Organic Processes
Takeaways from another Warriors win, Ria Percival's international retirement, Flying Kiwis trophy hunters, White Ferns habits, County Cricket, Domestic Football & more
Podcast
Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Youtube
Reading Menu
Breaking Down The Blackcaps T20 Squad To Tour Pakistan (Cricket)
New Zealand's 10 Best Young Cricketers After The Summer Of 2023/24 (Cricket)
How Wellington Became 2023/24 Plunket Shield Champions (Cricket)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: The Jacob Laban Debut For NZ Warriors (Rugby League)
Picking One Intriguing Player From Every NZ NBL Team (Basketball)
Flying Kiwis – April 2 (Football)
Football Ferns vs Thailand: Squad Yarns & Preview (Football)
27fm Weekly Playlist: April 5 (Music)
Scotty’s Word
Easy mahi win for NZ Warriors over Rabbitohs. Everything folks have come to love about NZW footy under coach Andrew Webster was on display in the victory and I'll chat through plenty of details in our podcast tomorrow. Playing against an imploding Rabbitohs outfit in Sydney made this a highly visible game for Aussie pundits and I've been pondering some deeper wrinkles to the obvious takeaways...
Anyone who has listened to our podcast discussions and tracked our NZW coverage knows that NZW love the grind. Set for set. Start with kick return metres (which are second only to Panthers per game), land kicks 10m off the tryline, dominate tackles, repeat the cycle with more kick return metres. Given the history of NZW, it is bonkers to be so confident that NZW can drain their opposition through consistent effort and executing all those small plays that add up. Including the wrestle.
Yup, it's bonkers but NZW are a top-notch wrestling team. This is another sneaky Webster thing as Panthers are the best at wrestling and along with help from Kai Kara-France, NZW routinely dominate the ruck. Good contact first and foremost. Then maintain contact throughout the tackle - body the body through the whole tackle. Ideally the runner finishes on their back with bodies on top of them, but NZW can slow the ruck by deploying their body weight and pinning opponents down.
The grind doesn't work without strong wrestling. Sometimes it can be as simple as laying all over a player. Imagine trying to get up quickly from this…
Success in rugby league/union requires dominance from the forwards. There are so many fun players and more trendy lads, but NZW are good because of players like Tohu Harris, Addin Fonua-Blake, Mitchell Barnett, Jackson Ford and others who play smaller roles. Fonua-Blake is the most obvious figure here but it's still crazy how easy he gets between defenders and how often he stands in tackles.
Regardless of who the opposition edge forward is, Ford will rip in with high energy for 80 minutes. Kurt Capewell will do the same with a splash of attacking funk. Barnett has played 50+ minutes in all five games and started at edge forward against Rabbitohs before moving to the middle when Jacob Laban entered the game. Barnett played 73mins vs Rabbitohs. Harris played 80mins for the third game this season (66 and 68mins in the other two). Barnett and Harris are average 150-odd metres per game.
The NZW forward pack is among the best in the NRL for passing, wrestling, hitting holes and footwork to get between defenders. There are big bodies, natural footy instincts and lads like Bunty Afoa, Tom Ale, Jazz Tevaga and Dylan Walker add various levels of speed (relative to middle forwards).
NZW depth was a headline takeaway from this win ... but there is plenty more to come.
Ali Leiataua is 21-years-old and he was 18th geezer vs Rabbitohs. Demitric Sifakula hasn't played any footy this season and he is 20-years-old. Leka Halasima is 18-years-old and while he hasn't played yet this year, he's 18yrs and he has already played 18 games of NSW Cup.
Sio Kali is listed at 18-years-old and he made his NSW Cup debut in their loss to Rabbitohs, playing 80mins at centre and he didn't miss a tackle (7 @ 100%).
Kayliss Fatialoa is 19-years-old and he played 31mins off the bench in NSW Cup. Fatialofa started this season in U19 SG Ball, played one game of U21 Jersey Flegg and now NSW Cup.
Zyon Maiu'u is 20-years-old and he has now played 30 games of NSW Cup.
Tanner Stowers-Smith is 20-years-old and he's played 18 games of NSW Cup.
