Full Steam Charge
Warriors re-signings, All Whites squad (plus U20s men too), NZ-A cricket, Finn Delany/NBL, and more
Scotty’s Word
Bit of squad news for NZ Warriors with Leka Halasima and Jacob Laban extending long-term while Moala Graham-Taufa will depart for Rabbitohs next season. This is a squad management flow to get used to because NZW are producing too many youngsters to keep and a few will depart every year because they can't keep them all.
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Take the 2024 Under 17 Harold Matthews Cup squad that won the first of their back to back championships: Kaawyn Patterson left for Bulldogs, Hudsyn Frost left for Sharks, and Jackson Stewart left for Roosters. Other juniors who have departed in the last year or so include Ieti Samuelu (Eels) and Meihana Pauling (Titans). Plus there is a funky group of players I'm seeing named in the wider squads of Queensland Cup who dabbled in NSW Cup mahi for NZW during the two Andys era...
Maia Sands (Tweed), Paterika Vaivai (Ipswich), Nicholas Halalilo (Ipswich), Quinnlan Tupou (Northern), Paul Roache (Burleigh), Ben Farr (Wynnum), Toni Tupouniua (Wynnum)
Zyon Maiu'u (Te Atatu) and Taniela Otukolo (Otahuhu) will return to Mt Smart this weekend as part of the Bulldogs NSW Cup squad. Other Kiwi-NRL Bulldogs in NSW Cup and U21s who are named to play in Auckland this weekend...
NSW Cup: Cassius Tia (Marist), Alekolasimi Jones (St Paul's College) Fahmy Toilalo (Otahuhu)
Jersey Flegg Cup: Roy Tatupu (Mt Albert Grammar), Malachi Filipo (Mt Albert), Sosaia Alatini (Hornby), Kaawyn Patterson (Westlake Boys)
While on this topic...
The Bulldogs NRLW squad has 11 players from Aotearoa in their top-24. Of their four development contracts, three are from Aotearoa. That's 14/27 players in the Bulldogs first NRLW squad being under the NRLWahine umbrella.
Raiders also love Aotearoa and they will play against NZW in the NRL with a bunch of Kiwi-NRL lads, as well as having the second biggest NRLWahine crew of the Aussie teams.
Raiders vs NZW: Matthew Timoko (Otahuhu/Ellerslie), Sebastian Kris, Joseph Tapine (Harbour City), Simi Sasagi (Ellerslie), Ata Mariota (Manurewa) - Danny Levi (Randwick)
Raiders NRLW: Amelia Pasikala, Cheyelle Robins-Reti, Leianne Tufuga, Kerehitina Matua, Mackenzie Wiki, Madison Bartlett, Tatiana Finau, Isabella Waterman
Biggest NRLWahine squads (top-24)
Bulldogs: 11
Raiders: 8
Broncos: 7
Cowboys, Knights, Titans: 5
NRLWahine who could make their debuts after moving from rugby union (Farah Palmer Cup or higher)...
NZW: Tysha Ikenasio, Shakira Baker, Kalyn Takitimu-Cook, Payton Takimoana, Michaela Blyde, Patricia Maliepo, Tyra Wetere
Broncos: Azalleyah Maaka, Kerri Johnson
Bulldogs: Moana Courtenay, Monica Tagoai
Dragons: Pia Tapsell
For paid subscribers I have more notes about NZW juniors. NZW did what they needed to do in locking down Halasima and Laban, while the Graham-Taufa move to Rabbitohs is excellent for a few reasons. I have enjoyed Graham-Taufa's mahi since he returned from Sydney after he and twin bro Lani were recruited by Roosters as teenagers, settling into a consistent groove after the chaos of the pandemic era.
Despite the general consensus, NZW have lots of outside back depth.
