Refreshers
Kiwi County Tour, Wellington Phoenix squad, NBL free agency, NRL bits and bops, Football Ferns in club action, domestic football & more
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Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Xavier Willison The Blossoming Big Bopper (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Deine Mariner's Flashy & Tough Start To 2024 (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Matthew Timoko Is Still Getting Better (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: The Jacob Laban Debut For NZ Warriors (Rugby League)
The Wellington Phoenix A-League Women’s 2023-24 Season In Review (Football)
Football Ferns vs Thailand: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back (Football)
Exploring The Wellington Phoenix’s Newfound Defensive Excellence (Football)
All Whites at the ACUD Cup: Penalties, Penalties, Penalties vs Tunisia (Football)
How Wellington Became 2023/24 Plunket Shield Champions (Cricket)
New Zealand's 10 Best Young Cricketers After The Summer Of 2023/24 (Cricket)
2024 Kiwi County Tour: Nathan Smith, Tom Bruce & Will Williams Get Started (Cricket)
Breaking Down The Blackcaps T20 Squad To Tour Pakistan (Cricket)
Updating The Blackcaps vs Pakistan T20 Squad Breakdown (Cricket)
Scotty’s Word
Kiwi County Tour update with games entering the fourth day tonight...
Nathan Smith - Worcestershire vs Nottinghamshire
22 overs, 3w @ 3rpo | 58 runs | 11 overs, 4w @ 2.6rpo
Tom Bruce - Lancashire vs Hampshire
0 runs
Will Williams - Lancashire vs Hampshire
19 overs, 2w @ 2.5rpo | 1 run | 6 overs, 2w @ 2rpo
Blair Tickner - Derbyshire vs Glamorgan
14 overs, 2w @ 4o | 4 runs | 18 overs @ 2.7rpo
Young/emerging Blackcaps in T20 squad domestic summer breakdowns...
Ben Lister
Plunket Shield: 11w @ 17avg/1.9rpo
Ford Trophy: 15w @ 22avg/4.7rpo
Super Smash: 14w @ 13avg/6.2rpo
Josh Clarkson
Plunket Shield: 292 runs @ 26avg/54sr, 2 x 50 | 14w @ 26avg/3rpo
Ford Trophy: 144 runs @ 18avg/70sr | 12w @ 23avg/5.4rpo
Super Smash: 79 runs @ 15avg/111sr
Tim Robinson
Plunket Shield: 246 runs @ 24avg/60sr, 3 x 50
Ford Trophy: 115 runs @ 28avg/82sr, 1 x 50
Super Smash: 298 runs @ 59avg/187sr, 1 x 100, 1 x 50
Ben Sears
Plunket Shield: 9w @ 44avg/3.7rpo
Ford Trophy: 7w @ 44avg/5.1rpo
Super Smash: 5w @ 23avg/8.3rpo
Zak Foulkes
Plunket Shield: 240 runs @ 18avg/50sr, 2 x 50 | 28w @ 23avg/2.9rpo
Ford Trophy: 99 runs @ 19avg/84sr | 17w @ 21avg/4.7rpo
Super Smash: 54 runs @ 54avg/150sr | 14w @ 16avg/6.6rpo
Will O'Rourke
Plunket Shield: 9w @ 18avg/2.3rpo
Ford Trophy: 13w @ 20avg/4.3rpo
Super Smash: 12w @ 19avg/7.7rpo
Dean Foxcroft
Plunket Shield: 298 runs @ 24avg/60sr, 1 x 100 | 15w @ 32avg/3.2rpo
Ford Trophy: 174 runs @ 21avg/57sr, 1 x 50 | 2w @ 74avg/5.1rpo
Super Smash: 231 runs @ 38avg/117sr, 2 x 50 | 1w @ 83avg/13rpo
Kiwi-NRL bits and bobs
Xavier Willison vs Dolphins: 43mins, 1 try, 16 runs - 181m @ 11.3m/run, 6 tb, 18 tackles @ 90%
Willison averaged 18.7mins/game last season, up to 39.3mins/game this season. Went from 53m/game last season to 122m/game this season.
Boosted by golden point vs Sea Eagles, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad is now averaging 304m/game this season. Nicoll-Klokstad peaked at 188m/game last season, now he is going bonkers at 300m.
NZ Warriors forwards who played all 90mins vs Sea Eagles: Wayde Egan, Kurt Capewell.
NZ Warriors forwards who played 70+ minutes: Addin Fonua-Blake (74), Jackson Ford (75), Tohu Harris (82).
Toafofoa Sipley has career highs for tackling efficiency and run metres per game with Sea Eagles this season. 98.3% tackling - first season over 97.5%. 131m/game - first season over 120m/game.
