Prevailing Hope
Super Smash notes, Chris Wood goals, Maya Hahn & the Football Ferns, Kiwi-NRL depth & more
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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)
Is This The Season That The Wellington Phoenix Finally Make The A-League Women’s Finals? (Football)
2024/25 Super Smash Scout: Katene Clarke, Curtis Heaphy, Jess Ogden & More From Northern/Central (Cricket)
2024/25 Super Smash Scout: Otago Sparks & Volts Love A Road Trip (Cricket)
Steven Adams Is Getting Back To His Old Self Again After A Slow And Steady NBA Revival (Basketball)
Scotty’s Word
Lots of Tom Latham stuff ahead of the Champions Trophy…
White ball career
ODI: 34.45avg/86sr
T20I: 25.8avg/109sr
LA: 35.67avg/86sr
T20: 29.5avg/131sr
ODI things
In Pakistan: 42.75avg/8sr
In UAE: 31avg/90sr
Home: 34.55avg/92sr
Away: 36.09ag/81sr
Neutral: 29avg/85sr
World Cups: 22.14avg/80sr
Is wicket-keeper: 30.79avg/87sr
Not wicket-keeper: 40.06avg/83sr
Recent years (innings)
2018: 27.18avg/88sr (11)
2019: 26.69avg/82sr (14)
2020: 48.66avg/107sr (4)
2021: 128avg/91sr (2)
2022: 55.8avg/101sr (13)
2025: 0.5avg/20sr (2)
Wellington host Auckland in Super Smash today, so here are some notes for the other teams...
Northern Districts
Both Brave teams are 3-2.
Katene Clarke (49.8avg/145sr) and Joe Carter (36avg/152sr) are still the best batters for the men's team, after solid knocks in the loss vs Canterbury on Sunday. 24-year-old wicket-keeper Ben Pomare has been batting three and he hasn't quite found a groove yet (15.6avg/112sr) but this gives Brave a funky top-three. This is Pomare's first dose of Super Smash and he has played six Plunket Shield games with 35.2avg/46sr.
Caitlin Gurrey scores this campaign: 15, 14, 19*, 22, 21*, 39
Gurrey is the best ND batter in HBJ Shield (33.3avg/72sr) and is third for Brave runs in Super Smash (32.5avg/98sr).
Nensi Patel had her first 20+ score of the Super Smash vs Canterbury with 38* @ 103sr. Patel had three scores below 5 runs and two games without a wicket in her first four games, now she has a wicket in three consecutive games and her highest score of the summer.
Central Districts
Stags are 5-2, Hinds are 1-6.
Covered Tom Bruce, Curtis Heaphy, Jess Ogden in the latest Super Smash Scout. Ajaz Patel hasn't played Super Smash yet and Stags are operating with Jayden Lennox as their lead spinner (23.7avg/7.4rpo), while Angus Schaw is a spinning all-rounder (24avg/7.2rpo). Lennox has bowled 25.4 overs and Schaw has bowled 20 overs as well as hitting 54 runs @ 186sr.
Emma McLeod isn't playing Super Smash because she is at the U19 World Cup and scored 34 runs @ 136sr in the loss vs South Africa. McLeod only score 16 runs @ 67sr in her two Super Smash games but she was excellent in HBJ Shield with 207 runs @ 41avg/67sr.
Hannah Rowe (and Jess Kerr) didn't play in the Rose Bowl vs Australia, now she is second for Hinds runs and tied for their most wickets. Rowe's summer so far...
HBJ Shield: 148 runs @ 29.6avg/61sr | 6w @ 21avg/3.2rpo
Super Smash: 89 runs @ 17.8avg/80sr | 8w @ 18.6avg/7rpo
Canterbury
Kings are 2-4, Magicians are 3-3.
Matt Boyle (22yrs) scores in Super Smash: 18, 37, 81*, 1, 26, 49
Boyle leads Canterbury for runs (212 runs @ 42.4avg/157sr). Canterbury have sneaky impressive hitting down the order as well...
Mitch Hay: 161.5sr
Henry Shipley: 152.9sr
Kyle Jamieson: 136.6sr
Ish Sodhi: 153.3sr
Zak Foulkes isn't in that mix because he's on 96.8sr, but in a strong bowling unit Foulkes is still making waves ... so is skipper Cole McConchie. Here is Canterbury's best bowling unit...
