Faith & Truth
Warriors & Addin Fonua-Blake, Blackcaps wobbles, Kiwis in NBL/WNBL, U17 World Cup footy squad, WNL Team of the Week & more
Podcast
Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Youtube
Reading Menu
Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Learning From Josh Curran's Departure (Rugby League)
How Aotearoa Kiwi Ferns Defeated Australia And Continue The Resurgence Of Wahine Rugby League (Rugby League)
2023 Men’s National League – Week 6 (Football)
2023 Women’s National League – Week 6 (Football)
Scotty’s Word
What a wild 24 hours for NZ Warriors folk. I've been traveling today, taking rain with me on my journey from Auckland to Christchurch and, thankfully, that left me no time to conjure up an immediate debrief this morning (Friday). By the time I had settled in a historic dwelling that survived the earthquakes in Christchurch, news came through that Addin Fonua-Blake would be sticking with NZ Warriors after requesting a release.
I'll dive deeper into this for theniche-cache.com tomorrow, but here are some key points that have been on my mind...
Fonua-Blake is low key another Aussie who joined NZ Warriors while they were based in Australia. Many have chuckled how Fonua-Blake requested a release from Manly Sea Eagles on compassionate grounds and I then stacked a few international sports stories together, comparing Fonua-Blake to James Harden (who has mastered the art of wiggling his way out of NBA teams).
Many Australians only joined NZW during the pandemic because NZW were based in Australia and NZW stunk. At least Fonua-Blake kicked on with the return to Aotearoa season and there have been no signals that he doesn't like Aotearoa, NZW, or the two Andys who oversee NZW footy.
There isn't much NRL (or any pro sports team with a soul) can do when a player requests a release on compassionate grounds, no matter how cynical we can be as fans. Ideally, there is some compensation for the team but in this case there was little compensation for NZW that made sense.
Player swap? Who is giving up their own big bopper on roughly $1mil per season? NZW don't need any youngster from Australia and swapping Fonua-Blake for multiple players doesn't make sense when NZW have minimal space in their top-30. Draft picks don't apply to NRL, so the USA style of trading a star player for multiple draft picks won't work.
NZW could let Fonua-Blake go and use that salary cap space. There are not many players of that calibre who can be bought for next season in November. Keep in mind that all the 'NRL free agency' headlines you see are about players seeking deals for 2025, so those lists of available players don't apply for next season.
There aren’t many rules to NRL player movement though, which is another factor to keep in mind with all NRL stuff. Contracts don't matter. All that matters is for teams and players to agree on what happens.
Which brings me to the angle I was cooking prior to this apparently being resolved: NZW are all good.
Replacing Fonua-Blake is obviously different to replacing Josh Curran. Fonua-Blake is essentially a 60 minute, 18 run - 180m @ 10m/run guy. Curran played limited minutes off the bench. Convincing folks that NZW could absorb the loss of Fonua-Blake by promotion and development from within was going to be tricky, but NZW have earned my faith with their junior pipeline.
Tohu Harris and Mitchell Barnett are senior props. Coach Andrew Webster quietly preferred Barnett at prop over any other position. NZW folks love Bunty Afoa and we need to see what Afoa is really capable of. Tom Ale has potential to develop with another summer under coach Webster. Jazz Tevaga and Dylan Walker cover the smaller middle forward pocket, with Chanel Harris-Tavita entering that mix for next season.
I am confident that everyone will love Zyon Maiu'u as soon as he runs it straight at Mt Smart. Maiu'u is the prop every NZW fan wants and he will debut next season. Maiu'u is a pure prop, as is Isaiah Vagana who is the biggest of all these youngsters. Others like Demitric Sifakula and Leka Halasima are useful edge/middle forwards. Tanner Stowers-Smith is a prop on the rise who went from from Under 19 SG Ball to NSW Cup and then NZ A.
NZW would be competitive without Fonua-Blake next season. They can make the top-eight without him. But I won't try convince you of that.
