Ramifications
Chatham Cup/Kate Sheppard Cup updates, City Kickboxing latest, Lydia Ko doing things, Flying Kiwis Transfer Tracker, 2023 World Cup qualification update, all sorts of Kiwi-NRL goodness & more
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Reading Menu
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Alfred Smalley's Sea Eagles Debut (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Deine Mariner's Broncos Debut (Rugby League)
How’s That Wellington Phoenix Wahine Squad Coming Together For Season Two? (Football)
Exploring The Cluster of Flying Kiwis Activities in Denmark (Football)
Recapping Some Quality Tall Blacks Shenanigans at the 2022 Asia Cup (Basketball)
The Quotable Steven Adams: 2021-22 Edition (Basketball)
2022 Domestic Cricket Contracts: Wellington Firebirds (Cricket)
Scotty’s Word
Lydia Ko sealed her 5th top-five finish in her last six tournaments at the Scottish Open.
Let that simmer for a jiffy. Six tournaments, five top-five finishes.
This is getting bonkers and even though Ko fell away in her last two rounds to finished tied-5th, that will be the mainstream media narrative so this remains all about Ko's consistency. Here are Ko's results this year...
10T, 1st, 23T, 12T, 25T, 18T, 3T, 12T, 5th, 4T, 4th, 46T, 3T, 5T.
Ko is currently top-five in CME Globe Season, Rolex Rankings, Putts per GiR, Putting Average, Sand Saves, Scoring Average, Rounds Under Par and Birdies. You can either judge Ko on how many wins she gets, or how she performs over the course of the season and I'm still infatuated by Ko's consistency.
Five other players finished equal with Ko or better and only one is ranked in the top-10 for CME Globe Season with Celine Boutier sitting in 10th. Winning a tournament is nice, although players can win LPGA Tour events from any ranking spot and it's more difficult to sit among the best than to win a tournament. Take Boutier for example as she finished 2nd and is the highest ranked player to finish equal/ahead of Ko at the Scottish Open; Boutier missed the cut in her last two events.
This is highly nuanced as every sport needs to be measured differently. Ko is the best player on the LPGA Tour because of her consistency, while fighting in the UFC is all about winning. Unfortunately for City Kickboxing, they suffered two losses at UFC 277 with Blood Diamond now sitting 0-2 in the UFC and Kai Kara-France losing to Brandon Moreno in their rematch.
Blood Diamond's loss was weird. He showed flashes of his funky striking style but seemed lost in the octagon, embracing grappling with a superior wrestler in Orion Cosce. As cool as I reckon BD is, he hasn't had any impact in the UFC.
Kara-France on the other hand will continue to slug it out at the top of the flyweight division after his loss to Moreno. The kiwi played his role in a highly competitive fight and was finding a groove before Moreno landed a kick to Kara-France's body that legit seemed to 'melt' Kara-France. Moreno pounced on his grounded opponent to finish the fight.
CKB has an Aotearoa champion in Israel Adesanya and Alex Volkanovski's championship run is heavily influenced by CKB. Outside of those two things have slowed down as Carlos Ulberg is the only other fighter to win their last bout and the likes of Dan Hooker, Brad Riddell and Diamond have consecutive losses. This throws up an intriguing phase for CKB and while they have UFC champions, the rest feels a bit underwhelming. At least the niggly logistics of fighting in the UFC during pandemic times seems to be over, starting a new phase for CKB and how they roll through the next year or so will provide more insights.
Impressive group of Kiwi-NRL centres who played this week...
Morgan Harper (Ngaruawahia - Sea Eagles)
Joseph Manu (Tokoroa High School - Roosters)
Adam Pompey (Wesley College - Warriors)
Matthew Timoko (Mt Wellington - Raiders)
Deine Mariner (Marist - Broncos)
Starford To'a (Mt Wellington - Tigers)
Asu Kepaoa (Sacred Heart College - Tigers)
Peta Hiku (Manurewa - Cowboys)
Joseph Tapine (Harbour City) is averaging 165m/game this season and his previous best was 125m/game in 2020. Tapine has over 150m in nine consecutive games and averages 1.94 offloads per game, all while tackling at 95.2% efficiency. In the Raiders win over Titans, Tapine had 13 tackle busts and he continues to be the best middle forward in the NRL - regardless of what any Aussie says.
