Risk & Versatility
Blackcaps emerging seam depth, Flying Kiwis transfers, Wellington Phoenix ALM signings, Aotearoa Kiwis options, domestic footy & heaps more
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Reading Menu
The Best New Zealand Warriors Youngsters You May Not Know About (Rugby League)
The NSW Cup New Zealand Warriors Deserve Your Attention Once Again (Rugby League)
NRLWahine Spotlight: Tafito Lafaele The Broncos Big Bopper (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Sebastian Su'a Debut For Newcastle Knights (Rugby League)
Previewing Aotearoa at the 2024 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup (Football)
Flying Kiwis – August 27 (Football)
The All Whites in North America: Squad Yarns & Preview (Football)
Recapping The Tall Ferns at the FIBA World Cup Pre-Qualifying Tournaments (Basketball)
A New Australian NBL Season Looms And Once Again It’s Chock-Full Of Kiwi Players (Basketball)
New Zealand vs Afghanistan Test Preview (Cricket)
Five Funky Movers In The 2024/25 Domestic Cricket Contracts (Cricket)
Three Funky Pockets Of The 2024/25 Domestic Cricket Contracts (Cricket)
Scotty’s Word
Unfortunately we couldn’t record our Subscriber Pod this week for the generous folks supporting our mahi with a paid Substack salute or through Patreon. We did do our weekly Niche Cast on Wednesday which has big cricket, rugby league and football yarns that will still serve you well over the weekend.
The Kiwi County Tour seam stocks have hit a funky turn with Brett Randell joining Somerset for the last few County Championship games, joining Fraser Sheat (Glamorgan) and Michael Rae (Warwickshire). Of course, Neil Wagner is with Durham but he got injured after taking 4 wickets in his first outing last week and is now ruled out for the remainder of the County Championship season.
Understandably, injuries have been an issue for Wagner (38yrs) in the last few years. Now attention switches to a cluster of kiwi seamers who don't feature in any 'best youngster/emerging talent' lists. As discussed in our podcast though, these mature cricketers are just as important as the trendy youngsters because their experience has and will help Blackcaps win games, as well ensuring that any youngster needs to perform at a higher level.
Rae and Randell are 29yrs, Sheat is 26yrs. Rae has a First-Class bowling average of 32.8 through 57 games and this is balanced by strong white-ball mahi. Randell averages under 30 in each format and Sheat has been an undercover Plunket Shield monster for 34 games while building into his white-ball career. Here are their three bowling averages...
(FC | LA | T20)
Michael Rae: 32.8avg | 27.8avg | 22.1avg
Brett Randell: 25.1avg | 22.1avg | 29.8avg
Fraser Sheat: 25.9avg | 28.7avg | 45.5avg
In the nine pockets of bowling averages listed above, seven are below 30avg. While absorbing variables like favourable seam conditions in Aotearoa (bit overstated as batters/spinners jack up great stats too), this is another indicator of my belief that kiwi cricket is in a fabulous position right now.
Keep in mind that Will O'Rourke (23yrs), Ben Sears (26yrs) and Zak Foulkes (22yrs) have all played for Blackcaps in recent times as younger seamers than the three lads listed above. Ben Lister (28yrs), Henry Shipley (28yrs) and Kyle Jamieson (29yrs) have also gathered Blackcaps experience with funky skills. Nathan Smith (26yrs) enters this summer as the seamer with the most to gain by early-summer Plunket Shield dominance.
All these lads are competing with each other which makes kiwi cricket stronger. Now the lads who are further down the depth chart in Rae, Randell and Sheat are gaining valuable experience in County Championship cricket, after Smith grabbed his opportunity in County cricket.
Celebrating NZ cricket seems to be an alternative perspective at the moment. I reckon Blackcaps and White Ferns are letting down NZ cricket with their results. I also view NZ Cricket favourably as an organisation as Blackcaps/White Ferns get big crowds and the NZC financial position is evident in the plethora of events they roll out.
