Magnificent Shimmering Rewards

Aotearoa Olympic glory, Lydia Ko, Hamish Kerr, Blackcaps Test squad, NRLW, domestic footy updates & more

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Podcast

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Reading Menu

• NRLWahine Spotlight: Stacey Waaka & The Black Fern Broncos (Rugby League)

• Exploring New Zealand Warriors Halves Depth For 2025 And Beyond (Rugby League)

• The Wellington Phoenix Deployed The Youngsters And Got Knocked Out Of The Aussie Cup (Football)

• Flying Kiwis – August 6 (Football)

• Exploring Another New Low For The New Zealand Women's Cricket Team In ODI Series Sweep vs England (Cricket)

• Exploring Another New Low For The New Zealand Women's Cricket Team In T20 Series Sweep vs England (Cricket)

• Five Funky Movers In The 2024/25 Domestic Cricket Contracts (Cricket)

• Three Funky Pockets Of The 2024/25 Domestic Cricket Contracts (Cricket)

• Exploring The Blackcaps Test Mixer For The Great Asia Adventure Of 2024 (Cricket)

• 27fm Weekly Playlist: August 9 (Music)

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Scotty’s Word

Lydia Ko isn't just the only human with multiple Olympic medals in golf, she has three and they are all different colours. Ko was already in rare air with golf medals in the 2016 and 2020/21 Olympics but golf was also played at the 1900 Olympics for men and women, then the 1904 Olympics for men.

No bloke won multiple medals across the 1900 and 1904 tournaments. Women didn't have that opportunity as they only played in 1900 - the only thing more impressive than Ko winning three different medals would be a female winning a medal in 1900 and then 2016 when women's golf returned to the Olympics.

From 2016 onwards, 16 different golfers have won Olympic medals. Ko is the only one with more than one medal and her best result came as she battled through a ho-hum LPGA Tour this year. Below are Ko's scoring averages on the LPGA Tour around her three Olympic medals and I can't break it down to focus on her lead up to the Olympics, but they paint the picture nicely...

• 2015 Scoring Average: 69.44 - 2nd

• 2016 Scoring Average: 69.6 - 2nd (silver medal)

• 2020 Scoring Average: 70.26 - 6th

• 2021 Scoring Average: 69.3 - 3rd (bronze medal)

• 2023 Scoring Average: 71.25 - 61st

• 2024 Scoring Average: 71.04 - 22nd (gold medal)

Ko is now one of Aotearoa's best Olympians, not just one of our best golfers. That was already the case with multiple medals prior to the Paris Olympics but gold medals hit different and Ko once again showed the world what a beautiful kiwi she is.

Ko's gold medal came alongside gold medals for Lisa Carrington and Hamish Kerr, hours before Stacey Waaka and Tyla King lined up in the NRLW. Black Ferns Sevens won their gold medal on July 31st with Waaka and King scoring tries. Less than two weeks later they are playing rugby league for Broncos and Dragons, in their first wins over the season.

Waaka got the NRLWahine treatment this morning as she started on the wing in a 44-4 win for Broncos vs Titans. Mele Hufanga scored four tries and she is amazing. Gayle Broughton played her first game of the season as part of three former Black Ferns Sevens wahine in the Broncos team with Waaka and Lavinia Gould. Tafito Lafaele is a former Black Fern and she also played her first game of the season, while Jasmine Fogavini is a Kiwi Fern.

NRLWahine Broncos vs Titans

• Mele Hufanga: 4 tries, 16 runs - 214m @ 13.3m/run, 5 linebreaks, 10 tackle breaks, 2 offloads, 13 tackles @ 86.6%

• Stacey Waaka: 11 runs - 146m @ 13.2m/run, 7 tackle breaks, 4 tackles @ 100%

• Gayle Broughton: 12 runs - 113m @ 9.4m/run, 3 tackle breaks, 5 tackles @ 100%

• Jasmine Fogavini: 31mins, 6 runs - 58m @ 9.6m/run, 14 tackles @ 77.7%

• Tafito Lafaele: 24mins, 6 runs - 82m @ 13.6m/run, 15 tackles @ 88.2%

• Lavinia Gould: 39mins, 7 runs - 51m @ 7.2m/run, 17 tackles @ 89.4%

Tyla King was a late promotion to the bench for Dragons, entering the game in the 21st minute to play in the halves. Knights were winning 10-0 before King got on the field and Dragons then scored four tries to win 18-10 as King played out the rest of the game while throwing rockets…

King wasn't the only NRLWahine from Aotearoa playing for Dragons though...

