Leash Etiquette
Olympic exploits, Warriors lose to Eels, Kiwi-NRL & NRLW excellence, Wellington Phoenix pipeline, domestic football roundup & more
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NRLWahine Spotlight: Annessa Biddle - The Scorpion From Otara (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Second Year Surge With Will Warbrick (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Daejarn Asi Returns to Mt Smart (Rugby League)
OlyWhites & Football Ferns at the 2024 Paris Olympics: Double Defeat vs France (Football)
Why Aren't The New Zealand Breakers Signing New Zealand Players? (Basketball)
How Have Those NZ Breakers Next Star Lads Been Tracking Since Their NBA Drafts? (Basketball)
The Breakers Are No Longer Coached By Mody Maor (Basketball)
Anatomy Of New Zealand's 2024 T20 World Cup Shambles (Cricket)
Five Funky Movers In The 2024/25 Domestic Cricket Contracts (Cricket)
Exploring The Blackcaps Test Mixer For The Great Asia Adventure Of 2024 (Cricket)
Scotty’s Word
Folks are eating up NZ Warriors blame pie after a stinky loss to Eels on Friday night. Over the weekend I was pondering how no individual aspect of NZW footy can be blamed above a bunch of other issues. Just like Broncos who made the Grand Final last year and are now 14th (one spot behind NZW), everything is going wrong.
The most interesting thing about this season is how Shaun Johnson's 23% win rate is the lowest of his career. That doesn't mean Johnson gets the biggest piece of blame pie though, because ... the whiff of complacency permeated from Mt Smart during their round one loss to Sharks at home, coach Andrew Webster's playing style didn't work nor did his selections across all aspects of the roster (defence and attack got worse, veterans vs youngsters was an ongoing battle), implosions were too frequent, Tohu Harris' form fell off a cliff, no speed in the team, consistent injuries throughout and so on.
When I watched NZW this season and on Friday night, I never thought one aspect of NZW stood out against everything else. For each error by a youngster vs Eels, I watched (the best NZW player this season) Mitchell Barnett get smashed. For each attacking shift that led to a dead end, the NZW back three were confronted by an eager defensive line. The NZW blame pie consists of lots of small slices, enough for the whole whanau to have a feed.
Right now, I'm less excited to cover NZW and there aren't many insights to offer. This overlaps with all sorts of intrigue and funk in the Kiwi-NRL/NRLWahine basket, so expect less NZW coverage and more Kiwi-NRL/NRLWahine stuff as there is only so much time in a day. That's my main takeaway on this Monday.
NZW do not represent NZ Rugby League. I'll soon whip up a deep dive reminder of this concept because (like NZ Hockey's low point) the evidence is so clear that it needs to be compiled...
NZ Kiwis won multiple games under coach Michael Maguire with no NZW players.
NZ Kiwis beat Australia 30-0 last year with one NZW player in the whole squad (Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad at fullback).
NZ Kiwi Ferns beat Australia last year with no NZW players, because NZW are not in NRLW right now.
NRLWahine stocks are sizzling without any NZW women's team.
As covered each year, every Australian system has Kiwi-NRL juniors. There are more NRLWahine juniors competing in the NSW Women's Premiership than ever. These two pipeline pockets are what drive Kiwis/Kiwi Ferns success.
Part of this is evident in how NZW draw big crowds despite a ho-hum season. NZ loves rugby league and communities around Aotearoa want more NRL/NRLW, so they cram into Mt Smart. Credit to NZW for building an environment that draws big crowds… it will be fascinating to see how big the crowd is for the next home game - it would be a bit embarrassing if there were more empty seats after it was sold out early.
I don't think NZW will be worse or as bad next season. Surely they can't be worse with James (mana of many men) Fisher-Harris on the roster, right? After the loss to Eels I kept thinking, with my NZW cap on, that the best thing now is to fast-forward to summer training. Time moves too fast as it is so I definitely don't want any fast-forwarding but NZW need to freshen up with new schemes, vibes and a bit of fizz over summer.
Having two players who do not want to be at Mt Smart with NZW is not part of a winning recipe. Addin Fonua-Blake has shown up this season despite stating his desire to move back to Australia so that's nice but last week news emerged that Dylan Walker wanted to return to Australia as well. They are professionals and have kept grinding, but when adversity increases it's very difficult to win with folks who don't want to be there.
