Metaphorical Tyres
National League footy, NRL Train & Trials, Blackcaps vs England, Joseph Parker's next fight, Tacko Fall & more
Podcast
Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Youtube
Reading Menu
The Most Impressive Young New Zealand Domestic Cricketers Early In The 2024/25 Summer (Cricket)
2024/25 HBJ Shield: Otago On Top, Ocean Bartlett Baggy (Cricket)
2024/25 Plunket Shield: Rhys Mariu Double Banger, Northern Districts On Top (Cricket)
2024 Men’s National League – Week 9 (Football)
2024 Women’s National League – Week 9 (Football)
Flying Kiwis – November 27 (Football)
The Kiwi-NRL Juniors Who Helped Australian Teams Win In 2024 (Rugby League)
New Zealand Warriors Sign Tanah Boyd & Pacific Championship Wrinkles (Rugby League)
2024 Pacific Championship Debrief For New Zealand Kiwis & Kiwi Ferns (Rugby League)
Scotty’s Word
No scores over 400 runs in the last three Tests at Hagley Oval...
NZ vs South Africa: 364, 293, 354/9, 227
NZ vs Sri Lanka: 355, 373, 302, 285/8
NZ vs Australia: 162, 256, 372, 281/7
Spinners in last three Tests at Hagley Oval...
Keshav Maharaj: 1w @ 2.8rpo, 3w @ 2.3rpo
Michael Bracewell: 1w @ 5.6rpo, 0w @ 3.3rpo
Dhananjaya de Silva: 0w @ 3.7rpo,
Prabath Jayasuriya: 1w @ 4.6rpo, 2w @ 4.8rpo
Nathan Lyon: 0w @ 3rpo, 3w @ 3rpo
Glenn Phillips: 1w @ 2.8rpo, 0w @ 2.2rpo
Scores in last three Test series (Australia, Sri Lanka, India)...
Tom Latham: 5, 8, 38, 73, 70, 28, 2, 0, 15, 0, 15, 86
Devon Conway: 17, 4, 9, 61, 91, 17, 76, 17, 4, 22
Kane Williamson: 0, 9, 17, 51, 55, 30, 7, 46
Rachin Ravindra: 0, 59, 4, 82, 39, 92, 10, 12, 134, 39*, 65, 9, 5, 4
Daryl Mitchell: 11, 38, 4, 58, 57, 8, 13, 1, 18, 18, 18, 82, 21
Tom Blundell: 33, 0, 22, 9, 25, 30, 1, 60, 5, 3, 41, 0, 4
Glenn Phillips: 71, 1, 2, 16, 49*, 4, 0, 78, 14, 9, 48*, 17, 26
Hobart Hurricanes lost their WBBL finals game vs Sydney Thunder, so there are no more kiwis left in WBBL. Suzie Bates scored 17 runs @ 100sr and Rosemary Mair bowled 1ov @ 11rpo in the Hurricanes loss, here are their WBBL stats...
Suzie Bates: 49 runs @ 12.2avg/98sr
Rosemary Mair: 4ov @ 7.2rpo
HBJ Shield games double bangers this weekend...
Central Districts vs Auckland in Palmerston North
Canterbury vs Northern Districts in Rangiora
Otago vs Wellington in Dunedin
Mair is back for CD. Brooke Halliday is back for Auckland. Jess McFadyen is in Wellington's squad after missing the opening round. Carol Agafili is in the ND squad after missing the opening round.
I'm due for the Kiwi-NRL Train and Trial Breakdown yarn, as well as trying to map out the wider NZ Warriors squad and all the basics listed below. The train/trial information is interesting for checking in with where lads have ended up but there are still lots of murky waters in trying to figure out movement below the NRL level.
Caius Fa'atili (Hornby) and Ryder Williams (Marist) are two examples as Fa'atili was in the wider Storm mix last summer and Williams was announced by Titans as a development contract going into last summer. I don't know where these lads are at heading into 2025. Between the development/supplementary and train/trial contracts, there is some clarification on offer but also still lots of uncertainty.