• Maatuleio Fotu-Moala: 13 runs -137m @ 10.5m/run, 3 tackle breaks, 1 offload, 5 tackles @ 100%

• Raecene McGregor: 12 runs - 81m @ 6.7m/run, 1 try assist, 17 tackles @ 85%

• Angelina Teakaraanga-Katoa: 57mins, 1 try, 19 runs - 193m @ 10.1m/run, 2 tackle breaks, 39 tackles @ 88.6%

• Alexis Tauaneai: 70mins, 18 runs - 157m @ 8.7m/run, 5 offloads, 33 tackles @ 89%

• Tyla King: 49mins, 2 runs - 13m @ 6.5m/run, 6 tackles @ 100%

Sharks are top of the NRLW ladder though and Annessa Biddle delivered another crazy statline in the win over Raiders...

• 1 try, 15 runs - 197m @ 13.1m/run, 2 linebreaks, 9 tackle breaks, 12 tackles @ 92.3%

Amber Hall has snuck into the last two games for Roosters wearing number 21, with two wins. Hall is an offloading machine and one of the best edge forwards in NRLW, rolling out three seasons with 100% winning in her six seasons of NRLW. Here are Hall's stats in her two games...

• vs Broncos: 27mins, 7 runs - 64m @ 9.1m/run, 3 offloads, 7 tackles @ 100%

• vs Tigers: 39mins, 9 runs - 102m @ 11.3m/run, 5 tackle breaks, 2 offloads, 10 tackles @ 83%

NRLWahine Stat Leaders

Tries

• Mele Hufanga, Madison Bartlett: 1st

Linebreaks

• Mele Hufanga: 1st

• Madison Bartlett: 7th

• Mackenzie Wiki: 9th

Tackle Breaks

• Mele Hufanga: 1st

Post Contact Metres

• Annessa Biddle: 1st

• Alexis Tauaneai: 3rd

• Angelina Teakaraanga-Katoa: 9th

Offloads

• Alexis Tauaneai: 3rd

• Amber Hall: 5th

• Najvada George: 7th

Tackles

• Georgia Hale: 1st

• Angelina Teakaraanga-Katoa: 2nd

• Brooke Anderson: 4th

• Alexis Tauaneai: 8th

Aotearao Kiwis wider squad check in...

Fullback

Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Keano Kini

Wingers

Jamayne Isaako, Ronaldo Mulitalo, Will Warbrick

Centres

Joseph Manu, Matthew Timoko, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Deine Mariner, Jack Howarth

Halves

Jahrome Hughes, Dylan Brown, Kieran Foran

Middles

James Fisher-Harris, Joseph Tapine, Moses Leota, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Griffin Neame, Leo Thompson, Naufahu Whyte, Xavier Wllison, Erin Clark, Wiremu Greig, Trey Mooney

Edges

Briton Nikora, Isaiah Papali'i, Scott Sorenson, Marata Niukore

Hookers

Brandon Smith, Jeremy Marshall-King

The funkiest pocket is centre. Joseph Manu may move to Japanese rugby before NZ Kiwis footy and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck may opt to play for Samoa. Deine Mariner is also eligible for Samoa and Jack Howarth has suddenly appeared as a centre for Storm after playing for NZ-A last year. Howarth has an illustrious history with Queensland like Benjamin Te Kura before both dabbled in NZ-A stuff, similar to Trey Mooney who played NSW rep footy before his NZ-A appearance.

Howarth has started six consecutive games at centre for Storm and he's owning their left centre slot right now. NZ Kiwis depth has grown to the point where they don't need to be thirsty in chasing players with eligibility choices, but there is a hole at centre and Howarth would be a fabulous option if the stars align.

Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad was the only NZ Warriors player in the Kiwis team who defeated Australia last year and it's possible to roll out another excellent Kiwis team with no NZ Warriors. Nicoll-Klokstad deserves a nod if he's available and Marata Niukore is another option in the edge forward role.

NZ Warriors had two wins over Rabbitohs in NSW Cup and Jersey Flegg, taking the NSW Cup Warriors up to fourth and the U21s to 12th. A few nuggets...

Eddie Ieremia played centre. This means that Ieremia has played centre, edge forward and prop in his last four games. Ieremia is still the best NZW youngster you don't know about.

The two Lukes in the halves - Hanson played his role nicely alongside Metcalf...