Why do I believe in the above? Because NZW have top-notch youngsters, the two Andys, and an owner who spends money to make NZW the best they can be. I genuinely believe that good things are brewing at Mt Smart and this is not a time for fear. This is a time for faith.
My Blackcaps fears are rising and I'm trying to lean into faith. As discussed in Thursday's Niche Cast, we are Blackcaps truthers. We have highlighted how Blackcaps are the only team in the world to make the 2015 and 2019 World Cup finals, among many more positive observations about Blackcaps skill and culture.
Blackcaps have made some weird moves in three consecutive World Cup losses. Blackcaps have made errors that they rarely make (errors that England love to make). Blackcaps have lost three games in a row... against India, Australia and South Africa who are likely semi-finalists. There is no shame in that, especially when Kane Williamson isn't playing.
My fears want to pin-point what is going wrong. My faith has me curious how Blackcaps have made weird moves against teams they will face in the semi-finals, (assuming they can win vs Pakistan and/or Sri Lanka). Blackcaps are crafty. They learn and adapt, conjuring the best plans and executing them under pressure. None of that has been on show in the three losses. Then again, why would Blackcaps show their hand during pool play?
There is ample reason for fear with NZ Warriors and Blackcaps. We have all been scorned by mediocrity from these teams. There is ample reason for fear in life. We have all been scorned by the shittyness of life. There are many examples in the world right now of how shitty life can be. That's the power we each have. We chose what we want to believe and whether it's love, the light, your chosen god, or Ranginui and Papatuanuku; it's or choice between fear and faith.
Couple more wrinkles..
Something stinks in Auckland cricket. In their last six home games, Auckland have one win and one draw with four losses. This includes two losses in Auckland to start this season. Plus, Auckland A lost to Northern Districts A in Hamilton this week. Shane Setia scored a century for ND-A and he is a student at St Kentigern College in Auckland. Jamal Todd is 19-years-old and he went to Auckland Grammar before leaving Auckland for Otago where has now earned a 1st 11 spot. Muhammad Abbas is 19-years-old and he went to Kings College in Auckland before moving to Wellington. I could go on and on, but the best youngsters from Auckland don't play for Auckland and Auckland are losing in the big leagues.
Gold Coast Titans promoted Ryder Williams to their development contract list. Williams is a Marist junior from Auckland and plays in the halves. At 17-years-old, he is the youngest Titan with a development contract and that's even funkier as a play-maker. This is aligned with the swift success in Australia of many Kiwi-NRL juniors such as Keano Kini, Deine Mariner, Xavier Willison.
Can NZ Kiwis defeat Australia? Like Blackcaps, I don't know if Kiwis unleashed their full quiver against Australia last week. Another note from the Niche Cast was how James Fisher-Harris and Moses Leota are not dominated very often in the NRL. Add in Joseph Tapine and Nelson Asofa-Solomona for a fabulous quartet of forwards. Fisher-Harris and Leota have three NRL championships in a row which is a compelling case for the best prop combo in the world right now. NZ Kiwis need them to show that against Australia with Tapine and Asofa-Solomona sprinkled on top.
After sitting with the epic Kiwi Ferns win for a week, there is clarity in the difference between Kiwi Ferns and White Ferns. Kiwi Ferns had lots of young, emerging players who dominated NRLW. Performing well against the best Aussies in NRLW brews confidence. Young, emerging White Ferns haven’t scored many runs or taken many wickets in domestic cricket. They lack confidence and it’s hard to perform for White Ferns when a player has no foundation of success in domestic cricket.
Musical jam from a late entry for the upcoming Monthly Albums Jukebox…
Wildcard’s Notebook
The Brisbane Bullets had a big win over the SEM Phoenix in the NBL last night. Tidy result for that lot... but more importantly it aligned with another mean performance from Tyrell Harrison – who is making the most of Aron Baynes’ suspension with a run of starts. Only got 17 minutes in that game but he scored 14 points on 7/9 shooting (his only miss was a three-pointer) with 8 rebounds and 2 blocks. He was a +14 on the court and the limited mins were more down to foul trouble than anything. By the way... guess who leads the NBL in blocks right now? That’d be the bro Tyrell with 18 of them across nine games. Nobody else has more than 12 so far.