Eddie Ieremia-Toeava doesn't have an age listed, he's probably 19-years-old and has now got nine games of NSW Cup experience.
Harry Durbin doesn't have an age listed either and he transitioned from U19 to U21s for this season so he might be 20-years-old. Durbin made his NSW Cup debut this weekend.
Jacob Auloa, Patrick Moimoi, Quinnlan Tupou, Etuate Fukofuka and Luke Hanson are all on the rise as well. These lads are just the youngsters though and NZW have Taine Tuaupiki, Moala Graham-Taufa, Ed Kosi, Paul Roache and Kalani Going who have all played NRL footy. Setu Tu could find an NRL debut this year and Toni Tupouniua seems to be trending towards middle forward cover over the next two seasons.
NZW have far more depth than folks know about.
Given that I dropped the first top-10 NZW emerging players last Friday and lots changed over the weekend, here's an update....
Setu Tu (wing)
Tanner Stowers-Smith (middle)
Zyon Maiu'u (middle)
Eddie Ieremia-Toeava (edge/middle)
Leka Halasima (edge/middle)
Harry Durbin (middle)
Sio Kali (centre/wing)
Jacob Auloa (hooker)
Kayliss Fatialofa (edge)
Rodney Tuipulotu-Vea (middle)
Laban graduates from these rankings after his NRL debut. Fatialofa was promoted to NSW Cup ahead of Rodney Tuipulotu-Vea so a tweak was made there. Auloa didn't play this round so he drops below Durbin and Kali. Durbin's been grinding against blokes in Auckland which helps him but Kali is likely to rise quickly.
Here are a few Kiwi-NRL matters from the best teams...
Aotearoa Kiwis beat Australia without Brandon Smith or Jeremy Marshall-King last year. Now Marshall-King has won three games in a row for Dolphins and rolled through 80mins in the win over Tigers. Best stat is 4 dummy half runs - 59m @ 14.7m/run vs Tigers.
Griffin Neame and Matthew Timoko are building on their Kiwis debuts last year.
Neame is still coming off the bench for Cowboys and had 14 runs - 139m @ 9.9m/run vs Titans with 22 tackles @ 92%. Neame has elevated from 112m/game with 88% tackling last season to 115m/game and 94% tackling.
Matthew Timoko vs Eels:
2 tries, 15 runs - 183m @ 12.2m/run, 3 line break assists, 2 try assists, 8 tackle breaks, 11 tackles @ 84%.
Like Neame, Timoko has a small increase in metres and a bigger increase in tackling efficiency. Last season was 158m/game and 87% tackling, this season is 161m/game and 90% tackling.
My favourite Kiwi-NRL player you don't know about is Alec MacDonald for Storm. MacDonald had 5 runs - 50m @ 10m/run and 23 tackles @ 92% vs Broncos in 32 minutes of middle forward mahi. He's not big, fast, skillful or powerful but MacDonald is a typical Storm kinda forward and as long as he wants it (he moved to Australia as a youngster), he would be a fantastic hard mahi forward for Aotearoa Kiwis.
Congratulations to White Ferns for winning the third ODI after losing the first two games of a series, something they love to do. If the vibe wasn't so stinky for so long and White Ferns didn't have a habit of winning when it doesn't really matter, I'd be more optimistic about their mahi. This is typical White Ferns and they finish the home summer with three series losses from their four series; there is no advantage for White Ferns in home conditions.
Like many White Ferns storylines, no home advantage is a thing that stretches across the Bob Carter and Ben Sawyer eras. Since the start of 2020, White Ferns are 12-15 for ODIs in Aotearoa and 10-11 in T20Is.
White Ferns usually lose against Australia, England and India these days (which wasn't always the case) and conditions don't matter there. White Ferns also have series losses vs South Africa and Pakistan in NZ, as well as loss to West Indies and South Africa during the World Cup in Aotearoa.
Thankfully (?) the T20 World Cup won't be played in NZ. That's in Bangladesh starting in September and I'm already fascinated about this event. The same old issues plagued White Ferns throughout the summer and losing three of four series in Aotearoa means they are slightly worse off now compared to entering the summer.
