Offers on the Table
Blackcaps on the Kiwi County Tour, Wellington Phoenix signings, NBL's 3-3 crew, NRL/NRLW tracking, Flying Kiwis contracts & more
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Forecasting a Football Ferns FIFA World Cup Squad (Football)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Valynce 'The House' Te Whare (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Keano Kini's Debut For Titans (Rugby League)
Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Battling Through Excuses vs Bulldogs (Rugby League)
Aotearoa at the 2023 Men’s U20 World Cup: Squad Yarns & Preview (Football)
Flying Kiwis – May 9 (Football)
Another Season, Another Elimination Finals Defeat For The Wellington Phoenix Lads (Football)
Kiwi Steve in the NBA #8: At Season’s End (Basketball)
10 Of The Best Emerging Wahine Cricketers In Aotearoa After The 2022/23 Season (Cricket)
27fm Weekly Playlist: May 8 (Music)
Scotty’s Word
County Championship cricket has been injected with a fresh dose of Blackcaps after their tour of Pakistan. Will Williams and Matt Quinn (Kent) are Kiwi County Tour regulars thanks to British passports. Colin de Grandhomme was already playing alongside Williams for Lancashire and Doug Bracewell has been playing for Essex.
Daryl Mitchell joins the Lancashire crew, although de Grandhomme isn't playing their current game vs Matt Henry and Somerset. Ajaz Patel is playing for Durham against Yorkshire and Neil Wagner will apparently join Yorkshire at some point. Tom Latham is listed to play for Surrey.
I'm eager to see Wagner playing for Yorkshire as this winter could forecast Wagner's future in Test cricket. If Wagner is bagging wickets via swing/seam in England, that would be fabulous for him … and for fans.
Patel is also intriguing as he chases greater Test opportunities. Patel took 6w in his final innings of Plunket Shield last summer and finished with 21w @ 33.57avg before taking 1w in his lone appearance for Aotearoa A vs the Aussies. Since Patel's Mumbai magic, he has taken 5w @ 68.6avg in three Tests and bags of wickets would boost his Test mana as Blackcaps cricket skews towards the ODI World Cup.
Mitchell, Henry and Latham are Kiwi County Tour lads preparing for the World Cup. Three 1st 11 lads who have established themselves as important Blackcaps recently. Latham is the heartiest Blackcap right now (captain/availability) and Henry is a top-notch ODI bowler. Both have dominanted previous KCT winters. Mitchell’s rise features County Championship runs.
Trent Boult's gathered some headlines recently and his possible World Cup selection would be delightful. Here are the best Blackcaps bowlers since the start of 2020...
Matt Henry: 35w @ 23.25avg/4.49rpo
Tim Southee: 24w @ 27.25avg/5.37rpo
Trent Boult: 23w @ 16.21avg/3.93rpo
Mitchell Santner: 21w @ 45.85avg/4.82rpo
Lockie Ferguson: 18w @ 51.11avg/6.18rpo
Ish Sodhi: 16w @ 41.43avg/5.38rpo
Blair Tickner: 16w @ 42.43avg/6.53rpo
Michael Bracewell: 15w @ 42.26avg/5.15rpo
Henry Shipley: 15w @ 23.93avg/5.56rpo
Kyle Jamieson: 11w @ 26.9avg/4.31rpo
There is a lot to digest there. Boult's mahi is excellent and he should waltz into any Blackcaps 1st 11 when he wants to. Lot of lads averaging 40+ in that list, most concerning of which is Ferguson blowing out from low-20 averages in 2018 and 2019. Jamieson is also interesting as he's a valuable bowler who may struggle for game time prior to the World Cup. This also highlights how effective Shipley has been to start his career.
Some Kiwi-NRL things I'm tracking this weekend...
Panthers vs Roosters. James Fisher-Harris returned last week and helped Panthers defeat NZ Warriors, along with Moses Leota. They face Jared Waerea-Hargreaves as starting props and Sitili Tupouniua will probably rotate through the middle. There has been lots of noise around Roosters attack with Joseph Manu playing ahead of Sam Walker and Brandon Smith struggling. Shout out Northcote as well with Jaxson Paulo finding a home at Roosters and the debut of Keano Kini for Titans.
Rabbitohs vs Tigers. Starford To'a and Isaiah Papali'i are feature prominently in good Tigers footy. To'a will probably line up against Isaiah Tass in a fun battle of young centres, Papali'i should be the best edge forward in the game.