Looking around the league stats, there are certainly a few other kiwis doing good things...
Finn Delany has made 10/18 three pointers so far, good for 56%. Only one player has made as many threes or more at a better rate: Ben Ayre of SEM (64%).
There are five NZers who are yet to miss a free throw – only counting those who’ve attempted at least one. The Webster Bros are each 2/2. Hyrum Harris and Tom Abercrombie are 3/3. Flynn Cameron is 4/4. None of them have enough volume enough to mean much… but Delany is at 11/12 while Shea Ili, whose free throw shooting was massive for the Tall Blacks at the World Cup, is chilling at 36/44 for 81.8%. Only Nathan Sobey and Mitch Creek have attempted more FTs than Ili.
The Breakers have an offensive rating of 131.8 when Finn Delany is on the court. They’ve not been good lately but they’re much better when Finn Diesel is involved.
Amongst qualified players, Rob Loe has the second best Defensive Rating in the entire competition (97.2 points per 100 possessions against). Not sure how we’re going with Loe... he was only there on a short term basis with Melbourne Utd and Jo Lual Acuil is back in business now. Loe still hung around last week due to Matt Dellavedova missing with a concussion... but JLA’s presence means there just isn’t a spot for him in the rotation as that bench big any longer. He’d been getting 15-20 mins per game until JLA’s first appearance when he only got five and in JLA’s second he didn’t play at all. So yeah that one might be done for now. Back to retirement. We shall see.
Sam Waardenburg had a 22-point game for Cairns last round while Finn Delany scored 21 for the Breakers in his game. Those are the two highest scoring individual games by kiwis so far.
It ain’t only the fellas. The WNBL tipped off Wednesday night with the Melbourne Boomers beating Adelaide Lightning by a score of 68-60. That’s a good thing for us NZers because the Boomers do love a kiwi signing (much like Melbourne United in the blokes NBL). Their roster this year includes the returning Penina Davidson as well as first-time WNBL pro Tera Reed. Davidson had 12 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 steals in the season opener before fouling out. Reed was even better logging 32 minutes as a starter with 10 points (including 2/3 shooting from deep) and 10 rebounds plus 2 assists and 2 steals.
Huge efforts from those two which will hopefully just be the beginning. The Boomers should be challenging for a title this season. They won it two years ago back when Tall Ferns coach Guy Molloy was in charge (Molloy is currently interim coach for Sydney Flames). That side had Davidson as well as Lauryn Hippolite who was a development player. Hippolite isn’t back this time around, didn’t see her in the Tall Ferns for that Asia Cup either... perhaps focusing more on the 3x3 with the Olympics on the horizon, dunno.
Krystal Leger-Walker hasn’t been re-signed anywhere either after being a role player for the Townsville Fire as they won the 2022-23 championship. We usually only get a small handful of NZers in the WNBL but there are a couple more than usual this time around.
NZers in the WNBL for 2023-24
Penina Davison – Melbourne Boomers
Tera Reed – Melbourne Boomers
Esra McGoldrick – Bendigo Spirit
Ritorya Tamilo – Bendigo Spirit (Development Player)
Tahlia Tupaea – UC Capitals
Note that Bendigo Spirit are also coached by Kennedy Kereama, a kiwi fella who formerly coached the Tall Ferns. There are also three other players who featured in Tauihi this year who are on WNBL rosters: Paige Bradley (Southern Hoiho/Sydney Flames), Jasmine Dickey (Mainland Pouakai/Southside Flyers), and Tess Madgen (Northern Kahu/Sydney Flames).
Support The Niche Cache
Join the Patreon whanau or jam a paid Substack subscription for an extra podcast each week.
Make a sporadic donation through Buy Me A Coffee.
Tell a friend.
The NZ squad for the upcoming U17 Men’s World Cup was named earlier this week and here it is...