Players will be training with NZW this summer on all sorts of contract arrangements from NRL top-30 to part time deals. Some of the NZW train/trial lads are highly likely to play NRL, others will stay in Under 21s Jersey Flegg and won't play NSW Cup. Under the two Andys, NZW have slowly built out the system to have 40-ish players in the wider NRL mix and that blows out to 50-60 when getting to the lower tier of NSW Cup/ and U21s.
I've got 11 lads listed below and nine have been promoted from within the NZW system which reinforces the development club idea. Two have returned to Aotearoa: former NZW junior Daeon Amituanai and Kahu Capper from Roosters.
NZ Warriors
Moala Graham-Taufa (Marist): outside back, NRL mix
Daeon Amituanai (Whiti Te Ra): outside back, NSW Cup
Kahu Capper (Western Suburbs - Taranaki): outside back, start in U19s pushing for NSW Cup
Jacob Auloa (Pt Chevalier): hooker, NSW Cup
Makaia Tafua (Linwood): hooker, NSW Cup
Rodney Tuipulotu-Vea (Manurewa): middle forward, U21s pushing for NSW Cup
Augustino Filipo (Mangere East): edge/centre, U21s pushing for NSW Cup
Etuate Fukofuka (St Peter's College): small forward, NSW Cup
Jason Salalilo (Papanui): middle forward, U21s
Eddie Ieremia (Otara): every position, NSW Cup
Motu Pasikala (Liston College): outside back, NSW Cup
Here are the rest of the Kiwi-NRL lads who are listed as train/trial contracts (some of whom also feature in development/supplementary contracts)…
Cowboys: Mason Barber (Kaikohe), Henry Teutau (Marist), Jeremiah Mata'utia (Otara), Esom Ioka (Glenora), Temple Kalepo (Ellerslie)
Dolphins: Peter Hola (Marist)
Titans: Sean Mullany (Glenora)
Knights: Elijah Salesa-Leaumoana (Mangere East), Haami Loza (Mangere East), Bailey Carmichael (Te Puke)
Sea Eagles: Devante Mihinui (Glenora)
Roosters: Benaiah Ioelu (Howick/Mt Albert)
Rabbitohs: Salesi Ataata (Otahuhu)
Panthers: Austin Dias (Taniwharau)
Eels: Te Hurinui Twidle (Turangawaewae)
Bulldogs: Cassius Tia (Marist), Alekolasimi Jones (Mt Albert)
Tigers: Reuben Porter (Te Atatu), Eiden Ackland (Mt Albert)
Raiders: Jenson Taumoepeau (Western Suburbs - Taranaki)
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
Big news for Joseph Parker this week, with reports that he’s due to fight Daniel Dubois for the IBF World Heavyweight Title early next year. The bout hasn’t been confirmed yet but it’s expected to take place on 22 February 2025 in Saudi Arabia (of course it’s Saudi Arabia). Parker got shunned when they didn’t put him on the Fury vs Usyk undercard a couple months back, meaning he hasn’t actually fought since beating Zhilei Zhang back in March, and that’s not ideal for a bloke who always talks about wanting regular bouts to keep up his rhythm. He’s had to be patient here... but it looks like it’s going to pay off.
Daniel Dubois is 27 years old from the United Kingdom. 22-2 record as a pro with 21 of those wins by knockout. He was one of a crowded field of emerging heavyweights leading up to a knockout loss against Oleksandr Usyk back in 2023. That was his second loss following one against Joe Joyce in 2020 – a loss that he has in common with Parker. However, since the Usyk defeat he’s knocked out Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic, and most dramatically Anthony Joshua in the space of the past 12 months. He’s been going brilliantly... but then so has Joe Parker with those Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang victories.