• Luke Metcalf: 57 receipts, 40 passes, 77m, 15 kicks - 389m

• Luke Hanson: 32 receipts, 21 passes, 112m, 4 kicks - 98m

Regular ol' statline for 18-year-old Leka Halasima...

• 12 runs - 159m @ 13.2m/run, 11 tackle breaks, 19 tackles @ 95%

Makaia Tafua continues to get game time with Paul Roache in the team. Tafua had 20mins at hooker off the bench and Roache stayed as a middle forward for most of that period.

Canterbury Rugby League do a great job of covering their juniors in NRL systems and last week they highlighted that Etelani Pouli got a gig with Western Clydesdales in Queensland. Pouli started at halfback this weekend and when I went searching last week I found this team list for the Linwood men's team which had Tafua starting at lock in 2022.

Tafua is still U21s eligible now and he's playing NSW Cup. He would have been 18/19yrs playing against men in Christchurch and then he played vs men last year with Otahuhu in Auckland's Fox Memorial. These wrinkles reinforce my eye test with Tafua and I've got him right behind Ieremia as the best undercover NZW prospects.

Women's domestic cricket contracts are flowing through this morning with not much movement in the lists announced before I stop typing. Northern Districts laid funky wrinkles in their men's announcement and they did the same with the women's announcement...

"In other player news, all-rounder Skye Bowden, who has previously played for the Auckland Hearts, will be joining the Northern Districts team but will not be domestically contracted."

Bowden is one of the best youngsters in Aotearoa and will probably play plenty of cricket for ND this summer - reminder not to buzz about contracts too much aside from gaining info about player movement. Bowden has a List-A bowling average of 35.4 but her T20 bowling average of 17.3 is elite. For context Molly Penfold averages 27.1 in T20 bowling and Rosemary Mair averages 22.7.

The Blackcaps squad for Tests vs Afghanistan and Sri Lanka just dropped. Here's how it breaks down

• Seamers: Tim Southee, Matt Henry, Will O'Rourke, Ben Sears

• Spin options: Ajaz Patel, Mitchell Santner, Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Rachin Ravindra

• Top six batters: Tom Latham, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell

• Tom Blundell wicket-keeper, Will Young batting cover

Musical jam…

(Fresh off the new ‘Greatsouth Ep’ so tap in for glorious Aotearoa jams)

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Wildcard’s Notebook

Pats on the back and pakipaki all around the great nation of Aotearoa as we conclude our most successful ever Olympic Games. A haul of 10 gold medals breaks the New Zealand record that had stood since Los Angeles 1984 (8 golds), while the overall tally of 20 medals matches what was brought back from Tokyo in 2021. Needless to say, we shredded on the Medals Per Capita charts. It’s a four-year cliche in these parts that we always fall back on those weighted rankings but a medal per 266,945 head of population is quite astounding. Better than any other country in the world with more than two medals. Cliche or not, for an island nation to be bringing back enough hardware to challenge nations with vastly superior resources... well, this is why we at The Niche Cache are always telling you that Aotearoa is the best sporting nation on the planet.

Populations of the Top 20 Nations on the 2024 Olympic Medal Standings

1. USA – 333,983,238 population

2. China – 1,409,670,000

3. Japan – 123,960,000

4. Australia – 27,364,621

5. France – 68,468,000

6. Netherlands - 17,977,676

7. Great Britain - 67,596,281

8. South Korea - 51,285,153

9. Italy – 58,971,479

10. Germany - 84,673,158

11. New Zealand - 5,338,900

12. Canada - 41,012,563

13. Uzbekistan - 36,963,262

14. Hungary - 9,584,627

15. Spain - 48,692,804

16. Sweden - 10,548,261

17. Kenya - 52,428,290

18. Norway - 5,562,363

19. Ireland - 5,281,600

20. Brazil – 203,080,756

You don’t hit a smaller nation until you get to Ireland in 19^th – with their seven overall medals, four being golds – and even then it’s only by a matter of about a hundred thousand people. Ireland is rightfully celebrating a brilliant Games from themselves yet we almost tripled what they did as a similarly sized country.

And it’s not just the totals but the breadth of sports that we achieved in too. Look at a nation like Uzbekistan with 13 medals. Those 13 medals came in: Boxing (5), Judo (3), Taekwondo (2), Wrestling (2), and Weightlifting (1). Again, magnificent shimmering rewards for them. Definitely don’t want to ever pick a scrap with an Uzbek... all five of those boxing medals were golds, by the way.