This squad’s been all year in preparation. At the start of the calendar they had the Oceania qualifiers and since then they’ve had two more tours with games against New Caledonia and also a tour to Japan for an exhibition tournament. The lads will face Venezuela, Germany, and Mexico in a very tough group stage. It’s a talented squad though. Stocked with players who are already emerging into senior football despite their youth.
37 different players have been called up across these four squads, with 21 in the final count for the World Cup in Indonesia - which is starting in about a week’s time. Eight players have been involved in all four squads: Cassidy, Gardiner, Sloane-Rodrigues, Brown, Coveny, Supyk, Foord, and Murphy. Two of them were called up for the first time with this squad: Ukich and Thompson. 16 are based in Aotearoa, five are based overseas with three in England and two in Australia.
A few players to keep an eye out for...
Luke Supyk – On a senior contract with the Wellington Phoenix already, having debuted in the Aussie Cup (he’d likely have gotten some minutes already in the ALM but he was injured for the first two matches). His one appearance for the reserves in 2023 saw him score a double in their only win. A legitimate striker with legitimate goal-scoring ability. Older bro Adam played at the U20 World Cup earlier in the year.
Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues – Dubbed the hottest talent in the Nix Academy by Oskar Zawada. GSR has gotten a few National League starts lately and is beginning to show the speedy dribbling skills that have his club mates so excited.
Marley Leuluai – Probably going to captain the side. Listed as a midfielder despite playing in central defence during qualifying. Son of rugby league player Kylie Leuluai, who is the cousin of Kiwis legend Thomas. Marley came up at the Manchester City academy until recently making the move to Burnley where he has been playing as a CDM. Predominantly in their U18s team yet has played U21s already. He’s the top prospect of the whole lot.
Matt Foord – Should be the starting goalkeeper. Has been holding things down between the sticks for Cashmere Technical lately and looking entirely comfortable at that level. Particularly as a shot-stopper, although like most young kiwi goalies nowadays he’s not too shabby with ball at feet either.
Anaru Cassidy – Another WeeNix fella. Cassidy is a central midfielder who looks super silky on the ball. Has made four National League appearances this season, three of them starts. One of those dudes who gets the ball where it needs to go.
Adam Watson – On the books at Stoke City where he’s already proven himself capable of scoring goals for the U18s squad. Watson scored a hat-trick in the qualifying semi-final against Fiji. He can play up front or in a deeper attacking midfield role.
Happy days at the Wellington Phoenix with men’s goalkeeper Alex Paulsen signing a new long-term contract. Paulsen has been spectacular in his first two games as the club’s number one – culminating in that late penalty save against Perth last week to preserve a victory for his side, one of many top saves he’s already made. AP’s been just as good with the ball at his feet and he’s now flexing some serious quality against the aerial ball too. His contract was set to expire after the season. Instead he’s signed on until the end of the 2026-27 campaign.
This isn’t surprising to folks who’ve watched Paulsen rise up the ranks. Since the dude was like 18 years old he’s been considered one of the very best goalkeeping prospects within Aotearoa. He’s now 21 years old and ready to rock... but don’t necessarily expect him to stay around for all of these four years. Remember that one of the main reasons the Nix have gone into Development Mode is that they want to be able to sell players overseas in order to fund things sustainably. Right now, Alex Paulsen and Finn Surman are the two standout candidates to join Cacace, Singh, and Waine in that transfer fee club. Getting him on a long term contract is more about protecting that future sale-ability more than plotting their squad for three to four seasons’ time. But either way: good business.
Remember old mate Michael Wilson, the half-kiwi rookie wide receiver for the Arizona Cardinals in the NFL? If you don’t then here’s an article from before the season about that fella. Anyway, here’s how he’s been tracking so far...
