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Super Smash cricket, Steven Adams rebounds, Blackcaps seamers, Warriors halves, Auckland FC, Mea Motu, Flying Kiwis Transfer Tracker & more
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Key Points From The 2025 New Zealand Warriors Under 19 SG Ball Squad (Rugby League)
Bulldogs Strengthen Connection To Aotearoa With NRLWahine Signings & Development (Rugby League)
Exploring The Depths Of The 2025 New Zealand Warriors Top-50ish (Rugby League)
An Optimistic Perspective About The New Zealand Warriors Future Without Tohu Harris (Rugby League)
Ten Standout Prospects From The Next Wave Of The Wellington Phoenix Academy (Football)
Is This The Season That The Wellington Phoenix Finally Make The A-League Women’s Finals? (Football)
2024/25 Super Smash Scout: The Best Youngsters, Part 2 (Cricket)
2024/25 Super Smash Scout: Wellington Blaze Defend The Basin, Canterbury Kings Find A Winning Groove (Cricket)
Scotty’s Word
Quick note about Ben Sears ahead of the Auckland vs Wellington game day today (Monday 27th) where Sears' pace could lead to lots of runs at Eden Park's outer oval...
Sears returned from injury with 2w @ 9.7rpo against Central Districts in the Super Smash and then he was named in the Champions Trophy squad. Now Sears is Wellington's leading wicket-taker in the Super Smash with 10w @ 19.8avg/9rpo and he is one of three Firebirds bowlers who have churned out 20+ overs.
Logan van Beek had a hammy issue in the win over Canterbury and he's on 27.1ov, 9w @ 22avg/7.3rpo. If van Beek is out injured then Sears will step up as a leader of the seam attack for Firebirds and as I'm curious about Sears' role at the Champions Trophy, his mahi to finish the Super Smash will be informative.
Sears hasn't played an ODI yet but he is an excellent T20 bowler who was one of seven Blackcaps who took 10+ wickets in T20Is last year of the 19 lads who bowled. Here's his T20 mahi...
T20I: 22.31avg/8.1rpo
T20: 20.35avg/8rpo
Canterbury Kings share a ho-hum 3-5 Super Smash record with Wellington. Another young seamer off to the Champions Trophy is Will O'Rourke and his 4w @ 44avg/8.3rpo makes him the only Canterbury seamer averaging over 26.
In his last 10 games, O'Rourke has gone wicket-less in six of them. O'Rourke has an excellent T20 career though, then there is a funky gap between his ODI stuff after six games and his List-A mahi which is excellent...
ODI: 31.62avg/5.6rpo
T20I: 21.25avg/7rpo
LA: 22.33avg/4.8rpo
T20: 25.75avg/7.8rpo
Observations about Kyle Jamieson have been brewing within me. Jamieson took 5 wickets in his first eight Super Smash games before exploding with 4w @ 3rpo in the rained-off game vs CD on Sunday. While the wickets weren't flowing for Jamieson, he has been the biggest swinger in Super Smash and he goes both ways.
Jamieson burst onto the radar with the hooping in-swinger to righties and he is now balancing that with deliveries that move away. Very few bowlers are getting as much swing as Jamieson in Super Smash, let alone moving the ball both ways with control and his freaky bounce.
Don't forget about Jamieson when pondering Aotearoa's seam bowling depth. It was wise not to rush him into the Champions Trophy squad given his injury history and he's quietly stacked up the most overs of Canterbury's bowlers (33ov, 9w @ 22avg/6.9rpo). This should flow into Ford Trophy and with the Blackcaps away, Jamieson will be mandatory viewing for Canterbury as roll into February.
The sneaky excellence of Zak Foulkes shouldn’t be overlooked…
Most T20I wickets since October 1st 2024 (away tour to Sri Lanka)
Jacob Duffy: 8w @ 11.8avg/5.9rpo
Zak Foulkes: 8w @ 20.3avg/8.9rpo
Canterbury's leading wicket-taker in Super Smash
Zak Foulkes: 12w @ 17.4avg/8.4rpo
Foulkes has the second-highest T20I batting strike-rate for Blackcaps in this period (152.77sr) and joins Daryl Mitchell as the only lads over 150sr. Foulkes only has 44 runs @ 8.8avg/116sr in Super Smash but banged a few sixes in the loss to Wellington (13 runs @ 217sr).
Matt Boyle is probably my favourite Super Smash youngster. He's definitely Canterbury's best batter and he is their only batter with 200+ runs (261 runs @ 37avg/153sr). Boyle has scored 20+ runs in five of his eight innings and 30+ runs in four of them, which followed a knock of 57* @ 168sr for NZ 11 vs the touring Sri Lankan team.