Henry Shipley: 8w @ 19.3avg/8.6rpo
Zak Foulkes: 6w @ 21.6avg/8.2rpo
Ish Sodhi: 6w @ 23.8avg/7.1rpo
Cole McConchie: 5w @ 18.8avg/7.8rpo
Kyle Jamieson: 4w @ 37.5avg/6.8rpo
Will O'Rourke: 3w @ 32.3avg/8rpo
Canterbury women have three youngsters who I'm tracking closely. Jodie Dean and Izzy Sharp haven't done much this season but they are getting consistent game time and only need to chime in with runs around the veterans. Missy Banks is Canterbury's leading wicket-taker and she has their second highest batting strike-rate...
Jodie Dean (22yrs): 66 runs @ 11avg/96sr
Izzy Sharp (20yrs): 53 runs @ 10.6avg/100sr
Missy Banks (23yrs): 25 runs @ 25avg/125sr | 7w @ 20.7avg/6.9rpo
Otago
Volts are 4-3, Sparks are 6-2.
Volts won three consecutive games in Christchurch, Palmerston North, Wellington and have lost back to back games in Dunedin. They have a funky team though with Dale Phillips (157sr) and Jamal Todd (148sr) attacking up top, then Max Chu (164sr), Glenn Phillips (150sr) and Llew Johnson (141sr) add oomph.
Andrew Hazeldine and Matt Bacon are excellent T20 bowlers. I'm zoning in on Ben Lockrose (24.5avg/7.3rpo) though who is tied on 9 wickets with Hazeldine (21.7avg/8.5rpo) because he is one of the best spinners in the Super Smash and the 24-year-old loves to whack boundaries. Lockrose has a strike-rate of 167 this season and that's aligned with his 168sr in 16 innings of T20 batting.
Sparks are 6-0 in HBJ Shield and that's 12-2 overall. Here are the best players in the most dominant domestic cricket team this season...
HBJ Shield
Bella James: 293 runs @ 73avg/85sr
Suzie Bates: 158 runs @ 158avg/88sr
Caitlin Blakely: 155 runs @ 38avg/72sr
Felicity Robertson: 132 runs @ 33avg/70sr
Olivia Gain: 92 runs @ 23avg/80sr
Polly Inglis: 83 runs @ 27avg/94sr
Eden Carson: 13w @ 12avg/2.8rpo
Anna Browning: 10w @ 12avg/4.2rpo
Hayley Jensen: 8w @ 15avg/2.4rpo
Emma Black: 7w @ 24avg/3.3rpo
Super Smash
Caitlin Blakely: 172 runs @ 34avg/97sr
Olivia Gain: 148 runs @ 24avg/91sr
Suzie Bates: 148 runs @ 21avg/103sr
Polly Inglis: 131 runs @ 32avg/94sr
Bella James: 105 runs @ 15avg/105sr
Eden Carson: 17w @ 11avg/5.8rpo
Kirstie Gordon: 10w @ 15avg/5rpo
Emma Black: 9w @ 18avg/5.2rpo
Hayley Jensen: 9w @ 18avg/6.5rpo
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Here is a break down of the number of contract 'options' for each NRL team, as well as how many players are in the Development/Supplementary Lists and how many were reported by Australia media as being on Train/Trial contracts. In brackets are the last two combined and my hunch that NZ Warriors had more Supplementary/Train/Trial contracts appears to be correct...
Options | Supplementary | Train/Trian
Broncos: 0 | 5 | 10 (15)
Raiders: 4 | 6 | 7 (13)
Bulldogs: 0 | 7 | 6 (13)
Sharks: 1 | 3 | 9 (12)
Dolphins: 0 | 5 | 8 (13)
Titans: 1 | 4 | 8 (12)
Sea Eagles: 1 | 5 | 11 (16)
Storm: 4 | 4 | 9 (13)
Knights: 2 | 4 | 7 (11)
Cowboys: 2 | 4 | 9 (13)
Eels: 5 | 6 | 9 (15)
Panthers: 0 | 2 | 3 (5)
Dragons: 1 | 5 | 8 (13)
Rabbitohs: 0 | 5 | 8 (13)
Roosters: 0 | 5 | 12 (17)
Warriors: 0 | 7 | 12 (19)
Tigers: 3 | 5 | 7 (12)
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
There’s been an exciting development for the Football Ferns with Maya Hahn committing her international future to New Zealand. Hahn was part of the NZ U17s that finished third in 2018 but then switched over to Germany when the next U20 cycle came around (she has dual-heritage, so fair enough). There were some critiques from her people at the time about the style of football that was being encouraged in NZ... but mostly it was a perfectly acceptable desire to test herself at a higher level in a stronger programme. Again, she’s eligible for both.