Graham-Taufa is behind Ali Leiataua, Rocco Berry, Adam Pompey and Kurt Capewell in the centre bracket. Plus there is the freaky young talent of Sio Kali on the rise even though he is often injured. I'm also enjoying the mahi of Caelys Putoko, Jarome Falemoe and Brandon Norris in the U21/Fox Memorial tier - they all have scope to rise into the NSW Cup mix for next season.
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck lead the winger slot. Pompey has proven he can cover wing/centre at the NRL level. Taine Tuaupiki did well in adapting to wing for a winning team (now back at fullback in NSW Cup). Then there are Edward Kosi, Daeon Amituanai and Setu Tu who have/can play NRL. Raphael Sio a notable youngster who is working through the pipeline on the wing.
I haven't mentioned Morgan Harper yet. I don't care about top-30 contracts because, like Blackcaps contracts, they don't dictate who can or will play and the only notable wrinkle here is that Harper got a bit more money for being signed on a top-30 deal. Harper is currently behind Graham-Taufa in my depth chart and they are both behind lots of other outside backs. Then there is the fabulous young talent rising up to take their place.
My best guess is that the two Andys wanted a wing/centre (because Harper often plays on the wing) with NRL experience in their reserve grade group. This is similar to NZW signing Tanah Boyd who, like Harper (and Te Maire Martin before he got called up), seems happy to lead a young NSW Cup squad that A) wins and B) has a proven development record in making players better.
This is the beautiful thing about NZW right now: players from all backgrounds (young/old Aussies etc) want to be at Mt Smart regardless of whether they are playing NRL or grinding away in NSW Cup.
Back to Graham-Taufa and Rabbitohs. With my Kiwi-NRL goggles on, I'm eager to see this move because Rabbitohs have been sneaky in recruiting Kiwi-NRL juniors. Siliva Havili (Manurewa) has been a steady presence in recent years and Rabbitohs developed Bayleigh Bentley-Hape (Moerewa) towards his NRL debut after he left the Roosters system (same path as Graham-Taufa).
Brandon Smith (Waiheke) joined Rabbitohs recently. Salesi Ataata (Otahuhu) joined Rabbitohs from Sharks last summer. Nazareth Taua (Marist) moved down from Queensland a few summers ago and Rabbitohs picked up Devante Mihinui (Glenora) earlier this season after he left Sea Eagles for a brief stint with Bulldogs. This week Ataata is starting prop in NSW Cup, while Taua and Mihinui are the starting prop duo in U21s.
Graham-Taufa gets more money in moving to Rabbitohs next season and there seems to be the intent to develop him into an NRL player, similar to Bentley-Hape. This is aligned with all the Kiwi-NRL moves Rabbitohs have made and there is a wee chance that Moala's twin bro Lani could sneak into the mix because he they were recruited together by Roosters and Lani has been playing Fox Memorial for Marist.
The NZ-A tour of Bangladesh continues after the second longform game started last night. Below is a breakdown of who has played all or most of the games on this tour and beyond the wall for paid subscribers I have a few deep cuts for players who aren't selected for the second longform game. We touched on this in our Bonus Pod as well as lots of local football matters - all this is available on Pareon as well.
