Immediate Silverware
Immediate Silverware
All Whites goal drought, heaps of Kiwi-NRL buzz, some cheeky Breakers stats, Blackcaps ODI rotation & more
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Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Winning Start For Kiwi-NRL Dolphins (Rugby League)
Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Mt Smart Sunday vs Bulldogs (Rugby League)
The 2023 Football Season Is Already Underway With OCL Qualifiers And A Blossoming Rivalry (Football)
Flying Kiwis – March 21 (Football)
The Women’s National League’s Getting Another Revamp (Including A Wellington Phoenix Reserve Team!) (Football)
Kiwi Steve in the NBA #7: Posterior Cruciate Ligament Strain (Basketball)
The Legend Of Charlisse Leger-Walker Grows Ever Larger (Basketball)
An NBL Free Agency Primer For Breakers + NZers At Australian Teams (Basketball)
Blackcaps vs Sri Lanka Test Series & Test Summer Debrief (Cricket)
2022/23 Plunket Shield: Youngster Parade (Cricket)
Exploring Blackcaps Pipelines: ODIs vs Sri Lanka & Aotearoa 'A' Squad (Cricket)
27fm Weekly Playlist: March 20 (Music)
Scotty’s Word
Just a bit of rugby league for today's dispatch...
James Fisher-Harris played 61 minutes vs Eels last night, the most of his three games so far. He also made 57 tackles (2 misses) and ran for 80m which paints a different picture to his regular mahi with Panthers.
Last season Fisher-Harris averaged 31 tackles and 148m per game. This season he's averaging 46 tackles and 100m. His three seasons averaging over 140m/game were also seasons in which Fisher-Harris won over 80% of his games, with back to back championships.
Moses Leota has also dropped from 100+ metres per game in three winning seasons, down to 90m/game this season. Leota has 99 tackles @ 97% and Fisher-Harris has 137 tackles @ 96.5%. Panthers may be tweaking their system a bit, although Fisher-Harris and Leota are well equipped to handle any middle mahi.
Dylan Brown grabbed a try assist vs Panthers, his 3rd of the season. Brown had 17 try assists last season after three seasons of 5 or fewer and he's on track for at least 10 this season. As the best running/tackling half in the NRL, Brown is averaging 142m/game and he has made 90 tackles @ 94%.
There has been a considerable dip in Brown's kicking though. Brown is averaging 41.45km/game which is his first season below 58km/game and this coincides with Mitchell Moses kicking 616m per game - his first season over 450km/game.
This will probably be a tough season for Isaiah Papali'i, even though he's maintaining his mahi from Eels. Papali'i jumped up to 140+ metres per game at Eels and has started this season with 148m/game. The biggest difference will be try-scoring as Papali'i scored 7 and 10 tries for Eels, now he's in a team that can't score over 15 points and is yet to register a try for Tigers.
Tigers face Storm this weekend. I'm curious about Will Warbrick and Alec MacDonald who have had greater roles to start this season, yet Storm are losing. Warbrick averaged 169m/game with 10 tries and 14 linebreaks in 14 games for Sunshine Coast last season - his first season after leaving Sevens for Storm.
Warbrick had 130+ metres in his first two games of NRL before a tough encounter in the loss to Titans. Warbrick had 95m vs Titans and struggled defensively, but Tigers could present Warbrick with an easier gig.
MacDonald is from Auckland and moved to Queensland at a young age before working his way through the Storm system. After playing 12 games last season with 56m/game, MacDonald has jumped up to 76m/game in more minutes with back to back games playing 41mins.
Storm spotted MacDonald playing in Queensland for a reason. MacDonald fits the low key hard-working profile and he has earned NRL minutes by doing what Craig Bellamy and the Storm want. That's a great sign and hopefully MacDonald can contribute to winning footy as a middle forward.
Griffin Neame is named to start for Cowboys. The Greymouth junior had a tough outing against NZ Warriors with 56m and 2 missed tackles, taking him to 10 missed tackles this season. Starting will likely mean more minutes for Neame and Titans love to shift the footy, which could challenge Neame if he's under fatigue.
Neame's hovering between 34-40 minutes in his three games, while Knights forward Leo Thompson is averaging 52mins. The Napier Marist junior averaged 51m per game last season and has jumped up to 86m this season, tackling at 95.6%.
