El Niche Cache
May 24, 2021
Podcast
TNC Variety Show - Episode 18
The Niche Cast: Wellington Phoenix Alert
Reading Menu
Monday Morning Dummy Half: Simi Sasagi Debut and Newcastle Knights Kiwi-NRL Recruitment (NRL)
Welly Nix: Envisioning A Future Without Ulises Davila (Football)
A Tribute To BJ Watling, New Zealand’s Best Ever Test Wicket Keeper (Cricket)
Slow Cooking Blackcaps Test Contenders (Cricket)
2021 Aotearoa Blackcaps Spin Landscape (Cricket)
Exploring Wellington Firebirds Recruitment and Player Development (Cricket)
Riding The Young Wave: Reasons For Otago Sparks Optimism (Cricket)
Scotty’s Word
Wellington Phoenix Playoff Push…
As we yarned through in our last podcast, we are all in on this funky week of Wellington Phoenix footy. The Wildcard will drop his update and as the football pleb here, I’m quite content in enjoying my appreciation for Clayton Lewis. Watching football while other sports is on is usually fantastic because it’s perfect for flipping channels and checking on other sports. That was nigglier for this Phoenix game as it was an action packed contest that was kinda captivating from a performance perspective. I suspect this is what draws folks to football - the magic of football.
The fun on-field performance from the Phoenix was matched by the local crowd and seeing/feeling/hearing the narration of the game through the fans was a beautiful thing. Even the football pleb knows that this is the magic of English football or where ever else you want to point to, yet having this experience with a local kiwi outfit amplified the whole magic vibe. Chur to the fans who created that vibe and to a Phoenix team that churned out an entertaining win.
From that I present two trends…
Funky Youngsters.
Ben Old made his Phoenix debut, I love Clayton Lewis and Ben Waine looks at ease in the A-League. Reece Walsh (Aussie born and raised) didn’t just dominate for NZ Warriors, he did so with spice and across kiwi sport there are youngsters emerging who have seem to match their skills with humility. The Blackcaps were swept up by Kyle Jamieson and now Rachin Ravindra is in the Test squad. I’m excited.
Aussies hate themselves?
Australian governments seem to eat themselves from within every couple of years. The NRL always has some polarizing issue and when things seem settled, a new wave of drama erupts to cut itself down. We’ve now seen the sandpaper saga of Australia cricket heat up again for no apparent reason other than the Aussie cricket community wanting to chime in … and thus eating itself from within. Australian rugby is never in alignment or in tune with each other, while all accounts suggest that Australian football can’t pull together to provide the best platform.
Kiwi-NRL Power Rankings…
Sydney Roosters lead the Kiwi-NRL Power Rankings via their top-tier NRL talent which is all international calibre and the Kiwi-NRL presence in almost every level below NRL. I do not see the Roosters being knocked off this top spot anytime soon because as you’ve read many times in these emails - the Roosters invest the most in recruiting from Aotearoa.
Melbourne Storm have a long history of recruiting from Aotearoa and their crop of top-tier talent is my favourite in the NRL. The Storm have dipped slightly in the number of Kiwi-NRL prospects coming through their system and at the moment I only know of Judda Turahui who is playing for the Victoria Thunderbolts Under 21s team.
NZ Warriors will always be ranked fairly high which is natural. Penrith Panthers only have James Fisher-Harris as a legit Kiwi-NRL player and he’s the best at what he does, in the best team hence they are still 5th with only the Fish. I wrote about Newcastle Knights today in the Monday Morning Dummy Half and they lead a middle section where these NRL teams aren’t great but these teams do have a Kiwi-NRL pipeline. The Knights, Tigers, Titans and Cowboys have large Kiwi-NRL numbers that will filter through to their NRL teams soon.
One low key thing here to update is that the Titans not only have Junior Kiwis/NZRL coach Ezra Howe as their recruitment manager, there is also a bloke by the name of Tim McIntyre who has worked alongside Howe as a NZRL age-group coach and it seems as though Tim McIntyre also works as a ‘Game Development Officer’ in the Brisbane South region for the NRL. All my signs suggest that Tim McIntyre is the father of Sam McIntyre who is a decorated NZRL junior and now in the Titans system via Northcote Tigers.
1 - Sydney Roosters
2 - Melbourne Storm
3 - Parramatta Eels
4 - New Zealand Warriors
5 - Penrith Panthers
6 - Manly Sea Eagles
7 - Canberra Raiders
8 - Newcastle Knights
9 - Wests Tigers
10 - Gold Coast Titans
11 - North Queensland Cowboys
12 - South Sydney Rabbitohs
13 - Cronulla Sharks
14 - Brisbane Broncos
15 - Canterbury Bulldogs
16 - St George Illawara Dragons
I’ll update this every Monday morning to help me work through the nuance before a mid-season deep dive. I’ll also share this brain-storming list below that outlines younger players I know in Australian NRL teams who were recruited out of Aotearoa. This does not include players who moved to Australia at a young age and some of these players have moved between Australian clubs since leaving Aotearoa.