Played both longform games: Nick Kelly, Mitch Hay, Joe Carter, Dean Foxcroft, Rhys Mariu, Matt Boyle, Jayden Lennox
First longform game only: Kristian Clarke, Josh Clarkson, Adithya Ashok, Muhammad Abbas
Second longform game only: Zak Foulkes, Curtis Heaphy, Ben Lister, Dale Phillips
All five games of the tour: Nick Kelly, Jayden Lennox
Kiwi County Tour Stats
Suzie Bates: 292 runs @ 41.7avg/80sr | 2w @ 23.5avg/6.7rpo
Maddy Green: 118 runs @ 59avg/104sr
Matt Henry: 4 runs @ 4avg/33sr | 4w @ 33avg/4.1rpo
Tom Latham: 189 runs @ 63avg/55sr
Nathan Smith: 42 runs @ 21avg/51sr | 2w @ 92.5avg/2.8rpo
Henry Nicholls: 135 runs @ 22.5avg/43sr
Jacob Duffy: 7 runs @ 1.7avg/20sr | 11w @ 32.6avg/4.2rpo
Ben Sears: 30 runs @ 10avg/73sr | 7w @ 24.5avg/4.5rpo
Brett Hampton: 40 runs @ 13.3avg/69sr | 5w @ 46.4avg/4.2rpo
Logan van Beek: 211 runs @ 30.1avg/51sr | 19w @ 27.2avg/3.3rpo
Blair Tickner: 103 runs @ 34.3avg/50sr | 19w @ 31.2avg/3.6rpo
Maddy Green is playing for The Blaze where Craig Cumming is coach. Green appears more confident in unleashing a wider variety of attacking shots and her strokes behind the wicket on both sides in the knock of 97 vs Somerset were balanced by her brutal power in the T20I knock of 62 runs @ 177sr vs Australia.
Green didn't bat in all of her last 10 games so here are her last six innings...
T20I vs Australia: 22 runs @ 122sr
T20I vs Australia: 62 runs @ 177sr
North vs South One-Day: 26 runs @ 63sr
North vs South One-Day: 109* @ 185sr
Blaze vs Surrey One-Day: 21 runs @ 91sr
Blaze vs Somerset One-Day: 97 runs @ 108sr
Here's how Green performed last summer...
ODI: 285 runs @ 57avg/95sr
T20I: 119 runs @ 19.83avg/148.7sr
HBJ Shield: 698 runs @ 69.8avg/88.6sr
Super Smash: 269 runs @ 33.62avg/107.6sr
Musical jam...
Wildcard’s Notebook
Check it out people, we’ve got an All Whites squad. In their first games since qualifying for the World Cup, they’ll be meeting with Côte d'Ivoire and Ukraine in the Canadian Shield Tournament in a couple of weeks. This is one of five remaining FIFA windows prior to the World Cup so don’t expect many bolters, don’t expect much rotation between now and then. This is the full steam charge towards the end of the cycle and Darren Bazeley’s squad is very settled. Not even the LOI Player of the Month Moses Dyer’s form was enough to make the cut (although he has surely gotten himself back in the conversation).
However, there are always absentees. Tim Payne and Storm Roux have both been injured so right-back has suddenly become an open area. Niko Kirwan might have gotten some consideration after captaining his Calcio Padova team to Serie B promotion. Probably not a high enough level to justify selection yet but if he goes well in the second tier leading into the World Cup then who knows. Dalton Wilkins can do a fine job at right-back but he’s always injured. Sam Sutton has filled in there before. But nah it’s Callan Elliot and Bill Tuiloma who’ve gotten the nods.
Elliot makes sense given his reliable contributions as a back-up for Auckland FC. Tuiloma is fortunate since his only two appearances all year in America were US Open Cup games – although he captained in both and even scored in this afternoon in the second of those matches. But as far as the league stuff goes, since September 2023 he has somehow managed to accrue 47 unused substitute appearances whilst playing a total of 197 minutes in MLS. ‘Splinters’ doesn’t even begin to cover it.
He can play right-back though, making him an experienced, reliable option in case of emergency. This is probably Tui’s last chance to stay in contention for the World Cup. The thing about Billy T is that he’s a champion bloke and everybody loves him. Even Charlotte FC love him. They don’t seem to rate him but they love him enough to make him captain in the only two games he’s played all year.
Another fresh change is Nik Tzanev finally unseating third-choice keeper Oli Sail. It had to happen eventually. Sail’s been too inconsistent for Perth Glory... although I dunno about Tzanev as his replacement. Tzanev was very good when he got a chance to play for Northampton Town but spent most of the campaign as back-up before being released at the end of his contract. That’s no better than Kees Sims at GAIS in Sweden, where he’s a back-up at a higher level and played heaps in the League Cup pretty recently. Tzanev is older and more experienced than Sims which may be what tipped the scales, especially considering who he replaced. But I reckon Sims was very unlucky here.