Niggly Super Smash for Central Hinds. They are 1-7 and English import Hollie Armitage is their only batter who has scored 130+ runs with an average over 25. Their bowling unit has been solid with Hannah Rowe, Claudia Green, Ocean Bartlett and Rosemary Mari taking 7+ wickets with averages below 20.
They can't score enough runs though. Hinds have scored less than 100 runs in four of their eight games and here are their players who have batted in at least six innings for less than 50 runs...
Flora Devonshire: 48 runs @ 6avg/75sr
Claudia Green: 48 runs @ 8avg/104sr
Thamsyn Newton: 41 runs @ 5avg/59sr
Kate Gaging: 36 runs @ 7avg/97sr
Mikaela Greig: 28 runs @ 4avg/100sr
Georgia Atkinson: 24 runs @ 4avg/60sr
Ocean Bartlett: 16 runs @ 8avg/49sr
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Te Maire Martin and Shaun Johnson played the same number of games for NZ Warriors last season so this offers a lovely comparison...
Tries
Te Maire Martin: 5
Shaun Johnson: 5
Try Assists
Te Maire Martin: 22
Shaun Johnson: 16
Runs
Te Maire Martin: 99
Shaun Johnson: 55
Run Metres
Te Maire Martin: 817
Shaun Johnson: 461
Linebreaks
Te Maire Martin: 8
Shaun Johnson: 4
Tackle Breaks
Te Maire Martin: 36
Shaun Johnson: 24
Kicks
Te Maire Martin: 110
Shaun Johnson: 271
Kick Metres
Te Maire Martin: 2,525
Shaun Johnson: 7,453
Tackles
Te Maire Martin: 292
Shaun Johnson: 259
Missed Tackles
Te Maire Martin: 46
Shaun Johnson: 57
Errors
Te Maire Martin: 46
Shaun Johnson: 57
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
In his last month of basketball (13 games played), Steven Adams has an offensive rebounding percentage of 30.4%. He’s only playing 12 minutes per night but when he’s out there he’s doing tremendous things with those boards (and also hitting 6/9 free throws in his most recent game – as Cleveland went hack-a-Steve only for him to end up with a season-high 14 points in a Rockets victory). With 72 offensive rebounds for the season, Adams ranks 42nd equal... but he’s done that in only 338 minutes, way less than anyone above him and you have to drop all the way down to 97 (Charles Bassey with 47 ORB) to find someone on the list who has played less.
Kevon Looney leads the NBA this season in Offensive Rebounding Percentage – aka how many of the available off boards that player gets while on the court – and that’s at a mere 14.8%. Adams is at 18.1% for the season and seemingly rising. He’s also getting 8.2 screen assists per game which would easily be the NBA’s top mark had he played enough minutes to qualify... which he may well do by the end of the season as he gets ramped up.
Basically, he’s back to doing exactly the same dominant things we’re used to seeing from Steven Adams, only in a smaller role off the bench. A smaller role... but a crucial role. The Rockets are 14-5 in games where Adams gets at least ten minutes.
Steven Adams NBA Ranks For January 2025 (min. 100 mins)
Screen Assists – First (8.0 per 36 mins)
Screen Assist Points – First (18.3 per 36 mins)
Box Outs – Third Equal (2.3 per 36 mins)
Offensive Rebounds – First (10.0 per 36 mins)
Offensive Rebound Percentage – First (22.0% per 36 mins)
Box Score Plus/Minus – Sixth (+15.2 per 36 mins)
Defeat for Mea Motu on Sunday morning in her boxing world title unification bout against Ellie Scotney in Nottingham, England. It is what it is. Motu stepped up with an aggressive approach and an accidental head-clash saw Scotney bleeding from above her left eye in the first round. But they patched that up and it was never an issue again. Motu had her moments fighting on the front foot from the middle of the ring but Scotney was too tricky, ducking and weaving and tallying points with her jab.
If, like I, you were listening to the English commentary then you’ll be forgiven for thinking this was a one-sided beat down. It wasn’t that... but Scotney was the clear winner over the bout with Motu never able to properly hurt her, never able to stay consistent for full rounds. There was a point made on comms (think it may have been Tony Bellew, who was a bit more impartial than the others) that Motu would have been better suited by three-minute rounds rather than two as it would have allowed her to get Scotney into more fatigue-influenced areas.
Ah well. Motu loses her world title but she went down in an honourable defeat. This follows David Nyika getting taught a brutal lesson by Jay Opetaia in his world title shot a few weeks ago. We’re 0/2 in this spell and the pressure is all on Joseph Parker next month as he seeks to become a two-time heavyweight champion in his bout against Daniel Dubois. Realistically they were all underdogs when those fights were arranged. Nyika was a distant outsider. Motu and Parker are more competitive challengers. No pressure, Joe.