The NZW pipeline and player development helps the positive outlook for next season. Most NZW youngsters in spots 25-35 have gained NRL experience and the NSW Cup squad are top-five for the second year in a row with a young squad. The level of talent and clear development plans for the young brigade will continue to boost the NRL squad.
Keano Kini is my favourite Kiwi-NRL player right now and while I love Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, the speed of Kini continues to command attention as a possible Aotearoa Kiwis fullback. Here's what Kini did in a big win vs Broncos (only 70mins because he got sin-binned):
2 tries, 24 runs - 202m @ 8.4m/run, 1 try assist, 5 tackle breaks, 1 offload, 5 tackles @ 100%
Kieran Foran and Erin Clark deserve to be in an Aotearoa Kiwis squad as well. Foran is a hero and there is even a case to be made that he should be starting in the halves alongside Jahrome Hughes with Dylan Brown on the bench or just a squaddie. This is the best season of Clark's career and he is now playing strictly as a middle forward, averaging 105m/game - his first season over 100m.
Clark is fast for a middle forward with a dash of aggression and that becomes power. Clark has churned out 802 post-contact metres this season, which is his first season over 540 PCM, with a super solid 97.4% tackling.
NZ Kiwis have ample big boppers. James Fisher-Harris, Moses Leota, Joseph Tapine, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Griffin Neame and Leo Thompson played in the win vs Australia. Naufahu Whyte was 18th man and Wiremu Greig (as well as Kini) were in the Kiwis squad. Xavier Willison is the next best big bopper, while Trey Mooney played for NZ-A last alongside Joe Chan.
Clark and Alec MacDonald are the ideal compliments to all that size and power. Clark is a faster small forward and MacDonald is a gritty mahi man for Melbourne Storm. Clark is best suited to this slot but I want to keep throwing up MacDonald because A) not many folks know he's from NZ, and B) mahi men at Storm are a different breed.
Tough loss for Raiders on Sunday but Tapine was awesome, as always. Given how good Tapine has been for a long period of time, I was surprised to see him averaging a career-high 174m/game this year. This is his third consecutive season averaging 150+ metres.
Circle back and Aotearoa's love for rugby league is evident in where the two leaders for NZ Kiwis come from: Fisher-Harris is from the Hokianga in Northland and Tapine is from Wellington.
Dragons and Broncos are 0-2 in NRLW without Tyla King and Stacey Waaka. King should add class to the Dragons halves mix and who knows what Waaka will offer Broncos; it’s just goofy that these wahine will join teams who have two losses to start this season.
Titans, Sharks and Knights are all 2-0. All three teams have funky NRLWahine nuggets...
Georgia Hale made 43 tackles @ 100% vs Tigers...
2023 NRLW: 501 tackles @ 98.8% - only player with 340+ tackles
2024 NRLW: 89 tackles @ 97.8% - only player with 75+ tackles
Hale has also added more running oomph to her mahi. She averaged less than 70m/game in her first five seasons before passing the 100m/game mark last year...
2023: 106m/game
2024: 141m/game
Sharks centre Annessa Biddle vs Eels: 1 try, 14 runs - 154m @ 11m/run, 23 tackles @ 92%
Biddle was second for Post Contact Metres in her first season and first for Average PCM. Now she is first in both...
2023: 2nd - 620 PCM | 1st - 77.5 PCM/game
2024: 1st - 180 PCM | 1st - 89.9 PCM/game
Knights have the biggest NRLWahine crew of the 2-0 teams, even though Super Rugby Aupiki recruits Isabella Waterman and Grace Kukutai didn't play vs Raiders. Kukutai wasn't in the team and Waterman was on the bench but didn't get game time. Knights had Shanice Parker, Abigal Roache, Laishon Albert-Jones and Nita Maynard with the back to back NRLW champions adding Tenika Willison to their squad after Black Ferns Sevens mahi.
Albert-Jones has not lost a game in NRLW after going 10-0 last season and now 2-0 this season. She has also flourished with a consistent role at edge forward...
2023: 82m/game, 87% tackling
2024: 108m/game, 91.8% tackling
After making the case that NZ hockey was at a low point on Friday, they had a 1-2 loss vs Ireland. This is undoubtedly the biggest low for hockey in NZ and such lows require comprehensive reviews of all hockey systems in Aotearoa. Whether that happens or not remains to be seen and hockey seems likely to keep sliding in relevance.