Alec MacDonald made 31 tackles @ 100% for Storm vs Bulldogs. This season he has made 122 tackles @ 96.8% efficiency with just 4 missed tackles.
Dylan Brown (Whangarei/Hikurangi) and Daejarn Asi (Christchurch/Aranui) as Eels halves pair in win vs Cowboys...
Brown: 13 runs - 147m @ 11.3m/run, 1 try assist, 2 offloads, 39 touches, 7 kicks - 193m
Asi: 5 runs - 51m @ 10.2m/run, 1 linebreak, 1 offload, 37 touches, 6 kicks - 193m
Crazy Raiders running stats in 90mins vs Titans...
Matthew Timoko: 21 runs - 216m @ 10.2m/run
Joseph Tapine: 26 runs - 303m @ 11.6m/run
Timoko is averaging 170m/game and Tapine is averaging 177m/game - both career highs.
NSWRL Under 19 SG Ball finals...
Knights rolled Steelers 44-16 with Sosaia Latu (Mangere East) scoring three tries.
Bulldogs rolled Eels 42-10 with Roy Tatupu (MAGS) scoring two tries and a mandatory Sosaia Alatini (Hornby) try.
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
A couple of weeks ago I did an email bit about how much time the various All Whites had gotten for their clubs in their first game back after international duty. This week the Football Ferns get that same spotlight. Same spotlight but on different level because the All Whites are mostly based in Europe and they played their games in Egypt, so a decent haul but nothing they’re not used to. The Football Ferns, on the other hand, flew all the way to Christchurch and back – especially tough for those Euro-based footballers.
Full Games
CJ Bott (Leicester City), Meikayla Moore (Glasgow City)
Started But Subbed
Gabi Rennie (Aland Utd)
Subbed On
Katie Bowen (Inter Milan), Daisy Cleverley (HB Køge)
Unused Sub/Rested
Vic Esson (Rangers), Ali Riley (Angel City), Claudia Bunge (HB Køge), Ally Green (AGF), Malia Steinmetz (FC Nordsjælland)
No Game
Anna Leat (Aston Villa), Jacqui Hand (Lewes), Rebekah Stott & Hannah Wilkinson (Melbourne City), Grace Jale (Perth), Katie Kitching (Sunderland), Paige Satchell (London City), Indi Riley (PSV), Emma Pijnenburg (Feyenoord), Mackenzie Barry, Michaela Foster, Macey Fraser & Aimee Danieli (Wellington Phoenix), Ruby Nathan (Canberra)
Aaaaand as you can see most of them benefited from not having to play at all. The A-League is over for all the teams that didn’t make finals, which is all the teams with New Zealanders with a couple of exceptions. Georgia Candy did remain as the Melbourne Victory backup goalie until the end, sitting on the bench for 13 matches though never actually getting to play. They were eliminated on penalties by Central Coast last night though. Minor prems Melbourne City with Stotty and Wilks had a first round bye. They’ll face Newcastle Jets in the semis on Sunday.
There was also a gap in the calendar for cup football in a few countries, with only catch-up games being played in England for example. The only NZer that affected was Ria Percival who is now retired from the national team... though her Crystal Palace team did win 1-0 against Birmingham to go top of the Championship ladder ahead of Katie Kitching’s Sunderland – cashing in their game in hand to maximum effect with two more rounds remaining. Same deal in Holland with no games... although Emma Pijnenburg will probably start for Feyenoord on Wednesday morning as they meet Ajax in the KNVB Cup semis.
The Danish players all got a rest with only Daisy Cleverley getting six minutes of action. Steinmetz and Green’s games were one day earlier than HBK’s so they weren’t even in the matchday squads, while Bunge did sit on the bench. Professional debut in there for Gabi Rennie, sweet as. She got 58 minutes for Aland United. But the absolute troopers are Meikayla Moore, who had no choice but to play a full game in a massive title challenge game against Rangers... which they lost 4-1. And CJ Bott who, after 180 minutes in Christchurch, immediately went and played another 120 minutes of FA Cup semi-final action against Tottenham Hotspur. She even set up their goal... but they lost 2-1 after extra-time.
Apparently the Wellington Phoenix are making a contract announcement tomorrow. My best guess is that Kosta Barbarouses will be re-upping for another year or two, that seems like a sitter of a deal to get done at this stage. But looking through the contract situations, at this club where we are so used to these massive rebuilds each and every year, it’s amazing just how settled everything is heading into next term. They had a superb result on Friday night and I’m in the process of writing about that as I also write about this. But there is no reason why this year’s success should be a one-off when you look at this...