Dolphins vs Broncos features enticing Kiwi-NRL edge forward funk. Jordan Riki will play right edge for Broncos and Dolphins appear to have called up Glenora junior Poasa Fa'amausili which will probably put Kenny Bromwich back to an edge role. Connelly Lemuelu holds down the other edge slot for Dolphins with Felise Kaufusi out suspended, hopefully offering Bromwich/Lemuelu vs Riki.
It's also a big game for Jesse Bromwich who lines up against Thomas Flegler, Payne Haas and Patrick Carrigan. All three of the Broncos middles are viewed more favourably than Jesse, but Jesse could showcase the importance of fundamentals through the middle. Jamayne Isaako and Kodi Nikorima came up through Broncos under Wayne Bennett as well for further Kiwi-NRL funk.
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
For a sixth consecutive game, the All Whites have failed to score a goal. That’s a longer active goalless streak than the much-maligned Football Ferns. The Wellington Phoenix Women are struggling to turn increasingly decent performances into results because of poor finishing. Even the Wellington Phoenix blokes, who have scored in every game this season, have only scored a second on 9/21 occasions. It’s a bit of an issue across all kiwi football at the moment.
The AW lads were superior to China (until the red card – a proper unforced botch-up) but turning possession into chances was tricky. Partly because of the absence of Chris Wood and Sarpreet Singh - Singh hasn’t played in any of those six goalless games. But it was also quite clear in a game where the NZers had heaps of possession how much the tactical side of things let them down.
Darren Bazeley pretty much carried on where Danny Hay left off. That 3-4-2-1 formation gave good width but was so flat between the lines, meaning lots of sideways stuff and hardly any penetration. Marko Stamenic tried hard to spark things but there’s just not enough movement off the ball when everyone’s cramped together... I did wonder if they might be a little more potent after the red card if it forced them to play more on the counter. And to some extent they were, as the switch to a 4-3-2 with Clayton Lewis adding an extra body in the middle allowed more direct passing between the CMs. But that needed to be happening with eleven still on the park. A few more risks. Bring the striker into the play. Faster ball-movement. Trust a teammate to receive under pressure. That kinda thing.
It’s the same stuff that’s been an issue for several games, even when Wood is out there. They don’t really look like they know how they’re going to score. But there were a few chances in there which could have gone another way. And defensively they were in full control until the red card, other than one or two counter attacks.
China were an unknown quantity which may explain them being a little too cautious in their structure. We’ll see what it looks like on Sunday when they’ll know for damn sure that they can take this lot. And also when the shadow of global travel fatigue isn’t such a factor. Bell and Stamenic splitting minutes must’ve been part of that given they were amongst the very last to arrive. Not too hopeful about the Woodsman but you never know. Fair play to a well-organised China team but the Dubs still should’ve beaten them.
No dramas about the U22s though, not after a tidy 2-0 win in the curtain-raiser. Sam Sutton scored from a 44th minute penalty, which he’d earned by getting a boot to the face, then Riley Bidois added to it in the 69th min to set up the win. That goal coming after some excellent work from Ben Old for the assist.
Really good performance from the youngsters. Looked solid at the back, moved the ball through the midfield, and even managing to put a couple chances away. The left edge with Sutton and Jesse Randall was especially dangerous. Campbell Strong did some nice stuff in the midfield dropping in and collecting the ball on the turn. Alex Paulsen was faultless with the gloves. The NZers won the physicality stakes, the free kick tallies soaring (and the yellow cards coming out before half-time) and that kinda set the tone for how things unfolded.
Here’s the line-up...
Alex Paulsen | Ronan Wynne, Isaac Hughes, Finn Surman, Sam Sutton | Campbell Strong, Ben Old, Jay Herdman | Jesse Randall, Oskar van Hattum, Riley Bidois
Subs Used: Finn Conchie, Nathan Lobo, Noah Karunaratne, Joe Lee, Dan McKay, Zac Zoricich
Very Wellington Phoenix orientated (as was the senior team, come to think of it). Of the starters, it’s only Strong, Herdman & Randall who haven’t been through the WeeNix. Plus three more of the subs were the same. Wynne and Bidois are no longer with the club though.
Also, Alex Paulsen was the starting keeper for this game while Kees Sims warmed up with the senior All Whites as their third-choice goalie. Pretty sure we can expect that to switch around for the second game. Good experience for each of them. Paulsen will probably be the Olympic keeper next year while Sims is likely the U20 World Cup starter in May.