But compare all those fighting medals to the variety of what New Zealand took back: Athletics (2), Canoe Slalom (1), Canoe Sprint (3), Cycling Track (5), Golf (1), Rowing (4), Rugby Sevens (1), Sailing (2), and Triathlon (1). There is a theme there of making boats go fast but there’s also bikes and high jump bars and shot puts and putters and rugby balls and the all-in-one triathlon demands. We also had a fourth-place finish in the swimming (Erika Fairweather who made the finals of all four events that she entered), a semi-finalist in the women’s 100 metre sprint, a sixth-placed pole vaulter, two mountain bikers in the top ten, a sixth-placed equestrian rider, a male and female trampolinist each making the final, and an eight-placed weightlifter.

Interestingly, 8/10 kiwi golds were won by female athletes/teams (and only three of those included Lisa Carrington so it wasn’t all her mahi alone). There were 14 medals overall for the ladies, five for the gentlemen, and one mixed event.

Athletics is always amongst the most special Olympian stuff and thanks to Hamish Kerr and Maddi Wesche, NZ has now taken multiple Athletics medals from three Olympics in a row and has at least one medal in every event going back to 2008. We used to load up on running medals back in the day but after John Walker and Dick Quax in Montreal 1976 there was only one further NZ Athletics medal (Lorraine Muller with a Marathon bronze in 1992) until Valerie Adams won gold in Beijing.

NZ Olympic Gold Medals in Athletics

1. Jack Lovelock – Men’s 1500m – 1936

2. Yvette Williams – Women’s Long Jump – 1952

3. Norman Read – Men’s 50km Walk – 1956

4. Peter Snell – Men’s 800m – 1960

5. Murray Halberg – Men’s 5000m – 1960

6. Peter Snell – Men’s 800m – 1964

7. Peter Snell – Men’s 1500m – 1964

8. John Walker – Men’s 1500m – 1976

9. Valerie Adams – Women’s Shot Put – 2008

10. Valerie Adams – Women’s Shot Put – 2012

11. Hamish Kerr – Men’s High Jump – 2024

That’s more than a hundred years of history and Hamish Kerr was only the eighth NZer to win an Olympic Athletics gold and the first kiwi male to ever win one in a field event. Very cool that we got to see a New Zealander ringing the big bell at the Stade de France (which afterwards is going to be incorporated into the Notre Dame renovations/rebuild). Actually, quite a few New Zealanders... because the Rugby Sevens women should have gotten that opportunity too – though I never actually saw it if they did... the bell-ringing didn’t really become a known thing until the athletics champs got amongst it.

By the way, despite a whole lot of Americans (who were getting frisky about maybe finishing below China on the overall standings) claiming this to be the case, it doesn’t seem like Kerr offered to share the gold and Shelby McEwen said: nah bro, we’re doing a jump off. It looked more like they both wanted the extra jumps, which is pretty much what Kerr has implied in interviews. The way McEwan told it, Kerr suggested they keep going and he was happy to do so. McEwan broke his personal best for that 2.36m tie and Kerr equalled his so they were both at the edge of their limits (not to mention the fatigue factor), hence neither of them was going home disappointed.

Those PBs are 12 centimetres taller than Victor Wembanyama... imagine jumping over Wemby’s head with no inhuman assistance, no tools, no trampolines underfoot. Nothing but some good shoes, a long run-up, and something soft to land on. It baffles the mind how that’s even possible.

Domestic Football Roundup

Wellington Olympic are your Men’s Central League champions... again. That’s four years in a row for the Greeks who become the first team to clinch their regional title this year following a 1-0 victory against Miramar Rangers courtesy of an 89^th minute winner from Hamish Watson. Narrowly beat the offside trap. Olympic were too good once again... in fact they’ve gotten better as the season’s gone on thanks to the additions of blokes like Gianni Bouzoukis and Dan McKay. They’re also still in the Chatham Cup and will be hoping to defend their National League title beginning in a couple months.

Elsewhere, Western Suburbs won 2-0 against North Wellington so while they cannot catch Olympic in first, they will officially be joining them in the MNL. As for the third qualifying spot, that’s not yet been decided. Napier City Rovers have the jump on Miramar Rangers but they couldn’t take advantage of MR’s defeat due to a 1-0 defeat against Petone. Stjepan Stipuric with the 83^rd min winner there. Without having seen the game, it feels like one where absent goal-maestro Oscar Faulds might have flipped the outcome had he been there. NCR are three points ahead of Miramar Rangers with both teams having two matches to go. Rovers are home to North Wellington and away to Western Suburbs. Rangers are away to Waterside Karori and home to Stop Out. Rangers have the better goal difference.