Off Contract: Kosta Barbarouses, Bozhidar Kraev (I), Oskar Zawada (I), Youstin Salas (I), Nico Pennington, Jack Duncan
2024-25: Finn Surman, Tim Payne, Sam Sutton, Oskar van Hattum, Scott Wootton (I), David Ball (I), Mohamed Al-Taay, Isaac Hughes
2025-26: Alex Rufer, Fin Conchie, Luke Supyk
2026-27: Ben Old, Alex Paulsen, Lukas Kelly-Heald
Plus you can count scholarship/academy lads who’ve chipped in – such as Matt Sheridan – as off-contract too, s’pose. But the overwhelming core of this team is set to return again. In fact the bigger threat is not expiring contracts, it’s overseas transfers. Having dudes like Surman, Paulsen, and Old locked in protects their transfer value down the line and could even lead to some hefty transfer fees coming back their way in the future. That’s the plan, anyway... just a matter of how far into the future we’re talking.
Meanwhile if we want to look at the Wellington Phoenix Women... they have Mackenzie Barry, Zoe McMeeken, Manaia Elliot, and Macey Fraser under contract with Daisy Brazendale and Olivia Ingham also still with scholarship years remaining. Way more work to do there... though that’s more expected in the women’s game where transfer fees are rare and one-year contracts are common.
Last season there was a notable pattern of kiwi big men doing dominant things in the NZ NBL. That makes sense given how strong Aotearoa is at producing that style of player. Rob Loe was the MVP and he had plenty of mates/rivals to do battle with each game. This year’s looking pretty similar with 12 players currently averaging double digit rebounds:
Tyrell Harrison (16.3), Samson Froling (15.3), Hyrum Harris (12.7), Jack Andrew (12.3), Rob Loe (12.0), Joshua Roberts (11.7), Sam Timmins (11.7), Phillip Carr (11.0), Callum McRae (10.7), Lachlan Olbrich (10.0), Tohi Smith-Milner (10.0), Aidan Tonge (10.0)
Not all of them are kiwis. A few of them have only played once (Olbrich and Tonge). Tyrell Harrison is already done, having played his three games for Manawatu Jets now to be heading back for some NBL1 – three games averaging a cheeky 15.3 points and 16.3 rebounds... pity we don’t get to see that continue. But you’ve still got Jack Andrew, Sam Timmins, Rob Loe, Callum McRae, Tohi Smith-Milner... and of course the main man Hyrum Harris. Not sure 21yo Aidan Tonge of the Rams will hang about at that level once he’s played a couple more games but good shout anyway.
Australian NBL Free Agency began today so expect to see deals confirmed all through the hours. I wrote a fair bit about that from both a Breakers and kiwi player (pointedly not the same thing) perspective in Friday’s email so have a peek at that over here.
So far those “league sources” that the NBL journos rely upon have confirmed a few of those Breakers rumours, with Jonah Bolden (one year), Mitch McCarron (two years), and Mojave King (one year) all signing. Two more Australians plus a Kiwi-American who was raised in Australia and wants to represent Australia. Add them to a roster for next season that also includes Parker Jackson-Cartwright, Dane Pineau, and the so far lone kiwi bloke on a full roster contract: Sam Mennenga. At this rate Mennenga’s got fewer kiwi teammates at the Breakers than he did with Cairns... surely that’ll change.
The one kiwi bloke whose future was secured on Day 1 of Free Agency was Izayah Le’Afa, who signed a two-year deal with Sydney Kings. Second year is a mutual option. The Kings are going nuts after an awful championship defence this past year. Brian Goorjian is back as head coach, one of the best in the business. Xavier Cooks is coming back on a three-year deal. They’ve added Bul Kuol from Cairns plus Keli Leaupepe and Tyler Robertson out of college ball (two of the top Aussie prospects). They’ve dumped a heap of last year’s squad. It’s a very clear and deliberate rebuild... and Izayah Le’Afa was a bloke they specifically targeted to be a part of that, to the extent that he was amongst their Day 1 signings. Can’t complain, can’t complain.
The Domestic Football Round-Up
You know who just can’t stop winning? Those Western Springs blokes. They had a 7-1 victory against Tauranga City to remain perfect after five games. Reid Drake and Matt Ellis both got doubles in that game. Admittedly, Tauranga had a first half red card to captain Campbell Higgins in there while it was 1-0 (leading to the penalty that Emiliano Tade scored to make it twos) but even still. They’re holding tight with Auckland City who are the other Northern League team with a perfect 5/5 record after a 3-0 win vs West Coast Rangers, in which two of those goals were scored quite late and by substitutes after Liam Gillion had gotten them started with another belter of a goal on 68’. That’s what we expect from ACFC. Western Springs, less so.
Then in fourth place it’s Birkenhead United who also, like Springs, missed the cut on the top four in 2023. Birko beat Bay Olympic 2-1 away with Monty Patterson and Corban Piper getting the goals. Birko have four wins and a defeat (against Western Springs in week one). Big transfer additions for both teams have paved the way for these improvements.