Treat it as me emptying my Kiwi-NRL mind with what I know…
Cowboys - Peter Hola/Griffin Neame/Daejarn Asi/Zinzaan Martin/Tyson Chase/Arama Kite/D'Jazirhae Puaavase/Matua Robinson - 8
Broncos - Jamayne Isaako/Jordan Riki/Xavier Willison/Deine Mariner - 4
Titans - Erin Clarke/Vaka Sikahele/Isaac Matalavea-Booth/Jeremiah Tamepo - 4
Knights - Starford To'a/Jirah Momoisea/Simi Sasagi/Christian Ma'anaima/Chris Veaila/Daniel Ticehurst - 6
Sea Eagles - Christitan Tuipulotu/Morgan Harper/Raymond Tuaimalo-Vaega - 3
Rabbitohs - Steven Marsters/Josaiah Karapani - 2
Roosters - Cassius Tia/Benaiah Ioelu/Lani Graham-Taufa/Moala Graham-Taufa/Kani Manu/Petelo Kepaoa/Aso Fretton/Naufahu Whyte/Bayleigh Bentley-Hape/Sitili Tupouniua/Joseph Manu - 11
Tigers - Joseph Taipari/Tukihimihia Simpkins/Israel Ogden/Etu Lui/Kelma Tuilagi/Asu Kepaoa - 6
Bulldogs - Javvier Pitovao/Ofahiki Ogden/Renouf Atoni - 3
Eels - Dylan Brown/Wiremu Greig/Marata Niukore - 3
Panthers - James Fisher-Harris/Vito Tevaga - 2
Raiders - Caleb Aekins/Corey Harawira-Naera/Ata Mariota/Brigham Moeakiola/Sila Tituiti/Matthew Timoko/Leo Thompson/Jack Sandford/Sione Moala - 9
Sharks - Braden Hamlin-Uele/Briton Nikora/Mawene Hiroti/Jackson Ferris/Jensen Taumoepeau/Kayleb Milne - 6
Dragons - Poasa Faamausili - 1
Storm - Kenny Bromwich/Nelson Asofa-Solomona/Brandon Smith/Jahrome Hughes/Judda Turahui - 6
This looks fun…
Wildcard’s Notebook
Okay, here’s how this thing goes. The Nix are still going to make up at least three points before everyone tops out at 26 games played. Possibly more if Brisbane win a couple and we end up needing to catch Central Coast or Macarthur. The Phoenix do play Macarthur in their last game so that’s a possibility, but with only three games left to play it’s basically essential that they win at least two of them, probably all three of them.
Then even still they’ll be banking on results around them going the right way... that’s the tricky thing about having to leapfrog as many teams as this as late in the season as this: there’s a lot you can’t control. Although on the flipside when there’s half the competition still stuck in this race at least you know that everybody’s gonna be playing everybody else so points will be dropped somewhere.
Adelaide Utd (38 PTS, +1 GD): vs SYD | vs WSW
Central Coast (36 PTS, +3 GD): @ MAC | vs NEW | vs WUN
Macarthur FC (36 PTS, 0 GD): vs CCM | @ WUN | vs WEL
Brisbane Roar (34 PTS, +8 GD): vs MCY | @ WSW | vs PER | vs SYD
----------- ^ TOP 6 ^ -----------
Perth Glory (32 PTS, +1 GD): @ WEL | @ BRI | @ NEW
Welly Nix (31 PTS, +6 GD): @ WSW | vs PER | @ MAC
Western Sydney (31 PTS, +1 GD): vs WEL| vs BRI | @ ADL
Western United (28 PTS, -9 GD): vs MVC | vs MAC | @ CCM
Get the maximum from those games, that would mean the Nix end on 40 points with a goal difference of at least +9. In which case they still cannot catch Melbourne City (who’ve already wrapped up the premiers’ plate) or Sydney FC. Hence the first cheat code as to what to cheer for is those two teams to win every game they play... and that alone would go a long way. If Adelaide loses to Sydney and the Nix win their next two then going into the final round we’d just need to better their result (easier said than done, sure... but that’s only one outside match having that impact). Brisbane losing to City would cancel out their game in hand, losing to Sydney as well would bring the Nix back in range with a similar goal differential. Also since Western United are so far behind, their GD effectively leaving them with a point less what they’ve actually got, we kinda want them to beat Macarthur and Central Coast. It’d be especially nice if they drop points to Victory first just to take them fully out of the hunt.