G1 vs Baltimore: 6 targets | 4 receptions | 58 yards | 14.5 yards/rec
G2 at Seattle: 5 targets | 3 receptions | 26 yards | 8.7 yards/rec
G3 at LA Rams: 4 targets | 3 receptions | 62 yards | 20.7 yards/rec
G4 vs Cincinnati: 2 targets | 1 reception | 18 yards | 18 yards/rec
G5 at San Francisco: 7 targets | 7 receptions | 76 yards | 10.9 yards/rec | 2 touchdowns
G6 vs Dallas | 2 targets | 2 receptions | 86 yards | 43.0 yards/rec
G7 vs NY Giants: 3 targets | 3 receptions | 56 yards | 18.7 yards/rec
G8 at Washington: 4 targets | 2 receptions | 19 yards | 9.5 yards/rec
TOTAL: 25 receptions for 401 yards with 2 touchdowns (16.0 yards per reception)
Women’s National League Team of the Week #6
GK – Aimee Hall (Auckland United) – First goalie to make two WNL TOWs this year, how about that? The Aussie gloveswoman put that fringe A-League ability to work with a few miraculous stops against Southern. Her nemesis at the other end, Amelia Simmers, was almost as good... but Hall gets the edge thanks to a few more crucial stops in the late stages.
RB – Arisa Takeda (Western Springs) – Takeda has been back in the WNL for three rounds and she’s made three Teams of the Week... all for a different predominant reason. It was a wondergoal and some attacking prowess first time, then some excellent possession/transition attack work, now she’s here very much for her dominant defensive mahi in the narrow win against Wellington United.
CB – Greer Macintosh (Auckland United) - That AU vs SU draw was an almightly clash of defensive talent and MacIntosh led the way with some huge tackles and blocks as well as a composed head. One of those super underrated WNL players.
CB – Marissa Porteous (Southern United) – See above except flip it to the other team. What MacIntosh did for AUFC, Porteous did for Southern. She’s only 19 years old and is having a remarkable first proper National League season. The way she aggressively steps up and wins the ball, over and over, fits in perfectly with the team around her... which is no small achievement given she’s only there on loan from West Coast Rangers.
LB – Saskia Vosper (Waterside Karori) – Has mostly been playing as a CB sweeper, and doing a bloody good job of it too, but the ex-Phoenix fullback got minutes at wing-back down the stretch against Ellerslie and showed she’s just as capable in attack as she is at the back. Remember the Nix even used her as a bench winger sometimes.
CM – Charlotte Wilford-Carroll (Eastern Suburbs) – Not saying that Eastern Suburbs would’ve beaten Western Springs last week had CWC been available... but they definitely would not have lost 4-0. Wilford-Carroll’s quality was on display again as she returned against Central. Only played 55 minutes but was immaculate. Check out the first touch and turn and switch she does before Lancaster’s second goal... unreal. That is professional calibre talent. Those overseas scouts better be paying attention.
CM – Jessica Innes (Western Springs) – Assisted both goals for Springs, one from a corner kick and one from open play. Such a good passer. Also a hard worker who wins plenty of possession. Another of those under-sung National League heroes – with four assists she’s now tied for the league lead.
CM – Charlotte Mortlock (Canterbury United) – Yeah alright. Okay. We see you. Mortlock’s wicked swirling corner kicks provided two early goals, one converted by Whitney Hepburn in close and the other scored directly herself, but even aside from that Mortlock was swarming on the press and making things happen in the win against the WeeNix.
FW – Charlotte Lancaster (Eastern Suburbs) – Four goals and an assist in a 6-1 victory? The only hard part was deciding which position to list her in. Lancaster punished her old Central team with an emphatic performance... with the best of it coming in the second half after moving to wing-back.
FW - Kaley Ward (Waterside Karori) – The American expat was at it again, folks. Two goals the win against Ellerslie. The first was spectacularly taken, especially because she also had a huge role in its creation. But then that’s normal too. Five goals and four assists this term. Nobody has more goal contributions.
FW – Lara Colpi (Western Springs) – Joel Stevens is the highlight reel king of the MNL. He scores incredible goals at an incredible rate. Lara Colpi might just be the WNL equivalent. She added another blinder to her collection in the win vs Wgtn United. Forget about emerging talents... since she’s gotten the chance to play as a central playmaker she’s just straight up been one of the best players in the league.