Shout out White Ferns coach Ben Sawyer for another win in The Hundred! Unfortunately that win came without Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine managed 6 runs, while extending her wicket-less streak to 13 games. Devine's last wicket was taken on March 24th in the second ODI vs England in Nelson.
Musical jam...
Wildcard’s Notebook
It’s been rough going for the kiwi athletics team so far at the Paris Olympics. Tom Walsh limped out of the Men’s Shot Put, failing to register a distance and seeming to injure himself pretty badly in the process. Not sure he would have medalled anyway since the shot put field has gotten pretty crowded lately and Walsh hasn’t been at his best for a couple of years… but this took away any chance he had. Jacko Gill did finish seventh though. Solid from him after consecutive ninth-placings at the previous two Games.
Unfortunately, Sam Tanner didn’t get up to much in the Men’s 1500 metres. He got stuck in the pack in his heat, then made sure not to have that happen again in his repechage with a fast start, only to run out of gas on the last lap and fall way back into elimination. An achilles injury robbed him of much of his high-end conditioning this year and that showed in the repechage. He did throw up an Olympic startline Mana Wave though...
Lauren Bell wasn’t able to make the final in the Women’s Hammer Throw. She peaked at 68.93m for 20th place, more than four metres behind the automatic qualification mark. Way below her personal best... although comfortably better than her top effort in Tokyo last time.
The exception from the first few days has been Zoe Hobbs. Although she didn’t make it through to the Women’s 100m final, she did still progress to the semis which is a rare enough feat as it is. We hadn’t even had a kiwi woman in the event since 1976. Sadly, Hobbs didn’t produce her best run in the semis so there’s still a bit of disappointment here. One of the most ruthless things about sport is that the better you do, the better you think you can do beyond that, and you’re never quite satisfied.
Pretty special to be able to say she ran second in her heat behind eventual champion Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia though. Alfred’s gold was Saint Lucia’s first ever Olympic medallist and with a population of less than 200k that wreaks havoc for our Medals Per Capita arithmetic – although it’s 76k pop Dominica who lead the way there after Thea LaFond won the Women’s Triple Jump for their first ever medal.
But never fear because we’ve got plenty more to come. Eliza McCartney (and Imogen Ayris & Olivia McTaggart) in the Women’s Pole Vault. Maddi Wesche in the Women’s Shot Put. Geordie Beamish in the Men’s 5000m and 3000m Steeplechase. And our main athletics medal hope Hamish Kerr in Men’s High Jump. All yet to come.
Elsewhere, the canoes look promising. Finn Butcher and Luuka Jones are both into the quarters of the Kayak Cross while Lisa Carrington will lead a Canoe Sprint team that’s entered into six events. Track Cycling starts overnight. Several good opportunities remain in the ongoing Sailing events. Triathlon Relay is a chance. Also I doubt they’re going to be in medal contention but it’ll be pretty cool seeing Julian David and Sarah Tetzlaff compete in the Speed Climbing... the first two NZers to qualify for this event in its second Olympic edition.
Believe it or not, the Wellington Phoenix are playing football tomorrow evening. They’re facing South Melbourne in the Aussie Cup round of 32 and it kicks off at 9.30pm. Usually these games are streamed on YouTube so we should be able to watch it. And if you do tune in, expect to see a very young team. We’re a long way out from the start of the actual season and the squad isn’t even built yet. This time last year the Nix looked pretty bad during the Aussie Cup and then turned that into their best ever A-League campaign so don’t freak out about how the lads perform. South Melbourne are doing good things in the NPL at the moment so there could even be some upset potential, let us see what unfolds.
As to those youngsters, Alby Kelly-Heald will start in goal with Dublin Boon as his backup. AKH is the only keeper on the books right now while Boon is from the U20s (though spent last season in the Roda JC academy over in the Netherlands, including the experience of making a couple of first-team matchday squads). The distance from the start of the ALM combined with the Nations Cup, Oceania U19s, and Olympics means that some players are still in their offseason calendars – the Chief says that several first-teamers will be rested for this fixture. Alex Rufer, Tim Payne, and Paolo Retre were three blokes mentioned specifically as not having travelled, while the likes of Scott Wootton, Kosta Barbarouses, and Marco Rojas could be on restricted minutes. Six academy players will be in the squad (Boon included), with scholarship contracts up for grabs.