White Ferns haven't made a semi-final in the last three T20 World Cups and last two ODI World Cups. Based on the last two World Cups and this summer, there is no evidence to suggest that White Ferns will make the semi-finals this year. NZC are investing a lot in training camps/squads and White Ferns carry as many staff as players, so I'm interested in how White Ferns perform after a phase of concentrated T20 training.
County Championship cricket has started!
Busy opening phase for Nathan Smith with Worcestershire. Smith hit 4 runs with a lovely back foot punch (his only runs), then he had a run-out, took 3 wickets and bounced the ball off his noggin. Smith bowled the most overs for Worcs and he was their most economical bowler (2.3rpo), churning out 10 maidens in 21 overs.
Tom Bruce is playing for Lancashire alongside Nathan Lyon and Will Williams. Bruce hit 17 runs and Lancashire continues their bowling effort tonight. This is a bit funky because Bruce and Williams (8 runs batting down the order) are playing with Lyon and England's new Test spinner Tom Hartley.
No play yet for Blair Tickner and Derbyshire in Division Two due to rain.
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
News last night came through that Ria Percival has retired from international football after a record 166 caps for the Football Ferns. Always a bit sad when a legend retires, though this one had definitely been forecasted. From a couple of different angles too.
Percival suffered an ACL injury that was also a meniscus tear in a game against Australia roughly two years ago, one of the worst her doctor had ever seen (ligament and cartilage damage!). At the time she was in superb form for Spurs in the WSL. Fortunately, she got back on the pitch towards the end of the following season for a couple of short substitute cameos leading into an important role at the World Cup with the Ferns where she was co-captain.
Other than a missed penalty against Norway in that famous win, Percival was her usual excellent, combative self at that World Cup. But since then… not so much. For Spurs she was in and out of the starting team, displaying a very uncharacteristic hesitancy to jump into challenges. She was being played in a more conservative role with less pressing forward but still, something didn’t look right. She then went out on loan to Crystal Palace in the second tier in order to build up her minutes again and has been able to do exactly that. Yet she’s doing so as a right back not as a midfielder. Her Spurs contract runs beyond this season so she’ll potentially be back with them next term, but she skipped out on the last couple of Ferns tours citing a need to prioritise her club career.
Jitka Klimkova effectively said that Percy was figuring out how she wanted to balance her football moving forward, hinting that she might have heard talk of the R-word. When thoughts of retirement enter the brain, it’s often a slippery slope from there. No surprises then that an international retirement has indeed followed – hopefully this allows her to prolong her club career a few more years because she’s offered no hints that she’s willing to step away from that just yet.
When Percival got injured, she was arguably the Ferns’ most important player. These days that is no longer the case with Malia Steinmetz having made a strong impact at CDM and there was no way Percival was outdoing CJ Bott at right back. With the Olympics likely to be seen as a stepping stone towards the next World Cup there was no guarantee that Percival would have even made it on current form, with younger midfield options like Macey Fraser and Katie Kitching having made impressive introductions. In other words, the timing feels right. Percival’s last international game was the 0-0 draw against Switzerland at the World Cup – a nation where she spent a chunk of her club career with FC Basel.
The Ferns never had a moment where they hit the rebuild button... but nonetheless Ria Percival’s retirement is one more example of that process at work. It’s been a slow and organic process, the way these things ought to be. There will be no Percival at the Olympics. Betsy Hassett won’t be there either. Annalie Longo’s fitness has her in serious doubt. Erin Nayler’s not gonna make the cut unless there’s an injury. Abby Erceg, Rosie White, and Anna Green have retired in recent years. Olivia Chance is a bit younger and should get back after her maternity leave but it won’t be that soon. And it’s very possible that Paris 2024 will be Ali Riley’s last bow.