Raders vs Eels. Matthew Timoko vs Bailey Simonsson in a Kiwi-NRL centre battle. May also get Jordan Rapana against Maika Sivo. Wiremu Greig is still starting for Eels and now he faces Joseph Tapine (and Josh Papali'i). Can Dylan Brown be the best play-maker in this game?
Some more Kiwi-NRL juniors have jumped up from U19s to U21s in New South Wales. Elijah Leaumoana (Southern Cross) is named for Knights U21s after playing in the SG Ball final, named alongside Sebastian Su'a (Mt Albert) who has already played six games of NSW Cup. Felix Fa'atili (Hornby) is also named the Sharks U21s wider squad after his SG Ball campaign, while older brother Caius has been playing for Wynnum in Queensland Cup.
More NRLWahine were signed this week. Georgia Hale returns to Titans. Tigers signed Leianne Tufuga. Abigail Roache and Laishon Albert-Jones join Knights. Shannon Muru and Capri Paekau signed with Eels.
NRLW signings tracker...
Broncos: Gayle Broughton, Mele Hufanga, Annetta Nu'uasala, Brianna Clark
Titans: Niall Williams, Hailee-Jay Ormond-Maunsell, Georgia Hale
Knights: Abigail Roache, Laishon Albert-Jones
Eels: Shannon Muru, Capri Paekau
Dragons: Raecene McGregor, Page McGregor, Roxy Murdoch-Masila, Cortez Te Pou, Alexis Tauaneai
Roosters: Amber Hall, Teuila Fotu-Moala, Alexandrea Kiriwi, Otesa Pule, Mya Hill-Moana
Tigers: Leianne Tufuga
Sharks: Kiana Takairangi
Raiders: Apii Nicholls, Madison Bartlett, Mackenzie Wiki, Kerehitina Matua
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
The Wellington Phoenix blokes have made their new first signing for next season and he’s a midfielder. Mohamed Al-Taay, an Australian defensive midfielder known for his hard tackling who came up through the Western Sydney Wanderers academy before making his A-League debut at Newcastle Jets where he’s made 29 ALM appearances over the past two years. Al-Taay will be 23 years old when the next season begins. He worked with Chiefy as a teenager so there’s an existing relationship there and obviously he fills a void with Clayton Lewis and Steven Ugarkovic both leaving.
Al-Taay is a younger bloke, not as proven at this level as Lewis and Ugarkovic, so he’s not a direct replacement. But there is breakthrough potential here. Think less about Lewis/Ugarkovic and more about Cam Devlin. The development club aspect of the Welly Nix has been in the spotlight after a couple of strong years with academy graduates (including now on the women’s side too) and then in recent weeks with the internal coaching promotions too. Another aspect is that the Phoenix have done a solid job of developing Australian players.
Cam Devlin, Reno Piscopo, Josh Laws, Nico Pennington, maybe chuck a bit of Lucas Mauragis in there too. On the women’s side Izzy Gomez has been around for a couple of years. Cushla Rue and Hannah Jones have done Aussie youth international stuff. Claudia Cicco even more so. The Nix did kinda game the system with their Aussie quota by picking dual-international NZers but they’ve continued to keep a couple spots open for those top prospects from across the Tasman.
It’ll be curious to see if we get a flurry of signing/re-signing announcements over the coming weeks. Mostly from the women’s side, with only Nico Pennington’s fate still to be determined for the blokes. They want to bring him back but nothing’s been announced. All the other free agents are leaving. The ladies only have two contracted players for next term (Whinham & Knott) but with a coach in place nice and early there seems to be some impetus there. Last year the bulk of their squad was announced in July although it wasn’t completed until Milly Clegg’s unveiling in early November. They want a better preseason this time after extremely slow starts to both previous seasons, makes sense to get some players locked in early then.
Also sitting straight-backed in my chair waiting to see what happens with Callan Elliot. There was some confusing back and forth about that situation with the club implying they walked away from negotiations because of contract clauses that they couldn’t agree upon, that Elliot had rejected the best terms that the Nix were willing to offer. However his mentor Paul Ifill claimed on Twitter that there was an offer on the table that the club then took away - although Chiefy later added that the offer was dangling out there for long enough that if he was going to sign it, then he would have.