The good news here is that he won’t have to worry about the Zhang rematch after all, which was never likely with the Saudis now running the heavyweight show. It just wasn’t a dynamic enough fight to warrant a Part Two. Zhang followed up the Parker loss by knocking out Wilder in June and is now out there talking about how everybody’s too scared to fight him now. He wanted to take on either Joshua or Dubois after their bout but the expectation was that Joshua would take up his rematch clause to avenge the defeat, as he did after his previous shock loss to Andy Ruiz a few years ago. That didn’t happen... and it seems Parker will benefit. Zhang is expected to fight Agit Kabayel on the (stacked) undercard of Dubois vs Parker.
Parker won the WBO World Heavyweight title with his win against Andy Ruiz back in 2016. He then defended it twice before losing in a unification bout against Anthony Joshua. Almost seven years later he’s going to get a crack at another major belt (although he may have to surrender his WBC Interim title if he wins this, though that’s fine – the interim is a pathway to a title bout and this is a title bout so take what’s on offer, right?). Exciting times.
The Niche Cache is funded by generous kiwis who love sport. Please consider joining the Patreon whanau or upgrading to a paid Substack salute where you can access our weekly bonus podcast.
Here’s an actual exchange from Tacko Fall’s half-time interview during his Breakers debut:
Sideline Reporter: “Tacko Fall, your first minutes in the NBL, how did you find it?”
Tacko Fall: “Pretty fun... except for the fact that we’re losing by twenty.”
I just really don’t understand this move. Watching Fall on debut, you could see how this team now has to drastically change how they play because Fall, despite his very obvious assets on a basketball court, has some very obvious weaknesses. He’s been torched defending the pick-and-roll throughout his career so he tends to drop way back... risking open threes off the back of unchecked screens. We already saw that a few times against Illawarra Hawks last night and this is before teams have had time to get used to him.
We also saw him whip out five blocks, looking like an impenetrable force when guarding the rim. Five blocks and five rebounds for the big man. That was nice. But he’s such a limited offensive player. He doesn’t even have a jump shot, he only dunks. Parker Jackson-Cartwright is going to see his driving lanes completely clogged up whenever those two share the court. The only way to use Tacko is to feed him and that’s very much not how they were operating with Freddie Gillespie (or Sam Mennenga). It’s going to slow them down and it’s going to make them predictable. This team was defying the odds at 7-3 when they made that roster change and now they’re metaphorically trying to change a tyre while the car is still moving when the tyre wasn’t even flat.
Which isn’t to say that Tacko Fall was terrible. He played 14 minutes during which the Breakers were outscored by 10 points. That might not be good but they lost 109-71 so it was actually one of the better plus-minuses. Poor old Sean Bairstow was a -40 in his 19 minutes which is almost unfathomable. No Karim Lopez in this game but Mojave King did return from injury (and shot 2/10 from the field). The only good news from that game was that we got nearly 17 minutes of Carlin Davison action (6 points on 2/3 shooting with 1 rebound, 2 assists, and 3 steals).
Breakers point differentials per game:
+16, +2, -11, +4, -26, +4, +27, +34, -19, +8, -38
Only four of their games have been within single-figures (all were wins). They’ve had three wins by more than 16 points and they’ve had three losses by at least 19 points. These guys are just alternating between extremes out there.
Kane Williamson in 2025 belongs on Mount Olympus…
National League Grand Finals are on Sundar arvo at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland. We’ve talked about them on both the Niche Cast and the Bonus Pod this week so plenty of good stuff there. And I’ll be continuing to talk about it because I’m on co-commentary for the men’s game (in case you’re wondering whose voice that is). So here are a few ideas I’ve scribbled down in my notes...
There are 10 capped All Whites players who’ve gotten minutes in the MNL this year (there were eight in the Football Ferns in the WNL), and five of them will be playing in the final. Birkenhead Utd have Monty Patterson and Cam Lindsay (though Lindsay’s usually on the bench) and Auckland City have Adam Mitchell, Myer Bevan, and Ryan De Vries (RDV is also usually on the bench but he’s very likely to play some part).