Most Caps For The Football Ferns
Ria Percival - 166
Ali Riley - 160
Betsy Hassett - 157
Abby Erceg - 146
Annalie Longo - 133
Amber Hearn - 125
Katie Duncan - 124
Hannah Wilkinson - 123
Rosie White - 111
Katie Bowen - 106
Kirsty Yallop - 104
Rebekah Stott - 101
Sarah Gregorius - 100
After tomorrow’s Football Ferns game, there’ll be no more international footy until the end of the European club season. After that it’ll go gangbusters again with the Ferns preparing for the Olympics and the All Whites taking on the might of Oceania at the Nations Cup... but prior to that there are club honours to play for. It’s a pesky reality that the two highest profile male players we’ve got, the only two in the Big Five Leagues, are both trying to avoid relegation: Chris Wood at Nottingham Forest and Liberato Cacace at Empoli. But there are plenty of NZers in search of silverware.
League Title Challengers
Marko Stamenic (Crvena zvezda) – There were wobbles over the first half of the campaign, but they’ve swapped managers and gone on a deep winning streak since then, pulling four points clear of Partizan and on course for their seventh Superliga title in a row. Stam is currently in and out of the first eleven.
Vic Esson (Rangers)/Meikayla Moore (Glasgow City) – Moore plays all the time, Esson is usually backup, so it’s Glasgow City we’d rather win the Scottish title just as they did last season. But GC are four points behind Rangers (with Celtic in between them) so let’s see how this one unfolds. We’re two games into the championship rounds so there are eight more matches left each.
Claudia Bunge & Daisy Cleverley (HB Køge)/Malia Steinmetz (FC Nordsjælland) – Three NZers at two clubs competing for one trophy... except that both have stumbled in recent games to allow Brøndby to move four points clear. There are seven weeks left to amend that, not in the least because there are also only two Champions League qualifying spots available in Denmark. Don’t wanna be that third-placed team.
Logan Rogerson (FC Noah) – Haven’t seen Rog for a couple weeks, possibly an injury, but anyway his team have a 2-point lead in the Armenian top division with nine matches left so it’s all to play for.
Alex Greive (Dundee United) – We’re in second tier territory here though Dundee United are taking care of business despite occasional off-days. They’re four points clear of Raith Rovers, even if the latter do have a game in hand. Miles clear of third. On track for promotion and hopefully a title too.
Dalton Wilkins (Sønderjyske) – Also a second tier promotion/championship situation. Having been transferred in a few months ago, Wilkins finds himself with a Sonders team that is three points off top with eight games left. They’re almost certain to get promotion (having missed out by two points last year) so it’s all about whether they can take a trophy with them.
Ria Percival (Crystal Palace)/Katie Kitching (Sunderland) – There are a couple other teams in the race for the English Championship trophy – and more crucially the only promotion spot available to the WSL – but amongst them are a couple with NZers who get our automatic support. Ria Percival is on loan with Palace trying to revamp her Spurs career by upping her match fitness. Kitching is a key attacker for Sunderland. Probably prefer Kitch to take it out but it could easily be neither with only four points separating the top four teams and a couple of them having games in hand. Only 2-3 matches left too. Sunderland are in first place for now.
National Cup Runs
Vic Esson (Rangers) – They’ve already won the League Cup, with Esson playing in the final, and at the end of April they’ll have the chance to make it a cup double when they face Celtic in the Scottish Cup. Esson’s a good chance to start that one too, having been used largely as a cup keeper this year.
Callum McCowatt (Silkeborg) – It’s been a season of peaks and valleys for SIF but the cup stuff has been immaculate, knocking out defending champs FC Copenhagen over two quarter-final legs (McCowatt scored in the first leg) and are currently midway through a semi-final tie against Fredericia... having won 6-1 in the first match. Assuming there’s no almighty choke, then either Nordsjælland or AGF will await in the decider. Marko Stamenic won this trophy last year, McCowatt is in the hunt this year.
CJ Bott (Leicester City) – A 2-0 win over Liverpool a month ago has put LCFC into uncharted territory with their first ever FA Cup semi-final appearance upcoming. The draw was kind too, giving them Spurs while Manchester United and Chelsea face off in the other semi. That game is next week and will be CJB’s first one back after international duty. This will be an away game though – the Women’s FA Cup only moves to Wembley for the final, so that’s what is at stake.