To put that into some sort of context, this isn’t a prediction of what the squad will look like so much as a hypothetical side under those guidelines (4-2-3-1)...
Alby Kelly-Heald
Matt Sheridan, Isaac Hughes, Scott Wootton, Sam Sutton
Fergus Gillion, Fin Conchie
Oskar van Hattum, Marco Rojas, Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues
David Ball
Subs: Dublin Boon, Lukas Kelly-Heald, Tze Xuan Loke, Anaru Cassidy, Ryan Watson, Luke Supyk, Kosta Barbarouses
Except... that’s only five academy players so perhaps somebody else is missing out too. Could easily be a guy like Sam Sutton who played big minutes at the Olympics, in which case let’s sneak someone like Seth Karunaratne or Dylan Gardiner in as centre-back cover with LKH starting at left-back instead. Mo Al-Taay is probably skipping this match too given how he made his international debut for Egypt in World Cup qualification during the offseason – hence he’ll be on the same timeline as guys like Rufer and Payne.
Most Likely Next Welly Nix Academy Debutants for 2024-25
Alby Kelly-Heald (GK)
Ryan Watson (CAM)
Tze Xuan Loke (FB)
Anaru Cassidy (CM)
Daniel Makowem (RW/LW)
Nathan Walker (RW/LW)
Lewis Partridge (LB)
Dublin Boon (GK)
Lachlan Candy (MID/FWD)
Nick Murphy (RB)
Luke Flowerdew (CF)
Seth Karunaratne (CB)
Hayden Thomas (CM)
Dylan Gardiner (CB)
Jayden Smith (CB)
Pure speculation on my part there, but maybe that’ll help put things into some perspective, not only ahead of the Aussie Cup and A-League but also the National League in a few months too. I’ll screenshot this and check back in a few months and see how much egg there is on my face. There were seven ALM academy debutants last season: L.Kelly-Heald, Conchie, Gillion, Hughes, Sheridan, Supyk & Sloane-Rodrigues.
Domestic Footy Roundup
There’s no denying what the finest moment of the week’s football action was, possibly the finest moment of any game this year, and that was the two dogs running onto the pitch (in an offside position) at Madills Farm to spoil a Ralph Rutherford goal (recently seen playing for Auckland FC on trial) goal in Eastern Suburbs’ 2-0 win over West Coast Rangers. Jake Mechell scored a double which did count, taking him back clear of Emiliano Tade in the Golden Boot race (JM has 16 goals. ET has 14). But the Lilywhites deserved a third only for the subpar leash etiquette of the Kohimarama locals to defy them. Not as infamous as the time a spaniel ran onto the pitch during a National League game and took a shit in the penalty area (which one of the players had to clean up with a plastic bag – Adam Mitchell IIRC, it was deffo Eastern Subs vs Auckland City)... but close enough. Here’s the vid if you need further proof.
Note that Nikko Boxall and Dejuan Naidoo also backed up after trialling for Auckland FC during the week. AFC have already signed Francis De Vries, Luis Toomey, Finn McKenlay, and Joseph Knowles from Eastern Subs. They’re going to have a very different team than they started with by the time the National League swings around.
Outside of the canine chaos, there were major title race ramifications this round in the Men’s Northern League. Birkenhead United took care of business with a 3-1 midweek victory against Bay Olympic... but the short turnaround got the better of them as they were held to a 0-0 draw by Hamilton Wanderers on the weekend. Crucial points dropped, allowing Auckland City to move two clear after their 2-0 win away to Bay Olympic. Only just, though... Jerson Lagos (89’) and Ryan de Vries (90+’) left it very late for the Navy Blues who once again find those winning moments when they need them.
That point lifts Wanderers out of last place and ahead of their local rivals Melville United, who themselves had their hearts broken in a 2-1 loss to Western Springs. Aaron Scott gave them a second-minute lead (hey didn’t he retire!?) and they held it all the way until Dawson Straffon scored twice in the final ten minutes, both being penalty kicks. It’s looking very much like the two Hamilton teams will be relegated, then it’s a matter of who has to do the playoff thing. Right now West Coast Rangers are in that spot. But Manurewa AFC and Tauranga City will be looking over their shoulders after they played out a 0-0 draw, as will East Coast Bays who drew 1-1 against Auckland United.