Birkenhead Utd have been awarded more penalties than any other team in the Nats this year. They’ve gotten six of them in nine games. Luke Jorgensen and Ardri MacArthur both missed spotties in the early rounds but since then Daniel Bunch (x3) and Monty Patterson have been flawless. Four goals from six pens.
For Auckland City, they’ve had four penalties and have scored three of them. Angus Kilkolly scored one against Birkenhead in week one, while Myer Bevan has taken the other three (scoring two, missing one). Auckland City have conceded three pens but two were saved. Birko have conceded one pen and it was that Kilkolly one.
Auckland City have scored six goals in first halves and 14 goals in second halves. Birkenhead Utd have scored four goals in first halves and 19 goals in second halves. So don’t be discouraged if this one is still scoreless at the break because these two will only just be getting started. Incredibly, 9/23 Birko goals have been scored in the last 15 minutes plus stoppage time.
Both teams have also conceded crucial late goals though. Birko’s only draw in the last seven weeks came against Eastern Suburbs. Luke Jorgensen scored in the 90th min to give them the lead... only for Dylan Laing-McConnell to almost immediately equalise for ESAFC. Auckland City, meanwhile, had consecutive defeats in week six and seven, losing to a 90+3rd minute Pat Tobin goal for Western Springs and a 90+1st minute Luke Flowerdew goal for Wellington Phoenix Reserves. Both of those were home games.
Make sure to yell bingo at the screen if you hear me get through all those stats.
Capped All Whites Internationals Who Played In The 2024 National League:
Cameron Lindsay (Birkenhead), Ryan De Vries (Auckland City), Monty Patterson (Birkenhead), Myer Bevan (Auckland City), Nikko Boxall (Eastern Suburbs), Justin Gulley (Wellington Olympic), Adam Mitchell (Auckland City), Kelvin Kalua (Eastern Suburbs), Oskar van Hattum (Wellington Phoenix), Fin Roa Conchie (Wellington Phoenix)
Capped Football Ferns Internationals Who Played In The 2024 National League:
Emma Kete (West Coast Rangers), Liz Savage (Western Springs), Kate Loye (Canterbury United), Aimee Phillips (Western Springs), Anna Green (Wellington United), Paige Satchell (Auckland United), Sarah Morton (Waterside Karori), Nicole Stratford (West Coast Rangers),
Women’s National League Team Roundups
Did this for the blokes on Monday, now it’s the WNL’s turn. Rolling through the teams with quick little standout awards spots. The teams are listed in order of their placings on the standings.
Auckland United
MVP – Yume Harashima
Breakthrough Player – Charlotte Roche
Premier Youngster – Danielle Canham
Top Goalscorer – Charlotte Roche (8)
Most Assists – Several players all on 2
Waterside Karori
MVP – Emma Starr
Breakthrough Player – Annie Foote
Premier Youngster – Daphne Ranta
Top Goalscorer – Kendall Pollock (7)
Most Assists – Emma Starr (4)
Eastern Suburbs
MVP – Britney Cunningham-Lee
Breakthrough Player – Nikki Whyte
Premier Youngster – Zoe Benson
Top Goalscorer – Britney Cunningham-Lee (7)
Most Assists – Zoe Benson (5)
Western Springs
MVP – Arisa Takeda
Breakthrough Player – Ava Lewis
Premier Youngster – Charli Dunn
Top Goalscorer – Rina Hirano & Liz Savage (4)
Most Assists – Arisa Takeda (5)
West Coast Rangers
MVP – Shannon Henson
Breakthrough Player – Emily Lyon
Premier Youngster – Mackenzie Longmuir
Top Goalscorer – Shannon Henson & Emily Lyon (5)
Most Assists – Shannon Henson (5)
Wellington United
MVP – Zoe Barrott
Breakthrough Player – Natalie Olson
Premier Youngster – Lilian Davies
Top Goalscorer – Sarah Alder & Natalie Olson (3)
Most Assists – Jemma Catherwood & Natalie Olson (4)