Dylan Brown (Hikurangi) faces an enticing challenge without Mitchell Moses who is out injured for a few weeks. Brown has already made a development leap this season with 13 try assists after a combined 12 try assists from his first three seasons and he has a try assist in each of his last five games. No other half does Brown's 119m/game and 93.4% tackling mahi which is bonkers for a 22-year-old, now Brown needs to take own more game-management responsibility for Eels.
Brown averaged 100+ kicking metres per game in the last two seasons before that dropped down to 53.27 kicking metres this season, meanwhile Brown's scoring and setting up more tries. In researching some Kiwi-NRL stuff, I'm extremely impressed by Brown's career as he led Eels to an SG Ball championship then the Jersey Flegg final upon arrival at Parramatta. This dude has low key been fantastic to start his career and further development is possible in the next few weeks without Moses.
While on the Eel buzz, I'm also fascinated by Isaiah Papali'i and his continued excellence. Papali'i won awards last year, specifically the best 'backrower' award and he has already scored more tries this season than he did last year. Here's how the stats compare...
25 games in 2021: 7 tries, 109 tackle busts, 20 offloads, 150m/game.
19 games in 2022: 9 tries, 75 tackle busts, 24 offloads, 139m/game.
Papali'i has plenty of time to reach those tackle busts and offload markers. He can also easily churn out 150-odd metres and as Eels chase finals footy, expect Papali'i to ramp up his mahi.
Greymouth's Griffin Neame played his best game of the season for Cowboys in their win over Dragons. Neame played 32mins with a try, 14 runs for 130m @ 9.28m/run and 17 tackles @ 94%.
The last time Neame had 130ish metres in a game was round three against Broncos, when he missed 7 tackles. Neame didn't have an official 'missed tackle' against Dragons but 'ineffective tackles' take him down to 94%. Neame also had 52 post contact metres, which is tied for his season's best; Neame's last three games feature two 52pcm performances.
I recently did a Kiwi-NRL Spotlight on Neame covering his efficient mahi off the bench. Neame appears to have returned to Cowboys after being in the Kiwis squad with his best footy.
Speaking of big ol’ strawberry blonde-ish efficiency…
I’m going to update the Jimmy Neesham strike-rate yarn. Blackcaps stuff requires nuance and context as they are beating up weaker teams at the moment, although the thread of Neesham being highly efficient continues. Here are his strike-rates from recent mahi and his career…
T20 Blast: 173.46sr (bat) | 16.3sr (ball).
T20I vs Ireland: 220.83sr | 24sr.
T20I vs Scotland: 276.19sr | 9sr.
T20I Career: 165.20sr | 17.8sr.
T20 Career: 141.91sr | 16.9sr.
For context we can compare Neesham to Finn Allen’s batting and Ish Sodhi’s bowling - both of whom I’ve yarned about in recent emails. Allen operates at 176.83sr (T20I) and 175sr (T20). Sodhi operates at 15.6sr (T20I) and 18.3sr (T20). Neesham sits in similar pockets with bat and ball. Remember that Neesham has no cricket contract in Aotearoa (NZC or domestic) and this efficiency makes him a T20I 1st 11 certainty.
Wildcard’s Notebook
Not sure if you heard but England won the Women’s Euros this morning. Fair play to them, the baggage that goes along with the Lionesses is a whole lot less annoying than the baggage that follows the English men’s team (although both sets of players are awesome to watch these days).
That tournament was one of a number of women’s confederation comps going on during the month of July and it was probably the least interesting from our point of view because unlike all the others it didn’t involve 2023 World Cup qualification ramifications.
I did a bit on this a month or so ago, looking at the teams that had already qualified for the 2023 World Cup (that Aotearoa is co-hosting!). Australia and New Zealand as co-hosts, obviously. At the Asia Cup in February we saw Japan, South Korea, China, and the Philippines all progress along with Vietnam who won a playoff. Sweden, Spain, France, and Denmark had already clinched their spots through Europe as well with several more teams from that continent to follow.
The Concacaf Gold Cup was first up, no surprises USA won that. They had some trouble getting past Mexico 1-0 in the groups, albeit that was after already advancing and that alone was enough to qualify for the World Cup. They then beat Costa Rica 3-0 in the semis before making it three Gold Cups in a row by beating Canada 1-0 in the final thanks to an Alex Morgan penalty on 78’. Didn’t concede a single goal all tournament. Olympic champs Canada also progress to the World Cup as do fellow semi-finalists Costa Rica and Jamaica. Happy days for all involved.