In terms of other goalies, Henry Gray is probably a year or two away. The Ipswich Town affiliation is exciting but all his senior action has come for Chelmsford City and Braintree Town (he was fantastic for both – in fact he won Young Player of the Year for BT this season despite only joining in January). He’s with the NZ U20s right now anyway. Michael Woud might also come back into contention next season after Alex Paulsen leaves AFC. Not right now though.
Beyond that, Ben Old is fit so he’s come in for Jesse Randall, who was only ever a placeholder for Oldy’s spot. And apparently nine goals and two assists for the best team in the A-League wasn’t good enough for Logan Rogerson to maintain his place because he’s dropped out to accommodate Finn Surman’s return. Obviously Surman had to be there... but jeepers that’s harsh on Rogerson. Particularly when neither Matt Garbett nor Bill Tuiloma have played a second of league football for their clubs in 2025.
But that’s where we’re at in the cycle. The earning-your-spot phase is over and the priming-for-a-major-tournament phase has begun. We’re not going to see much squad alteration from here on out. Nor should we. Peep that everybody has made themselves available, as they always do. Except for Ryan Thomas but it’s too soon for that. Maybe in October (who’d drop out to make room for Thommo... Rufer? Smith? Waine? One of the fullbacks? Wait for an injury?).
Big news outta the Aussie NBL with news that Finn Delany has opted to join Melbourne United on a two-year deal. Jack White’s decided to leave for overseas while kiwi big Rob Loe has returned to the Breakers so Melbourne United needed to load up their front court. Delany’s one of the best available and apparently he was keen on the idea of linking back up with his first NBL coach in Dean Vickerman. Much love to Coach Vicks because he’s always kept excellent kiwi talent around that team. Flynn Cameron also departed this offseason but Shea Ili has re-signed and now they’ve added Delany, who most recently spent a year in the Japanese second tier where he was very good for Veltex Shizuoka.
This is a slippery one for the Breakers. There’s no evidence that they made a serious run at trying to sign Delany, although new GM Dillon Boucher would definitely have kept in contact. Delany came back to the Breakers for one season two years ago and it was a miserable experience when the team was rubbish and Delany struggled with injuries and never got into top gear. It’s a brand new Breakers these days but you can understand why he might have wanted to try something different for his next NBL effort.
The slipperiness comes from the fact that the Breakers made it a focus to restore a kiwi core to their roster but missed out on all the best available kiwis. Flynn Cameron chose Adelaide. Shea Ili stayed in Melbourne. Finn Delany also went with Melbourne. Sam Waardenburg stayed in Cairns. They didn’t coax any other overseas guys back. They didn’t land any college grads, with Taine Murray joining Brisbane and Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones apparently opting for another year in the NCAA. The Breakers did very good work with the players that they did sign... but it could have been great work with another starting-level kiwi.
NZers Contracted for NBL26
Sam Waardenburg – Cairns Taipans
Sam Mennenga – NZ Breakers
Tyrell Harrison – Brisbane Bullets
Tohi Smith-Milner – Brisbane Bullets (Canterbury Rams)
Max Darling – NZ Breakers (Canterbury Rams)
Carlin Davison – NZ Breakers (Taranaki Airs)
Kaia Isaac – NZ Breakers [DP] (Canterbury Rams)
Dontae Russo-Nance – Perth Wildcats (Manawatu Jets)
Alex McNaught – NZ Breakers [DP] (Nelson Giants)
Flynn Cameron – Adelaide 36ers (Franklin Bulls)
Izayah Le’Afa – NZ Breakers (Wellington Saints)
Shea Ili – Melbourne United (Wellington Saints)
Reuben Te Rangi – NZ Breakers (Franklin Bulls)
Taylor Britt – NZ Breakers (Canterbury Rams)
Rob Loe - NZ Breakers (Auckland Tuatara)
Taine Murray – Brisbane Bullets
Finn Delany – Melbourne United
This is after the news that Walter Brown has been released by Tasmania. Other free agents from last season’s crop are: Tai Webster, Hyrum Harris, and Tom Vodanovich. Still a few more local spots to be filled around the league (although not at the Breakers), plus we should see a few development players added soon enough. The Breakers, for one thing, have a DP spot or two available.