Canterbury United Pride
MVP – Kate Loye
Breakthrough Player – Anna McPhie
Premier Youngster – Megan Simpson
Top Goalscorer – Nicola Dominikovich (5)
Most Assists – Margi Dias & Britney-Lee Nicholson (2)
Southern United
MVP – Shontelle Smith
Breakthrough Player – Alisa Tuatagaloa
Premier Youngster – Lauren Paterson
Top Goalscorer – Shontelle Smith (5)
Most Assists – Rose Morton, Danic Urlich-Beech & Toni Power (2)
Wellington Phoenix Reserves
MVP – Rebehah Trewhitt
Breakthrough Player – Mackenzie Greene
Premier Youngster – All of them
Top Goalscorer – Isla Cleall-Harding & Ella McMillan (2)
Most Assists – Several players on 1
Central Football
MVP – Sarah Rasmussen
Breakthrough Player – Zara Erol-Watt
Premier Youngster – Sophie Campbell
Top Goalscorer – Lilly Dowsing, Maddi Hughes & Caitlyn Turner (1)
Most Assists – Kya Solomon, Sarah Rasmussen & Maddi Hughes (1)
WNL Team of the Week #9
GK – Charlotte Eagle (Wellington Phoenix) – Her team lost 3-0 but it was against Auckland United who had about a million shots so you can imagine how Eagle made plenty of saves... in what was her only appearance of the 2024 Nats, called up at short notice when Brooke Neary had to fly over to join the first team.
CB - Tiana Hill (Western Springs) – One of those thrillingly courageous players, she took some heavy knocks in week nine but continued to battle through with sharp defending and timely attacking support.
CB – Charli Dunn (Western Springs) – She looked like the best of the defenders for NZ at the U17 World Cup recently and showed why in a clean sheet win away to the Cantabs, flexing maturity beyond her years.
CB – Alaina Granger (Auckland United) – Calm and composed at the back and calm and composed in midfield, wherever they needed her. Hasn’t played much for AU this year but would stroll into most teams.
LW – Natalie Olson (Wellington United) – Last round of the season so let’s go super aggressive with the formation, getting Olson in here because she got the ball rolling in the win against Central with a goal and an assist and plenty of direct running causing carnage.
CM – Marissa Porteous (West Coast Rangers) – She’s been in the back three all year but they chucked her in midfield for the Eastern Suburbs game and she was awesome. All energy. Great ball-winning. Heaps of good distribution. Reminiscent of her former teammate Rose Morton... whom she sneaks into this selection alongside.
CM – Shontelle Smith (Southern United) – Absolutely incredible. She was everywhere across the pitch against previously undefeated Karori, hounding them on the press and scoring two superb goals. One of the most tireless and impressive individual performances of the whole year.
CM - Rose Morton (Southern United) – Couldn’t only have one Southern Utd player after that outstanding victory. The Wharfies were undefeated and they barely even had a sniff. Smith was the star... but she didn’t do it alone. The midfield was where the war was won. Rose Morton was all over it.
RW – Aimee Phillips (Western Springs) – There was no containing her against the old mates at Canterbury United, a legend of the team returning to haunt them with a pair of assists, putting her foot on the gas with the wide dribbling and accurate crossing.
FW – Charlotte Roche (Auckland United) – Two more goals to earn another win for her team and a Golden Boot for herself. She just knows where to be. She just knows how to score goals.
FW – Emily Lyon (West Coast Rangers) – Back in the starting line-up and she scored twice (one from open play, one was a penalty) as WCR finished their first WNL on a high by beating in-form Eastern Suburbs 2-1.
Musical Jam...