The African Cup of Nations also had four World Cup spots on the line. All the expected teams made it through the groups which made the quarter-finals effective playoffs for the World Cup. There we had Morocco beat Botswana 2-1. Nigeria beat Cameroon 1-0. Zambia beat Senegal on penalties after a 1-1 draw, and South Africa beat Tunisia 1-0. South Africa went on to beat Morocco 2-1 in the final to win the trophy. The losing teams then played repecharges for two playoff tournament places.
There were three spots on the line in the South American champs, the Copa America Femenina. Brazil lifted the trophy with a 1-0 victory over Colombia in the final. Both teams had won every game to that point and thus deservedly are on their way to Aotearoa/Australia. Plus Argentina will join them after beating Paraguay 3-1 in the third-placed playoff.
That’s where we’re at so far but every one of these confederations also puts up at least one team towards the qualification tournaments that are taking place next February in NZ. Including Oceania – Papua New Guinea will be that team after beating Fiji 2-1 in the final of the Oceania Champs over the weekend. Still awaiting the end of European qualification but the other nine teams for that tournament are sorted.
These are the teams that will be gracing Aotearoa shores early next year to try and earn their way back a few months later at the playoff tournament:
Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Cameroon, Senegal, Haiti, Panama, Paraguay, Chile, Papua New Guinea, plus one additional UEFA team
These are the teams that have already qualified for the main event:
Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, China, Philippines, Vietnam, Sweden, Spain, France, Denmark, United States, Canada, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Zambia, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina
Thrilling cup football happenings this weekend. The Chatham Cup had its quarters and both of last year’s finalists were knocked out in fascinating matches. Cashmere Technical won it in 2021 but they came unstuck against a strong Wellington Olympic side (who welcomed back Jack-Henry Sinclair after an unsuccessful trial with the Wellington Phoenix). Tech scored early to take a sixth minute lead but Lukas Halikias levelled up on 22’ before Kailan Gould put Olympic in front from the penalty spot five mins into the second half. Tor Davenport-Peterson then headed in on 70’ and although Cashmere did pull another back from the penalty spot inside the final ten it was Olympic who held on for the 3-2 victory. Out go the defending champs.
And the team that Cashy Tech beat in last year’s final, Miramar Rangers, got bounced as well. They faced Hamilton Wanderers (in Wellington) and were 1-0 down at the half thanks to an Aaron Bayliss goal (18’). Still pretty evenly balanced at that point but things got wild after Paul Clout doubled Wanderers’ lead on 61’. Within ten minutes it was 4-0 to the visitors (Derek Tieku scored the fourth, not sure about the second – info is surprisingly hard to find on most of these games).
But Miramar did threaten an unlikely comeback. Goals for Ryan Feutz (79’), Hamish Watson (85’ & 87’) got them back within range, however it ended 4-3 to Wanderers. Fantastic win for the Hamilton side who are still in the running to make the National League although being six points adrift with five games left means it doesn’t feel very probable. Winning the Chatham Cup would be a decent alternative, to be fair.
In the other games Eastern Suburbs survived their trip to Waiheke Island, winning 1-0 thanks to a second half Jake Mechell goal. Tyler Lissette was sent off for Suburbs late on but they got there in the end. Neither of these teams have been in flash form in the league. Eastern Suburbs have only won five out of 18 matches to sit ninth whilst Waiheke are all but assured of relegation from the Northern League top flight having not won a league match all season. Good fierce game here though in the televised match of the quartet.
Then the predictable one as Auckland City travelled all the way south to face Dunedin City Royals... and pumped them 6-0. City have long since run away with the Northern League, they already clinched the title a couple weeks ago and have only dropped points in one fixture all year: a 1-1 draw away to Hamilton Wanderers in April. AKL City are on another level at the moment with a squad that’s every bit as good as it was in the Premiership days (if not better – whereas basically everyone else has been diluted or disbanded). Ryan De Vries scored a hatty in this match. There were additional goals for Cam Howieson, Emiliano Tade, and Joe Lee. Very convincing from them as they prepare for the OFC Champions League later this week.
The Kate Sheppard Cup quarters were held three weeks earlier. Palmerston North Marist beat Waterside Karori 1-0 thanks to a first half goal from Pip Coakley. There was a 3-1 win for Northern Rovers away to Eastern Suburbs in a really interesting Northern League clash. It was there 1-1 at HT after a Rebekah van Dort penalty (38’) had cancelled out Rovers’ Estelle Harrison’s goal six mins earlier. But two goals in three minutes for Danni Canham (55’) and Michaela Foster (57’) put Rovers on course for victory and kept them undefeated this season. 43 points from a possible 45 in league action and a KSC semi-final spot. Can’t argue with that.