It seems clear that Callan Elliot wants to try his luck overseas again. That didn’t work out too well for him when he went to Greece but that whole situation was a mess so it wasn’t his fault. He’s since had a burst-out season, including an international debut, and his stocks are high. His Scottish heritage bodes well not only for passport reasons but also because there’s been a steady flow of A-League players to the Scottish Premiership across the last couple years. Excited to see where he lands.
The he-said-she-said stuff about whether the contract offer was pulled or rejected doesn’t really matter if the terms weren’t agreeable to both parties. It’s very possible that Elliot wanted to sign on with the Nix, as Iffy said, but also wanted to try and find a transfer to Europe. The Nix deal would be security in case it didn’t work out. The clauses he was asking for could’ve been out-clauses in the case of that foreign move eventuating. But the club weren’t having that because of how deep into preseason that would likely happen and if they have to blood a new starting right back then they want them to have the longest run-up possible. That seems to be a hypothetical version of events that aligns with all the info we’ve been given.
It may end up being Tim Payne returning to right back given talk of targeting another central defender with the one open import spot that Chiefy will have heading into his first term in charge. Really stacking the backline... potentially to protect a young goalie in Alex Paulsen (although they’ll definitely be signing another goalie, they have to under roster regulations, it’s just a matter of how competitive the scrap for starter’s duty will be).
By the way, some legitimately fascinating stuff from Giancarlo Italiano in this press conference talking about his tactical vision for the team (without giving anything away). I’ll dip into his comments another time but have a geeze…
It’s not quite Flying Kiwis Transfer Season but we’re getting there. With a number of overseas leagues nearing a close or having already wrapped up it’s come time for many of them to get pondering the future.
England’s League Two ended last week. None of the teams with kiwis got up to much but none of them got relegated either so that was cool. Nik Tzanev sat out the last couple of games as they gave his backup a chance but Tzanev is still under contract for next season. Could have a battle on his hands to retain the number one jersey but he’s there. Max Crocombe is not under contract for Grimsby Town despite playing every single minute of every single games (there were 59 of them!)... however the club are in negotiations to bring him back. Looks unlikely that Tommy Smith will return for Colchester United though.
Up the divisions, obviously Ben Waine remains contracted for Plymouth Argyle after their promotion to the Championship – he only just signed five months ago after all. Jamie Searle was said to have signed a two-year deal with Barnsley which would keep him there next term, although we won’t get their official retain/release list for a couple more weeks because they’re in the League One playoffs. Searle is their third-stringer in his first season at the club.
Abby Erceg signed a new contract with Racing Louisville this week. That’s a bit weird as she already signed a new deal last year with North Carolina before being traded. That was a two-year extension with an option for a third in 2024. This new deal keeps her with Louisville until 2024. So... they may merely have activated the additional year clause, or perhaps they renegotiated with Erceg. Either way at least she’s in a good spot (despite RL’s struggles early in the season). Not like how the North Carolina stuff ended up.
This was her coach Sean Nahas (whom Erceg, as captain, apparently endorsed to get that job) on 3 August 2022 upon announcing that NCC extension...
“The re-signing of Abby is very well-deserved and is great for our club. She has been a staple for us and someone who has always held the standards of what it takes to be a Courage player. As a club we wanted to make sure we were able to have her here long term to continue to build on the foundation she has already helped to create. I couldn’t be more thrilled to continue to work with her and have her be a part of something bigger moving forward.”
They then traded her on 23 January 2023, catching even Abby herself by surprise. Not even six months later.
Erceg’s extension in Louisville comes at a time when they seem to be making a strong effort to lock down their core players for next year and beyond. Worth also mentioning that they’ve recently brought in former USWNT team manager Ryan Dell to be the club general manager.
And, yes, Matt Garbett’s NAC Breda loan is officially going to become permanent at the end of the season. It had already been reported that there was a club option to buy him outright and given his successful start this comes as no surprise. Two years with the option of a third.
That move is solid enough but it’ll become a fantastic deal for Garbs if NAC can follow through on their current form and win promotion to the Eredivisie via the playoffs. They’re in good shape at a time when a few other contending teams are stumbling. The two clearly superior teams in the division are PEC Zwolle and Heracles and they’re going up automatically. NAC Breda are a good chance there... and Garbett will be a large part of their hopes.
Over to the NBL, there was a good win for the Hawke’s Bay Hawks last night to break their four-game losing swing. They beat the Taranaki Airs 102-93, with new import addition Ira Lee going into the starting line-up and serving up 19 points and 7 rebounds. They still had a short rotation due to Derone Ruakawa being out but finally having an import punch seemed to make a healthy difference. That and also Jordan Ngatai dropping 31 with four triples.