Match Clock Timings of Auckland FC Goals:
8, 12, 31, 31, 32, 34, 39, 40, 45+3, 53, 66, 70, 74, 83, 84, 89, 89, 90+5, 90+5, 90+6, 90+7, 90+9
Nine of their 22 goals have been scored after the 80th minute of matches. They’ve scored five times in the fifth minute of second half stoppage time or beyond. Six of those nine late goals were scored by substitutes. Of those late goals, we’ve seen...
Nando Pijnaker’s 90+7th minute winner vs Sydney FC
Jake Brimmer’s 89th minute goal for the lead vs Wellington Phoenix (and then his 90+6th minute clincher)
Neyder Moreno’s 83rd minute goal for the lead vs Newcastle Jets (De Vries then scored at 89’ to seal the deal)
Neyder Moreno’s 90+5th minute equaliser vs Melbourne City
Logan Rogerson’s 90+9th minute equaliser vs Adelaide
Neyder Moreno’s 90+5th minute winner vs Western Sydney
So it’s not just that they keep scoring late, it’s that they keep scoring important late goals. AFC have 30 points from 14 games which has them first on the standings (although Adelaide would go back ahead if they win their game in hand). Scratch all the goals that they scored after the 80th minute and they’d have 20 points which would have them outside the top six... albeit still two points ahead of the Wellington Phoenix. Also take note of that cluster between 30-45 mins, finishing first halves pretty strongly as well. In comparison, these are the timings of the 11 goals that they’ve conceded:
15, 17, 18, 23, 29, 34, 79, 81. 82, 87, 90+5
They have conceded a few late ones... although the 81 and 90+5 were both by Adelaide last week and AFC scored even later to still get a draw out of that match. The other two were goals that didn’t change the results (including the Kosta Barbarouses goal for the Nix in Derby 2).
AFC have a +5 goal difference in the last ten minutes plus stoppage time. They’re +4 in stoppage time alone. The more this keeps happening, the less it feels like a coincidence. This team is fit, they have a strong bench, they grind teams out for the full ninety and beyond, and they don’t quit.
By the way, all four of Neyder Moreno’s goals have come as a substitute. Auckland FC lost twice and had a goalless draw in the four games that he started. They are undefeated when he plays off the bench.
Flying Kiwis Transfer Tracker
It’s all been very silent around Matthew Garbett since he was iced out of the NAC Breda squad and told to look for a transfer. But apparently quiet doesn’t mean uneventful, it just means that nothing’s being leaked. According to one of the Dutch journos, “there is a lot of interest in the New Zealand international” and Central Europe was mentioned as a particularly interested area. Germany feels like the best bet there but that could as easily mean Switzerland or Czech Republic or maybe even a link with Elijah Just in Austria. Garbett also has heritage in England and France while his brother currently plays in Ireland so options aplenty. It’s just that Garbs is being very selective about where he goes, taking his time to find the best fit. Despite only having six months left on his contract, NAC Breda are expecting a transfer fee of several hundred euros.
Speaking of sneaky ones, I see that Betsy Hassett is listed as a player on Stjarnan’s official website. This is the club in Iceland that she’s spent most of the last few years at, outside of her stint with the Wellington Phoenix. This could simply be that they haven’t updated the site... except that she wasn’t with the squad last year because she was pregnant. Hassett gave birth in September so it’s a quick turnaround to be straight into pro footy again... but then the Icelandic season doesn’t start for a few months and there’s no reason why she has to be ready for game one. Seems like the obvious destination if she’s keen on continuing her career in motherhood.
Beyond that, we’ve had Chris Wood sign a new contract with Nottingham Forest. Liberato Cacace seems to have gotten a quiet one-year extension at Empoli so there’s been nothing doing there (guessing a club option that got picked up, since there was no announcement). With a few days left in the transfer window there are still some situations that require closure. The closure might simply be the closing of the window that keeps them where they are but that’s for the rest of the week to determine. Some names to watch for...
Tyler Bindon remains with Reading FC despite a host of higher-up English clubs being linked with him
George Stanger was rumoured with an English League One move that we’re still waiting on
Doesn’t look like Ben Waine’s going to be recalled by Plymouth Argyle despite continuing to get minimal minutes for Mansfield Town... but you never know
Anna Leat is probably taking a break right now but perhaps something happens there now that she’s a free agent post-Aston Villa release... likewise Ally Green is without a club right now having left AGF in Denmark
Abby Erceg still hasn’t popped up anywhere... perhaps she’d be an ideal Naomi Girma replacement at San Diego Wave?
Musical Jam...