Auckland United are the a dozen points back in second place in those standings and they’re also into the KSC semis after winning 4-0 over Tauranga City in their quarter. Bree Johnson scored after 36 mins before Ruby Nathan (53’), Prue Catton (58’), and Stella Lawson (73’). Then in the final match Cashmere Technical hosted Dunedin City Royals as the last two South Island teams in the draw. All tied at 1-1 at the half. All tied at 1-1 after ninety. DC Royals then claimed it 3-1 after extra time. Tech scored first through Kate Guildford (15’) but Margi Dias pounced to tie things up on 24’. That’s the way it stayed all the way until Shontelle Smith curled one in with the left foot six mins into extras and finally they booked their place in the semis as Dias pumped in her second in the 117th minute. There ya go.
The draw for the Kate Sheppard Cup semis has already been done. Auckland United hosts Palmerston North Marist. Northern Rovers host Dunedin City Royals. Couple excellent match-ups that’ll take place on Saturday 20 August.
Flying Kiwis Transfer Tracker
FC Helsingør had a shocking end to last season, collapsing from eight points clear at the top of the ladder with ten games remaining to only finish fourth in the Danish first division. Then they started this new campaign with a 6-0 loss against one of the relegated teams and then lost 1-0 to Hobro in game two. That rotten finish rolling on into a rotten start which is not the best prospect for Elijah Just and Callum McCowatt.
Except that Elijah Just wasn’t involved in the Hobro defeat. Nor is he likely to be involved in any more FCH defeats because the word from Denmark is that he’s about to sign with top flight club Horsens – who won the first division after FCH’s collapse – with only the formalities left to be concluded ahead of that move. It’s understood he was even in the crowd for Horsen’s 0-0 draw away to Aalborg this weekend. He should have been playing Superliga with FCH but that didn’t happen... no matter it seems he’ll get there via a different course.
Not loving what this does for Callum McCowatt, who is left behind at a club that missed their chance to go up and seems to be selling a heap of blokes lately – top striker Tonni Adamsen is also leaving for Silkeborg. Seems rude of Horsens to buy Just and not McCowatt... but there’s still time left in the transfer window. Gotta think there’s a decent possibility of CMC moving before the end of the month too.
Ashleigh Ward needed to make a jump up from the English fourth tier where she’d been captaining Actonians (whilst working as a PE teacher in the local area). Getting an international debut late last year seems to have given the 27yo’s career a jump-start. There was talk of her trialling with a Championship club midway through last season, now she’s officially signed with a Championship club: Southampton, who’ve just been promoted as third tier champs (and for whom Katie Rood played last season, though she’s since left for Hearts in Scotland). Exactly the kinda step up that she needed and deserved. Good yarns.
Thinking about some of these A-League squads as they’re strung together. Particularly the women’s teams given the acceleration in Welly Nix recruitment. The ALM isn’t so interesting right now with Marco Rojas moving to Chile and Kosta Barbarouses moving to Wellington – the two blokes who’ve run the show for kiwis at Aussie clubs over the last several years. James McGarry has signed with Newcastle, joining Dane Ingham on the books there. Storm Roux is at Central Coast. Keegan Jelacic signed a two-year deal with Perth Glory in June. That’s about it. Aidan Mumford bounced up and down between ALM and NPL levels last term, with Brisbane Roar, so could be another to watch out for.
For the ALW, there’s Grace Jale and Rebecca Burrows at Canberra and Liz Anton at Perth though it’s still early days with those squads. What’s interesting is what will happen with last year’s crew. Claudia Bunge has been linked with a move to the WSL after two strong championship-winning seasons with Melbourne Victory. Still yet to hear if Hannah Wilkinson will be back at Melbourne City after being the league’s top scorer (albeit not golden boot) last time. Her teammate Rebekah Stott has already left for Brighton whilst Marisa van der Meer is currently back in Aotearoa training with the A-League Offseason Programme (and thus dealing closely with the Welly Nix coaches and many players).
With Paige Satchell switching to the Phoenix already and Ally Green having moved to Valerenga in Norway, Malia Steinmetz is the other player as of yet unsigned. Didn’t get much of a run at Western Sydney last time so surely a move to somewhere she’ll be properly valued is on the cards. Should start getting answers to these questions very soon because if folks are wanting to leave for overseas gigs, well, they’d better hurry up as most European seasons are close to resumption.