Commiserations to Tommy Smith for being sent off in his 50th cap. That’s gotta be a quiz question someday. Massive achievement regardless from Smithy, who is one of only two blokes left from the 2010 World Cup squad (along with Chris Wood, the two youngest members of the team – although Kosta Barbarouses should’ve made it). The nineteenth bloke to reach that mark. Ivan Vicelich leads the way with 88. Chris Wood is at 70 and hunting him down. Kosta Barbarouses at 53 is the next active player on the list. He was also the most recent player to be sent off for the AWs.
Blackcaps ODI cricket is on tomorrow. And while the series is a big one for Sri Lanka as they try to crack the top eight of the Super League for automatic World Cup qualification, it’s also the case that the Blackcaps will finish first on the ladder if they win just one game out of three. A few abandoned series have left teams playing uneven numbers of games and the Blackcaps will therefore benefit from Aussie and India missing out on those points.
Not that there’s anything for the winner. No mace. Maybe they’ll take this into consideration with World Cup seedings of some sort but that’s nothing much. Still, good yarns from a Blackcaps team that continues to punch above its weight. The ‘Caps are 14-5 with two no results over this CWC Super League. Only one player has featured in all 21 games: Tom Latham.
They’ve used 25 players in those 21 games and are likely to add a couple more to that list over the next week. Here they are ranked by games played...
Latham (21), Santner (17), Conway (15), Mitchell (15), M.Bracewell (15), Guptill (14), Allen (13), Henry (13), Ferguson (12), Southee (11), Phillips (11), Williamson (10), Boult (9), Nicholls (9), Young (8), Neesham (8), Sodhi (6), Jamieson (6), Tickner (5), Taylor (4), de Grandhomme (3), D.Bracewell (2), Milne (2), Duffy (1), Shipley (1)
Four of the top seven there weren’t part of the 2019 World Cup squad. Feels like a credit to the team’s evolution that it’s such a surprise to realise how much things have changed since that World Cup.
Krystal Leger-Walker is an NBL champion. Her first season as a pro has seen immediate silverware as her Townsville Fire team beat the Southside Flyers 2-0 in the finals. Won both games by double figures too. Chuck in Charlisse’s Pac-12 title with the Washington State Cougars and it’s been a decent few weeks for that clan. We’ll ignore the March Madness stuff.
KLW didn’t get big minutes or anything. She had a couple strong games during the season when injuries cleared the path for her though the Fire signing Shyla Heal meant she fell back in the rotation again. Got five minutes in the first game with 3 points and a rebounds. Didn’t play in game two as they only used eight players. Penina Davidson’s Melbourne Boomers lost 2-1 to the Flyers in the semis – Melbourne/Davidson (and DP Lauren Hippolite) were champs last season. Micaela Cocks won three NBL titles with the Townsville Fire, including getting Finals MVP in 2016.
A few sneaky Breakers stats...
The Breakers had four players in the top seven across the NBL for minutes played this past season. Jarrell Brantley (3 – 1059), Dererk Pardon (4 – 1012), Will McDowell-White (5 – 1007), and Izaya Le’Afa (7 – 957). Making a finals run obviously skews that quite a lot although there’s no Sydney Kings player until you hit Dejan Vasiljevic at eighth. You could see pretty clearly in that finals series that the Kings had the deeper bench and the Breakers having to rely on their starters for such big minutes surely contributed to a few of those second half issues across those games.
Not only did Dererk Pardon play the fourth most minutes, but across all that time he had a Net Rating of +28.7. Offensive Rating of 131.4 and Defensive Rating of 102.6. Astonishingly good numbers showing just what an influence he had on this team even if he wasn’t necessarily a sharp-shooting scorer. The next best Net Rating among players with 500+ minutes (aka high rotation players) was... Angus Glover at +25.4 and he was exclusively a bench player so a lot of that was against other bench players. Dererk Pardon just absolutely destroys on the advanced stats.
Speaking of Will McDowell-White, he had an assist percentage of 32%. Third best in the NBL amongst those with 400+ mins. Derrick Walton Jr and Gary Browne (both 35%) were the two that topped him. That means that WMW assisted on basically a third of Breakers buckets while he was on the court. There is a case to say that he was maybe a bit too influential there and that they could do with a couple more upskilled passers on the team but can’t fault was WMW got up to.