Also gotta mention Eastern Suburbs have won three in a row to overcome a poor start to the campaign. 3-0 vs Manurewa this time around. Auckland United ground out a 2-1 win away to Melville too, while there was a 2-2 draw between East Coast Bays and Hamilton Wanderers. We’re barely started after only five games each but early doors suggests that ECB and WCR will be battling with the three Waikato teams to avoid relegation, while Springs and Birko have joined 2023 National League reps Auckland City, Auckland United, and Eastern Suburbs in the hunt for 2024 MNL honours... and it’s too soon to say which side of that fence Bay Olympic and Manurewa are on.
Moving to the Central League, after Western Suburbs sprung a stunning win against Wellington Olympic last week... they themselves were stunned by Miramar Rangers in turn. 3-2 to Rangers, who were carried by a double from Nicolas Bobadilla (who played National League for Rewa last year, as did a couple of his teammates). Lucas Meek did score yet again for Subs but only once this time. Wellington Olympic’s response was to win 4-1 against Waterside Karori without much fuss. Napier City had a solid 3-0 home win against Stop Out.
The Phoenix Reserves are looking sharp despite their annual refresher with the next generation of players stepping up from the academy. They won 5-1 away to North Wellington with Ryan Watson scoring twice. First team striker Luke Supyk got the scoring started. Interesting to see Dylan Gardiner there, a very good central defender out of Hamilton Wanderers who played at the U17 World Cup last year (alongside Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues and several other WeeNix lads). Nicholas Murphy has also made that Phoenix Academy move after coming up with Christchurch United.
However the game of the round was surely Island Bay coming from 2-0 down away from home against Petone with ten minutes to go... to win 3-2. Jack O’Connor had scored twice for the home side but goals from Joseph Cornille (81’), Jeremy Sutton (84’), and Henry Lenihan-Geels (90+’) gave the newly promoted side their first win of the campaign. As things stand, Miramar are 3/3, while Wests, NCR, Olympic, and the WeeNix have all won 2/3 matches. Still yet to see the table catch some definition there.
That’s not the case in the Southern League where the two usuals instantly took the ascendency as always... though there was a surprise in store for Cashmere Technical this week. Fresh from a 12-0 win last week (against FC Twenty11), the Techies needed a very late Tom Schwarz goal to save a 4-4 draw away to Coastal Spirit in a crazy contest. Christchurch United almost had the same fate but they were able to hang on for a 4-3 win against University. They were 4-1 up with ten to play but leaked a couple late ones to keep the fans sweating. Joel Stevens with a brace for the Rams – who had to cope with ten men in the second half after Sorasit Mac Prathumphithak was sent off. Elsewhere there was a 5-0 win for Nomads against Twenty11. Nelson Suburbs also won 5-0 with a Trevin Myers hat-trick carrying them against Selwyn United. Plus somehow there was another 4-4 draw, this time between Dunedin City Royals and Ferrymead Bays. Nico Zambrano was amongst the scorers for DCR – formerly a key player for Auckland United these last few years. Christchurch United are first with 3/3 wins. Cashmere Tech and Nelson Suburbs each have seven points after two wins and a draw.
And the other division with full National League ramifications is, of course, the NRFL Women’s Premier Division and you know who’s winning that one after four rounds? Not Auckland United. Not Western Springs. Not Eastern Suburbs... but West Coast Rangers. Four wins from four, the latest being a 4-0 win away against Hamilton Wanderers. Emily Lyon scored twice in the second half after an OG and a Shannon Henson goal had them 2-0 up on the road after ten minutes.
Eastern Suburbs won 5-1 vs Hibiscus Coast with Zoe Benson and Sofia Garcia both getting doubles. Three wins out of four for them – by the way, it seems they’re now being coached by Footy Ferns legend Katie Duncan after Stephen Hoyle’s departure. Auckland United also have nine points after a 2-0 win against Fencibles. Bree Johnson (30’) and Chloe Knott (68’) with the goals. And Western Springs recovered from being 2-1 down after 25 mins to win 4-2 away at Ellerslie. On their teamsheet, curiously enough, was Rebecca Burrows who started the A-League season with Newcastle Jets but then left for an opportunity in China. Obviously that one didn’t quite work out, though no doubt it was a rare experience, and great to have her back in the kiwi leagues after several seasons in Australia. Western Springs have also announced that Amberley Hollis has joined them after she won the Golden Glove with Auckland United at the OFC Champions League a month ago. Angelique TuiSamoa is still there so that’s two quality goalies to choose from.
And now a brand new kiwi folktune courtesy of Matt Joe Gow & Kerryn Field to take us to the finish line...