The non-negotiable is the Nix getting at least seven points from these three final games. Fail to do that, and losing even one game of the three could be the final dagger, and none of these situations matter very much. The run’s been left so late and those two 0-0 draws before the homecoming did some damage given how immensely valuable an extra couple points might have been if they’d found a winner in either.
Still, imagine the confidence they’ll get from that 24k crowd in Wellywood. Remember also that they’re on an eight-game undefeated streak. And that regardless of what happens, the Nix are playing meaningful footy with three games to go in a season where they’ll only have two proper home games the entire way. Plenty to be grateful for right about now as the Phoenix take front and centre in the TNC spotlight.
Also, have a read of the Ulises Davila article in the links up the top: Uli is my absolute favourite player to watch in the A-League at the moment but I’m feeling good about the Ewing Theory potential after watching how the Nix went about things on Saturday (btw, sorry no live-tweets for that one – I had an away game myself so I could only watch the game on delay once I got home). If you don’t know what Ewing Theory is... well, I already said to read the article.
Chris Wood’s season really petered out after they secured their safety. That incredible run of form sizzled as the team turned down the heat with a 4-0 loss to Leeds, 3-0 to Liverpool, and 1-0 to Sheffield United to polish things off. Wood had one great chance to give his team an early lead against the Reds which he missed (to the horror of his ex-team Leicester City who were in the top four basically the entire season only to finish fifth as they let it slide at the end... at least they won the FA Cup though) but other than that not a lot to mention about The Woodsman. I am gonna write about him hopefully later this week though. Here’s his shot chart from the 2020-21 campaign...
A couple other trends, here are the official stats on which Chris Wood features on the first page
12 goals, tied for 11th in the Premier League (with Iheanacho, Ings, & Wilson)4
70 total shots, tied for 19th (with Sterling – Kane’s 137 led the way)
39 shots on target, 7th in the PL (Kane’s 53 were first)
19 big chances missed, tied for 2nd (with Salah & Vardy)
25 offsides, 7th in the PL (Vardy led with 36, breaking Wood’s two year reign)
154 aerial challenges won, tied 4th (with Calvert-Lewin – Tomas Soucek was miles ahead with 234)
It’s Bob Dylan’s 80th birthday today. One of the titan creatives of the twentieth century and old mate’s not slowing down either based on the quality of his Rough And Rowdy Ways record from last year. Not sure how many musicians that age have served up work that good, BB King’s last album was the best thing he’d done in a couple decades and he was slightly older. Willie Nelson continues to serve up goodness with all his albums, though arguably nothing touching the status of greatness. I dunno, these things labels are irrelevant. Doesn’t matter. I’ll leave the quantifying of art up to Pitchfork or whoever.
The quality of Bob Dylan content out there on the internet right now is amazing, I’m just soaking it all up like a sponge. That does make it hard to think what I can contribute to the chat - I don’t really wanna rank albums because the rankings would change within a week anyway depending on what I’ve been listening to. For example, I went deep on Oh Mercy not that long ago. Hadn’t really given 80s Dylan much of a chance before that but damn that one has some stone cold classic tunes on there. Man In The Long Black Coat. Most Of The Time. What Good Am I. Disease Of Conceit. Ring Them Bells. That album is stacked and it’s the craziest thing to just discover it one day, like it’d been there waiting all this time. That album came out before I was born but to me it might as well have been released three weeks ago... welcome to fandom in the age of the internet, I guess.
The other one I’ve been listening to heaps lately is Blood On The Tracks but that’s in no way a new discover, BOTT is one of the first touchstones you come to as a connoisseur of The Bob. Along with Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde. The early folkie stuff like Freewheelin’. Maybe a little of that millennial comeback with Time Out Of Mind and Love And Theft. Or you just stumble on whichever album has that song you love which you heard covered by someone else and then had to chase down the original after you realised.
So what I decided to do is to rank the different versions of Bob and sure enough I’d been sitting here at the laptop banging out words until I realised it was gonna be way too long for an email so it’ll have to be a full article instead. Keep an eye out of that one on the website instead. The ten versions I came up with, if you’re wondering: Folkster Bob, Beatnik Bob, Country Bob, Broken Bob, Jesus Bob, 80s Bob, Revivalist Bob, Comeback Bob, Sinatra Bob & Rowdy Bob.
Here then I’ll just drop a handful of perfect cover versions of Bob tunes because nobody of his era has been more widely covered than Bob Dylan. Another one of those measures of the man.
Alternatively you could just listen to the entirety of Joan Baez’s Any Day Now (1968) which is about as good as covers albums get. I had an idea not too long ago to see how many Dylan albums I could recreate with covers of the original songs but I haven’t got around to that yet and I’m not fully sure how I’d do that either. I’ll have a crack at some stage though.