The big game in the Men’s Central League was Napier City Rovers vs Miramar Rangers. Rangers scored through Sam Mason-Smith in the first minute before Sam Lack tied things up but Miramar ended up claiming a 3-1 victory which brings them back with three points of NCR on the table for the third and final National League spot. The race ain’t run yet. Also, North Wellington and Petone played out a 2-2 draw, with Ahmad Mohammadi scoring a 79th min equaliser for NWFC (who were two goals down after twenty minutes). Other than that it was carnage as the top two teams met the bottom two teams. Western Suburbs won 4-0 away to Stop Out while Wellington Olympic were unstoppable with an 8-0 win over Island Bay. Isa Prins scored four times and Gianni Bouzoukis bagged a couple (including the opener after less than a minute). Pretty emphatic from the Greeks who have scored 67 goals from 15 matches (an average of 4.5 per match!).
As for the Men’s Southern League, there was a postponement between Universities of Canterbury and Dunedin City Royals when foggy conditions in Dunners caused flight cancellations. There was also a return to Aotearoa for Garbhan Coughlan who left the country a few months ago as the Golden Boot leader and returns... still the Golden Boot leader. But he didn’t score in his thirty minutes off the bench for Cashmere Technical in a 6-2 win against Nelson Suburbs. Instead Yuya Taguchi and Gabriel Galloway each got doubles. Dauntae Mariner, a Samoan international, was sent off late for Suburbs. Christchurch United roared back into some form with an 11-0 win over FC Twenty11 that involved a Joel Stevens hat-trick, a couple goals for Daniel Meyn, and even recent NZ U19s rep Rico Pradhan getting on the scoresheet. However, Coastal Spirit won 3-0 away to Ferrymead Bays so the Rams are still on the outside looking in as regards the top two. The other match saw Nomads United win 4-1 against Selwyn United, who played the second half with ten men after their goalie was red-carded. Angus McIntyre scored two.
Let’s work our way back up the motu starting with the Women’s South Island League, where Dunedin City Royals remain first after a second-half brace from Rose Morton gave them a tough 3-1 win over Coastal Spirit. Big win against a fellow contender. DCR are on 16 points after six games, while Cashmere Technical are up to 13 points following a 3-0 win over Otago University. Anna McPhie scored twice and Lara Wall got the other, all three goals scored after half-time. Also, Jemma Wilson grabbed a couple goals as Roslyn Wakari rallied from an early concession against Nelson Suburbs to win 2-1. Those were the two remaining winless teams after six rounds. But it’s winless no longer for RWAFC.
To the Women’s Central League next, where goals tumbled down like rain. Wellington United won 6-0 away to Victoria University. Bella Cartman and Natalie Olson each got two-for as the Diamonds remain one point clear in first. But Waterside Karori didn’t let them gain anything thanks to a 7-1 win of their own against Palmerston North Marist. PNM actually scored first... then it got wild as Renee Bacon scored a hatty and Nikki Furukawa chipped in with a couple more. Moturoa vs Petone couldn’t keep up the scoring streaks but that game still had some drama as Lilly Dowsing equalised right at the end for Motorua after Petone had led since a sixth-minute Libby Boobyer goal. 1-1 final score. But the goals returned when Taradale won 6-0 against Seatoun. Kya Solomon scored twice in amongst all that. Seatoun remain last with 11 losses from 11 games.
Finally, the NRFL Premier Division... where every game was a win-to-nil by at least three goals with all of those results going the way of the expected favourites. Auckland United stay six points clear at the top after a brace from Charlotte Roche inspired a 3-0 win vs Hamilton Wanderers. Emily Lyon’s triple anchored a West Coast Rangers 6-0 win against Ellerslie. Eastern Suburbs won 3-0 away to Fencibles with Shion Hwang getting two of them. And with Fencies slipping up, the opportunity was there for Western Springs to close the gap to just one point for that fourth and final WNL spot if they could win against Hibiscus Coast. They did that in a canter, 5-0 the final score. Ella Findlay with a couple of goals. AU and WCR are running away with it at the top but only one point separates Suburbs, Fencies, and Springs with four rounds left and only enough room for two of them to make National League.
Musical Jamness...