, tackling @ 71%, 6 try assists.
Here are Mounga’s major moments vs Blues
Starting with his double-pump-cut-out that led to Mitchell Drummond’s try…
Then Mounga served up this for Will Jordan’s try…
First Jordan is slightly hidden as he sweeps around the back - highly likely it’s intentional as Otere Black can’t suss out the primary threat:
Mounga could have thrown a longer pass to Braydon Ennor, but Ennor has is covered by TJ Faiane and Mounga slips a soft short ball to Jordan:
Best UFC 251 wraps from the Youtubes
Wildcard’s Notebook
We’re three weeks into this truncated NBL season, which means two more weeks before playoffs start, and still there’s not a whole lot of sense being made by that ladder there. Only three wins separate first from last and there aren’t a lot of patterns emerging from results that suggest that things won’t flip over the next couple rounds.
One pattern that is showing up is the Canterbury Rams having a bit of a struggle. After winning their first three games, looking sharper than the competition with a roster which has mostly played a lot of basketball together, they’ve since lost six in a row despite the best efforts of Taylor Britt, who has been outstanding. The draft was meant to distribute the talent nice and evenly and you’ve gotta say it seems to have done exactly that but injuries to Jack Salt and Joe Cook-Green have robbed the Cantabs of two of their top three picks and that stretched depth has caught up with them more recently. Other teams are stringing combinations together on the fly and the more they play the more that initial advantage that the Rams seemed to have has shrunk. Toby Gillooly’s missed a bunch of games too which doesn’t help. It’s bare bones there whenever Taylor Britt (21.9 ppg, 3.8 apg, 6.7 rpg) is off the court.
Similarly the Nelson Giants have been hampered by a lack of Mika Vukona and a couple missed games each for Dane Brooks and Mike Karena. The Giants only have the third worst defence in terms of points per game against... but the two teams worse than them (Airs & Jets) have waaaay more effective offences. They have five games to turn this around but it does feel like the Rams and Giants will end up in that 6th vs 7th knockout quarter-final to begin the playoff fixtures.
Other than that it’s anyone’s guess. Personally, I quite rate what Franklin Bulls have been up to, winning five of their last six games. Isaac Davidson has been one of the breakout stars of this tournament shooting 47.5% from deep but it goes a lot deeper than that. This is a really nicely balanced starting five (and the starting five is where games are won in this comp, the draft ensured that all teams are pretty top heavy and it’s no coincidence that the two teams who haven’t had their first round picks available seem to be the strugglers), with Sam Timmins one of the dominant big men in a league where there isn’t a massive amount of size, where big men are valued most of all for defence, for their skill-sets, and for their hustle, while Dom Kelman-Poto, Everard Bartlett, and Jackson Stubbins fill out a group that can beat you in a variety of ways – they’ve had a different top scorer in each of their last three games.
And of course you can’t look past the Taranaki Mountain Airs who are the pace setters for the comp as a current three-game win streak has put them clear at the summit of the table. Breathing that mountain air, you could say. Derone Ruakawa is leading the MVP stakes while with Marcel Jones beside him they have potentially the only true 1a & 1b combo out there. Add in Shane Temara who is playing awesome and even a bit of Tai Wynyard too as he’s looking sharper now for having played his way into a bit more fitness following some injury troubles in his post-college career. That’s the team to beat right there.
But then in a competition like this there’s every chance that they could lose to any team on any day. The Auckland Huskies are coming right after a slow start, Taine Murray just had a 35-point showcase game last up while Izayah Mauriahoohoo-Leafa has been immense and if he hadn’t missed the first couple games he might well be in MVP contention too (still could be if he keeps it up). The Otago Nuggets from day one have had a roster that looks intimidating with Jordan Ngatai and Jarrod Kenny in tow and Jordan Hunt has been great for them too. Just a matter of finding the right balance and they’ll be right in the hunt – they dropped 130 on the Jets two games back with three players scoring 20+. And those Manawatu Jets themselves. Running hot and cold at times but damn when they’re hot they’re hot. Tom Vodanovich with those bombs from deep. Jayden Bezzant and Taane Samuel bringing the goods. With single game elimination playoffs for which every team qualifies, albeit in a seeded manner, and a draft system spreading the talent pretty evenly, it’s honestly impossible to predict.
2020 NBL MVP Standings after three rounds...
Derone Raukawa (Airs) 74
Taylor Britt (Rams) 59
Isaac Davidson (Bulls) 52
Jordan Ngatai (Nuggets) 50
Jayden Bezzant (Jets) 44
Marcel Jones (Airs) 43
Tom Vodanovich (Jets) 40
Izayah Le'afa (Huskies) 32
Dom Kelman-Poto (Bulls) 27
Mike Karena (Giants) 24
I’m concerned about how much single-use plastic is being used in serving up all those meals in the NBA bubble. I’m also pretty jealous because my stovetop’s broken and I’m hungry and I keep seeing pictures of these free meals getting served up which look more than all good to me. A few players have had a moan, granted, but only a few and that narrative got shot down pretty quick. Steven Adams did take a whole bagful of lasagna packets with him when he rolled into town but that’s probably just coz he eats with combined the appetite of a small town.
There are a lot of these situations around the world of sport. The WNBA is doing the same thing. Both the USA men’s and women’s soccer leagues. Even what the Warriors and Phoenix are up to in Australia is pretty similar. But the NBA is doing it on a whole different scale and all I can say is that what happens in the bubble, stays in the bubble... unless it ends up on instagram. Damn, I wish I was there.
The Niche Cast Podcast
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Reading Menu
Welcome To... The NBA’s Big Bubble (Basketball)
Breaking Down The Wellington Phoenix’s Return To Actual Football (Football)
Jah Bless The Caribbean: Kiwis In The 2020 CPL (Cricket)
Domestic Cricket Daily: Movers and Groovers (Cricket)
Some More Words On The Very Big Deal That Is Co-Hosting The 2023 Women’s World Cup (Football)