Ngatai has run hot and cold this season and that’s another aspect of the Hawks slide that I didn’t mention in Monday’s newsletter. Ngatai has two games with 30+... he also had a game in which he only scored 4. The game log gets pretty hectic for him and the same is true of Ethan Rusbatch too.
Franklin (W) – Ngatai 4/9 for 11 points | Rusbatch 11/18 for 29 points
Wellington (W) – Ngatai 10/17 for 30 points | Rusbatch 5/12 for 12 points
Taranaki (L) – Ngatai 6/13 for 16 points | Rusbatch 5/13 for 12 points
Canterbury (L) – Ngatai 4/14 for 13 points | Rusbatch 4/12 for 9 points
Southland (L) – Ngatai 1/5 for 4 points | Rusbatch 7/14 for 22 points
Manawatu (L) – Ngatai 7/8 for 17 points | Rusbatch 3/11 for 9 points
Taranaki (W) – Ngatai 11/19 for 31 points | Rusbatch 4/14 for 11 points
At no stage yet have the Hawks gotten both of them scoring 13+ in the same game. In no game have they had them both with 50% field goal success. The three wins have seen this pair combined for 40, 42 & 41 points. The four losses have seen them combine for 28, 22, 26 & 26 points.
The Otago Nuggets are 6-0 playing some remarkable defence under Brent Matehaere’s guidance, by far the fewest points per game allowed of any team through to this round. They’ve got a fascinating duel with the retooled Wellington Saints coming up, the Saints who are built to outscore teams. Second top scoring team against the best defence. Rate that.
If the Nuggs do finally slip up for the first time then the Canterbury Rams are poised to take advantage... they’re up against last-placed Nelson on Sunday and will back themselves to move to 6-1 with a win. They need to bank these dubs early with Tai Wynyard due to depart soon. Gotta cash in while the getting’s good.
The Nuggets and Rams are leading the way, putting some distance between themselves and the peleton. That peleton is fascinating though with four teams sitting on 3-3 records and the Hawks having just moved up to three wins themselves. Let us have a brief peek at each of those 3-3 teams…
Southland Sharks – Jeremy Kendle (American import, Aussie NBL veteran, very briefly a member of the Breakers a couple years ago) is arguably the MVP frontrunner through six rounds, leading the NBL in both points (25.7) and assists (8) per game. Alonzo Burton is a solid veteran for them. Dru-Leo Leusog-Ape and Brayden Inger are exciting local youngsters. But the major storyline for the Sharks right now is the return of Alex Pledger. Cancer-free and coming back for one last stint so he can retire on his own terms. Love that from Chief.
Auckland Tuatara – Rob Loe, mate. Just insane production from the Breakers free agent averaging 17.2 points, 10.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.8 steals, and 3.6 blocks per game while shooting 47.9% from the field. Looking forward to seeing kiwi college grad Kruz Perrott-Hunt hopefully as soon as next week. Jarrad Weeks has two 35-point games this season while Reuben Te Rangi has had a couple big offensive nights too. Fantastic transition offence team thanks to Loe’s rebounding/outlet passing and Weeks’ speed but they’re not so efficient in their halfcourt stuff. The Tuatara have dropped a couple close ones recently. Could easily be 5-1.
Manawatu Jets – The Jets have won three of their last four following a slow start and for them it’s all about the killer imports. Mustapha Heron went nuts last game with 33 points but if it ain’t him it’s someone else. Incredibly, Manawatu’s three imports are all averaging more than 20 points per game. Daniel Pippen is second top scorer with 24.5, Heron is third in the league with 23.8, then it’s Javion Blake with his humble 23 ppg. This is one of those leagues where if you’ve got a dominant import then that can take you a long way... and the Jets have three of them.
Franklin Bulls – The Bulls and the Jets actually play each other this weekend (4pm Sunday) which should be a funky one. Franklin are all about the fringe Breakers talent. Coach Daniel Sokolovsky is a Breakers assistant while Jamaal Brantley (the brother of Jarrell), Isaac Davidson, Dan Fotu, and Jayden Bezzant all spent time with the team last season. But Franklin’s been hampered by an injury to Brisbane Bullets/Tall Blacks big man Tyrell Harrison who has only played three games. Especially rough given their focus on playing down low. Import Rickey McGill’s keeping them churning though.