Emma Pijnenburg (Feyenoord) – EP’s first game back from her debut Ferns call-up will also be a cheeky cup semi-final, in her case against Ajax. Feyenoord will be underdogs there... but they already knocked FC Twente out in the previous round, the top team in the Eredivisie. Next they’ll try knock the second-placed team out. EP has been a regular starter since breaking into the first team about six weeks ago.
Malia Steinmetz (FC Nordsjælland) – Along with their title race, FCN are also into the semi-finals of the cup where they’ve been drawn against a lower-tiered opponent for the second round in a row. Big favourites to advance to the final. To be fair, they did also knock out Bunge/Cleverley’s HBK team earlier in the comp.
There are others where those came from, of course, but these are the most likely/highest profile trophy hunters right now. Along with the Wellington Phoenix blokes and Rebekah Stott/Hannah Wilkinson with Melbourne City in the ALW.
Looks like it’s a football only day from me, because there were some funky goings-on across the local scene this week as well. In the Northern League, Birkenhead beat Auckland United 1-0 thanks to an 83rd minute goal from Corban Piper. Would hardly call that an upset but it’s a big result between two of the top four candidates. Impressed to see Manurewa’s start to the campaign despite losing copious amounts of players from their 2023 National League squad... they beat Melville United 7-1 with their new Argentinian import Eber Ramírez bagging a hat-trick. He was one-upped by Jake Mechell of Eastern Suburbs who got all four in a 4-3 win against Tauranga City. Four games in, it’s Auckland City and Western Springs who have taken maximum points. Birko and Bay Olympic are third and fourth respectively, each on nine points.
Into the Central League, Western Suburbs have been sneakily stocking up on overseas players to go along with their current Ole Academy crop and they produced a scintillating first half on the way to a 5-3 win against defending champs Wellington Olympic. A major statement just two weeks into that competition. Lucas Meek, an American forward who was previously in Inter Miami’s reserve team, scored a hat-trick. He scored four last week too so he’s already on seven from two matches.
Also gotta mention the WeeNix who scored on either side of half-time (Luke Supyk with the first goal, he’s part of the first team) against Petone but then blew that 2-0 lead with ten mins to go... only to win it 3-2 in stoppage time thanks to a Fergus Gillion goal. Oscar Faulds scored three for Napier City Rovers in a 5-1 win away to Waterside Karori. Miramar Rangers and Western Suburbs are the only tow teams with two wins from two.
Down in the Southern League, prayers up to FC Twenty11 after they lost 12-0 to Cashmere Technical. Garbhan Coughlan scored six of them while Lyle Matthysen got three. It was still 0-0 after 14 mins though, if it’s any consolation (nope). Christchurch United, meanwhile, had to come from 3-1 down at half-time to beat Ferrymead Bays 4-3 with Rico Pradhan scoring the 84th minute winner. He’s only 17yo. No surprises it’s Cashy Tech and CUFC with the perfect records after two rounds.
The Women’s NRFL Premier Division up north is looking pretty normal, with Auckland United and Eastern Suburbs both having big wins. United beat Hamilton Wanderers 5-0 with five different goal-scorers. Chloe Knott and Saskia Vosper have joined them since the OFC Champions League, along with a few of their other more experienced players who skipped out on that trip to the Solomon Islands. Eastern Suburbs beat Fencibles 6-0 with Zoe Benson scoring three and new recruit Sofia Garcia getting a brace. Sammi Tawharu and Jess Innes have also come over from Western Springs to Eastern Subs, along with Garcia.
That’s left a somewhat depleted WSAFC team, who only drew 2-2 at home vs Hibiscus Coast this week. Thus the door is very much open for West Coast Rangers to qualify for National League – they beat Ellerslie 5-1 thanks to a Shannon Henson hatty. WCF only narrowly missed out last time, with a few of their players joining federation teams instead: Kendrah Smith and Marisa Porteous having a huge impact on Southern United’s success. Porteous is back with them now but Smith has joined Essenden Royals in the Victorian NPL, opting for an Australian winter instead. As has her Southern United teammate Amy Hislop who is with Northern Tigers – former club of Malia Steinmetz.
And now a fresh set from my (current) favourite Aotearoa purveyors of heavy psychedelic weirdness…