NZ Men’s U20s coach Chris Greenacre named a fascinating squad for the upcoming two-game series against Chile in preparation for the U20 World Cup in that country later in the year. Good to see games happening outside of the main tournaments – the U20s Women have had similar series against Australia leading into each of the last two U20 World Cups so this is becoming a bit of a habit. The fascination isn’t only from that perspective though. This is also the first age grade squad that’s had a heavy Auckland FC presence (despite being coached by the boss of the Wellington Phoenix U20s... who also have several players included).
There are five Auckland FC players in the group – although rumours have it that Troy Putt would have joined AFC had he not gotten the Minnesota Utd 2 offer, while Stipe Ukich allegedly rejected them to pursue a deal in Croatia. Additionally, there are seven Nix players and that’s without the injured Alby Kelly-Heald and Nathan Walker, both of whom will definitely go to the World Cup later this year providing that they’re healthy in time. Walker should make that deadline. His injury was suffered in the Aussie Cup game last week, it’s a leg fracture that should only be 1-2 months. AKH will be touch and go for the September trip to Chile.
U19 Oceania Champs squad not selected:
Lachlan Candy (Wellington Phoenix), Bruce Izumi (Western Suburbs), Seth Karunaratne (Wellington Phoenix), Alby Kelly-Heald (Wellington Phoenix), Daniel Makowem (Wellington Phoenix), Eamonn McCarron (Wellington Phoenix), Lewis Partridge (Wellington Phoenix), Rico Pradhan (Christchurch United), Nathan Walker (Wellington Phoenix), Ryan Watson (Wellington Phoenix)
New additions for this tour:
Luke Brooke-Smith, Harry Casci, Noah DuPont, Henry Gray, Lukas Kelly-Heald, James Mitchell, Troy Putt, Jayden Smith
This is only a two-game tour so there are two fewer players picked, although they usually only allow 21 players for the U20 World Cup so this is in line with that. LKH was injured for the qualifiers while Henry Gray was doing bigger things. Mitchell, Putt, and Smith have had sharp rises to earn these spots. Harry Casci is a new fella based in Australia - he’s a highly rated midfielder in the Western United academy (alongside Luka Coveny). Luke Brooke-Smith’s the youngest bloke in the side and is also eligible for the U17 World Cup this year so we could see him do a Milly Clegg/Ruby Nathan and play at both. Henry Gray and the Kelly-Healds are the three lads from the 2023 U20 WC still young enough to have another swing at it.
Meanwhile, these are the only dudes from the 2023 U17 World Cup who’ve graduated into this group:
Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues, Luka Coveny, Luke Supyk, Noah Dupont, Stipe Ukich (and Nathan Walker)
Those U17s did pretty terribly (lost all three games by a 10-1 aggregate). However, there’s also the element of these being two-year cycles but with three years between U17s and U20s… meaning that there are a year’s worth of older fellas also in contention. It’s certainly not too late for folks like Dylan Gardiner or Anaru Cassidy to win their way in, while the overseas-based Adam Watson and Marley Leuluai could also come into contention.
In related news, Callum Holmes has been announced as the coach of the Women’s U20s for the next cycle – taking them through this year’s U19 Oceania Championship and into the U20 World Cup next year. Holmes is currently the Women’s Development Lead at the Wellington Phoenix where he also coaches their U20s side. In other words, the head coach of the Wellington Phoenix U20s is now also concurrently the head coach of the New Zealand U20s on both the men’s and women’s side.
Musical Jam...