But the thing is, she never actually got to play for Germany. She was called up into their U20s, training with them in preparation for the U20 World Cup... only for covid to happen and suddenly there was no U20 World Cup. Then she aged out of the youth scene and obviously there’s a huge gap between making U20s squads and making senior German footy.
Hahn spent some time in the USA though for the last few years she’s been with Turbine Potsdam, who were relegated from the German Bundesliga in her first season but that allowed Hahn to break into the team as a regular starter in the second tier during the following campaign. Potsdam won promotion back to the top flight and Hahn’s still there. What’s more, she’s been joined by NZ U20s fullback Suya Haering who has made a couple of appearances this term. Unfortunately, Potsdam are probably getting relegated again... but Hahn’s getting decent minutes in a very strong competition.
That’s more than enough to put you into Ferns contention but it’s nothing to get the 23-year-old (she turns 24 in early February) anywhere near the German set-up. Hence the Football Ferns have become the only realistic choice for her to play international footy... yet the question was whether she’d be allowed to switch back. Ordinarily, FIFA only let you push that button once… but this is where the pandemic came in handy because there is a cheeky rule in the lengthy FIFA Eligibility Guidelines that says this...
“A player that was: a) granted a change of association; and b) was not fielded in a match in any (official or unofficial) competition in any kind of football by the new association, may request a change of association back to his former association provided he continues to hold the nationality of such association.”
In other words, since she’s never actually played for Germany in any context, only trained with them, she’s allowed to play the uno reverse card. Thus answering in the affirmative a question that’s been posed several times in my Flying Kiwis & Football Ferns write-ups lately. The hope has been rewarded. Ferns interim coach Michael Mayne appears to have been the major architect having been an assistant coach to Hahn with that U17s team. Hahn reckons she’s had multiple convos with Mayne over the past few months and now here we are.
Pretty obvious now that Hahn’s going straight into the next Ferns squad (vs Costa Rica in a month’s time). As she should, being a current Bundesliga player. Hahn is a midfielder who can also play wide if needed. The injury to Malia Steinmetz on top of recent retirements from Ria Percival and Daisy Cleverley plus maternity leave for Olivia Chance and Betsy Hassett means that a new top class midfielder’s arriving at a very useful time. Mayne also spoke, in the press release, about how this is: “a new cycle for the Ferns, and I am a new coach in the role, so it is a great opportunity for us to cast the net really wide and make sure we are looking at everyone who is potentially eligible to wear the Fern”. We don’t need to go nuts with the dual-nats at a time when the local development avenues are better than ever... but the new cycle aspect is a big deal. Could be some surprises when that squad gets named.
Hypothetical Football Ferns squad as of 20 January 2024:
GK: Vic Esson, Bri Edwards, Una Foyle
DEF: Katie Bowen, Rebekah Stott, CJ Bott, Mickey Foster, Meikayla Moore, Claudia Bunge, Grace Neville, Mackenzie Barry
MID: Annalie Longo, Kate Taylor, Maya Hahn, Macey Fraser, Katie Kitching
FWD: Milly Clegg, Indi Riley, Jacqui Hand, Grace Jale, Gabi Rennie, Maggie Jenkins, Alyssa Whinham
That hypothetical squad has five uncapped players and still it was difficult to pick, with the likes of Hannah Blake, Liz Anton, Ava Collins, Emma Main, Brianna Edwards, Deven Jackson, Manaia Elliott, Lara Wall, etc. all missing out. Let alone up-and-comers like Emma Pijnenburg, Kiara Bercelli, Olivia Page, or Jana Niedermayr who are all making fast progress at professional clubs in Europe. Plus if Grace Wisnewski proves her match fitness then another change is likely, especially with Steinmetz out injured. Anna Leat and Ally Green are without clubs at the moment, and Leat hasn’t played since the Olympics, so I’ve ignored them for now but Mayne might see it differently (particularly with Leat who is the preferred GK when fit).