Also, Waterside Karori won 1-0 against Island Bay, while the Wellington Phoenix Reserves finished their season slightly early thanks to all the midweek games. They topped things off with a 2-1 win against Stop Out. Daniel Makowem scoring a stoppage time winner. Five of the dudes who were involved in the Aussie Cup squad last were back with the WeeNix here: Loke, Gardiner, Gillion, Candy, and Walker.

Massive outcome in the Men’s Southern League: Christchurch United have climbed back into second place after Brendan Koplin’s 80^th minute goal gave them a 1-0 win away to Coastal Spirit. Only by goals scored though (they’re equal on points and goal difference). That was a great result for Cashmere Technical who have moved four clear in first after winning 6-1 against Universities... although they still have to play both Coastal and Chch Utd again so any combination remains possible there. Matt Tod-Smith and Yuya Taguchi each scored twice in the latest win. There were also plenty of goals as Ferrymead Bays won 4-2 away to Selwyn United. Nomads rallied from two goals down at the break to draw 2-2 with Nelson Suburbs. And FC Twenty11 have now lost 15 games in a row after going down 2-1 in a close one vs Dunedin City Royals... those being the first points DCR have gained on their travels.

In Friday’s newsletter, I mentioned all the National League qualifying situations as well as a couple of midweek games – including Auckland City’s crucial victory against Birkenhead. Auckland City didn’t slow down from there. They’re now just one win (from two remaining games) away from another Men’s Northern League trophy for the Kiwitea Street clubrooms after beating Hamilton Wanderers 3-1. Brock Messenger had equalised in the 83^rd minute after Brock Messenger had earlier scored a 14^th min own goal. But ACFC responded swiftly with goals from Angus Kilkolly (86’) and Ryan De Vries (90’). Wanderers aren’t quite relegated yet but they are back down in last after a Sean Leadley hat-trick inspired a 4-2 win for Melville United against Manurewa. Funny thing is, Leadley played for Rewa in last year’s National League. Melville also had young Carlos Ranui backing up after playing a trial game for Auckland FC midweek.

West Coast Rangers jumped ahead of Manurewa on the ladder thanks to a 1-0 win over Bay Olympic. Sam Burfoot with the 89^th minute goal... as it stands, Rewa would fall into the playoff against the second-placed second tier club. Higher up on the table, Birkenhead United did themselves and others a favour with a 4-2 win away to Auckland United. James Taylor scored twice. Eastern Suburbs were one of those others. They won 5-1 away to Tauranga City... with Jake Mechell getting them started to extend his golden boot lead (he had 18 goals overall). Recent AFC trialist Dejuan Naidoo scored the last goal. Those results mean that Birko and Suburbs are one point away from MNL qualification. Western Springs should soon join them but they left the door slightly ajar by only drawing 2-2 with East Coast Bays. Both teams got red cards in that match. Billy Jones for ECB just before the half, Regan Diver for WS straight afterwards. And that’s that.

To the Women’s NRFL Premier Division... full credit to Fencibles who became only the second team to get a stutter out of Auckland United as the clubs drew 1-1. Taylah Byers with the 70^th minute pen there for Fencies. West Coast Rangers made the most of that slip by moving within four points of the leaders with a 5-0 win away to Hamilton Wanderers. Anelise Karakostas got two of their goals. Western Springs leapt all the way up to third by beating Ellerslie 2-0. Great week for them but an awful week for Eastern Suburbs, as they were beaten 3-0 at home by Hibiscus Coast. All three goals scored in the second half. Suburbs were third... now they’re fifth and outside the WNL spots. Hibiscus Coast thus keep their tiny flickering flame of National League hope alive for at least one more week.

Women’s Central League next. Waterside Karori won 4-1 against Seatoun with Nikki Furukawa getting a double. Wellington United won 2-0 against Moturoa. They’re both now guaranteed WNL footy again in 2024. Sweet as. That’s because Petone also lost 3-1 away to Taradale (Maddison Hughes with a brace). Plus there was a big win for Palmerston North Marist, who beat Victoria Uni 5-0 after Ruby-Aroha Gurnick’s double.

And in the Women’s South Island League, Dunedin City Royals have moved six points clear after Rose Morton’s two goals helped them to a 3-0 win against Roslyn-Wakari, combined with the fact that the Nelson Suburbs vs Cashmere Technical game was postponed due to flight cancellations, as well as Coastal Spirit being held to a 2-2 draw by Otago University.

Musical Jam...