Funky game for Chris Wood this morning as Nottingham Forest won 3-2 against Southampton. They were 3-0 up in the first half, with Wood assisting Callum Hudson-Odoi’s goal by poking the ball away from a defender. He then scored the goal that made it 3-0, collecting a pass in the middle then switching it wide to the right before dashing back into the middle to get his head onto the cross and bingo. But then they also had a fourth goal disallowed when he was determined to be both offside (he was) and interfering with play (very debatable) as Nikola Milenkovic headed in. Also, he scooped one over the top with his knee from like six yards out. Trickier than it looked, pretty hard to get over the top of a ball at knee height, but those two moments got frisky when Southampton made it 3-2 and went pushing for a very late leveller.
But Forest came through with the win to extend an incredible record of having taken 34/36 points against the teams currently in the bottom half of the table. They’re winning all of the games they’re expected too (and a few that they aren’t).
More to the point, Chris Wood has now scored 14 goals this season which equals what he got last season and it equals his best campaign with Burnley. The difference this time is that he’s still got 16 more games to go in which to add to that. Very early in the season he talked about targetting that 20-goal mark. Seemed ambitious at the time. Not so much now. Wood has scored in four consecutive EPL matches – the second time he’s done that this season, plus he did it once last season and there was also another four-game streak with Burnley.
Players Who’ve Appeared In All 12 Games For Auckland FC:
Nando Pijnaker, Guillermo May, Alex Paulsen, Liam Gillion, Francis De Vries, Logan Rogerson, Felipe Gallegos
Minutes Leaders for AFC:
Nando Pijnaker – 1080 mins
Alex Paulsen – 1080 mins
Guillermo May – 1049 mins
Francis De Vries – 1001 mins
Felipe Gallegos – 982 mins
Liam Gillion – 930 mins
High percentage of New Zealanders in those two lists, ya dig? I, like many folks, sorta anticipated the kiwis to be forming the depth in this squad rather than bossing it as weekly starters (apart from Pijnaker and Paulsen, who were always going to start) but what do ya know we’re seeing good stuff every week. Logan Rogerson, Tommy Smith, and Callan Elliot all had strong games on the weekend too. Jesse Randall and Max Mata made their first starts and Mata especially was really effective, bringing a different look to the AFC attack. We’ve seen opportunities for Luis Toomey, Adama Coulibaly, and Finn McKenlay along the way. Codey Phoenix was on the bench for this latest game and he’s only there on a youth contract, not even a scholarship one. Happy days.
Flying Kiwis Transfer Tracker
You know what? Not a lot going on at the rumour mill right now. The start of January is always busy with moves that were probably organised way in advance. The end of January is always busy with those late deals that’ve been haggled over up until the deadline. But the middle tends to be rather quiet. Nothing new to say about Matt Garbett who is on the transfer list at NAC Breda. Nothing new about George Stanger who is getting English League One focus. Nothing new on NWSL free agent Abby Erceg. Nor the sought-after Tyler Bindon. Preseason’s just begun for Atlanta United which means Ronan Wynne trying to earn a contract after being drafted last month. All things in good time, we’re anticipating plenty of action in the next ten days.
One other area to watch is Chris Wood’s contract negotiations. Every few days there’s a new tabloid headline about a breakthrough in talks, then Wood scores another goal, then nothing happens. The sticking point is that Wood wants a multi-year contract and Nottingham Forest only really want to give him a one year deal since they’re worried about him regressing. That’s a bit silly. His game isn’t one that’s going to tumble off a cliff as he ages.
But this is a common point of contention with Premier League clubs and older players. In fact, Mo Salah is having the same trouble with his impending Liverpool extension. He’s also in amazing form, also wanting to sign a new deal at that high point, also into the last six months of his current deal... and also with a club that recognises that if they pay him for what he’s doing now, that deal might not look as good in a year’s time. There was a yarn in The Telegraph comparing the two which also dropped the nugget that Wood’s the already most remunerated bloke at the club...
The Telegraph: “Wood is believed to be the club’s highest-paid player after his arrival from Newcastle United in June 2023, having arrived in the previous January window on loan. That contract may have included a reduction in the terms in this, his second year. Forest’s position is understood to be that, at 33, Wood has to expect a fall in the second year of any new contract, regardless of what he might have achieved.”
That’s probably because they signed him from cash-rich Newcastle United and therefore had to offer him similar terms if the move was going to work. Ultimately everyone expects both Wood and Salah to sign new deals, possibly 1+1 contracts as a compromise, so this is another one to stay patient with... and unlike the transfers there’s no pressing need to get it done before deadline day.
Musical Jam...