Suddenly there are plenty of Aotearoa Maori and Pasifika cricketing opportunities available to young men and women. NZ Development Women will tour Australia later in September. There is a constant flow of high quality regional games and 'A' fixtures each summer. NZ Cricket is a good organisation doing good mahi.
NZ Breakers on the other hand are strange and are doing the opposite of NZ Warriors, Wellington Phoenix, Auckland FC who have all invested heavily in kiwi players, coaches, staff and connection to community. Strange that an organisation who had dynastic success by embracing Aotearoa (kiwi core of players, kiwi coaches) is now diminishing its connection to NZ. I’ll stay open minded though because maybe NZ Breakers may win lots of games and everything will be honkidory.
NZ Basketball on the other, other hand is awesome. NZ Breakers in no way, shape or form reflect the standing of basketball in Aotearoa.
NZ Rugby League is also a good organisation doing good mahi. Many casual rugby league fans don't know how much NZRL are doing at a grassroots level with tournaments/teams for boys and girls throughout Aotearoa. NZRL has established a stronger connection to communities in NZ than NZ Rugby.
NZRL announced the return of a Taurahere camp to connect Australian based youngsters with Aotearoa. This quote from the announcement made me chuffed...
This aligns with work being done in both the Kiwis and Kiwi Ferns environments, which are being built to unite people of all ethnicities and backgrounds under ‘the Kiwi Way.’
Basketball and rugby league are incredibly diverse in Aotearoa. Cricket identified this as a weakness and has grown quickly in this space. Rugby league is intriguing because of NZ Kiwis/Kiwi Ferns are in competitive eligibility battles that are less intense for Blackcaps, Tall Ferns etc. ‘Uniting people of all ethnicities and backgrounds’ is a unique attraction for NZ Kiwis/Kiwi Ferns which could play a key role in elevating the standing of Aotearoa rugby league.
Funnily enough, there isn't much space in a top-tier NZ Kiwis group for new players regardless of how hearty their Aotearoa juice is. This amplifies the need for more NZ-A stuff but opportunities could arise through injuries/suspensions. Below is the NZ Kiwis team who rolled Australia 30-0 with lads unlikely to play in bold with some options to replace them listed.
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad was the only NZW player in that team and he can easily be replaced by Keano Kini. To showcase rugby league’s standing in Aotearoa further, I’ve overlooked any other NZW players for this exercise…
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad
Jamayne Isaako, Ronaldo Mulitalo
Matthew Timoko, Joseph Manu (Jack Howarth, Deine Mariner, Kayal Iro)
Jahrome Hughes, Dylan Brown
James Fisher-Harris, Moses Leota, Joseph Tapine
Briton Nikora, Isaiah Papali'i
Kieran Foran (Foran stays in squad but not hooker - Brandon Smith)
Bench: Fa'amanu Brown (Jeremy Marshall-King, Keano Kini, Erin Clark), Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Griffin Neame, Leo Thompson
Squad: Naufahu Whyte, Keano Kini, Wiremu Greig
2024 Wider Squad Possibles
Will Warbrick, Sebastian Kris, Daejarn Asi, Jordan Riki, Xavier Willison, Alec MacDonald, Joe Chan, Benjamin Te Kura
Cowboys defeated Storm last night with Griffin Neame going hard:
53mins, 13 runs - 151m @ 11.6m/run, 29 tackles @ 80.5%
Alec MacDonald played 45+ minutes for the first time this season in his first starting gig of the season for Storm:
61mins, 1 try, 8 runs - 82m @ 10.2m/run, 4 tackle breaks, 36 tackles @ 92.3%
Also in that Storm team was Joe Chan who had his best mahi of the season:
80mins, 15 runs - 143m @ 9.5m/run, 1 linebreak, 1 tackle break, 27 tackles @ 96.4%
This gif sums up the 2024 NRL season for NZ Warriors. Shaun Johnson does a grubber to the corner, doesn't even try get it past the tryline and NZW turn the ball over without firing an attacking shot. The logic is to play the long game and smash the Sea Eagles in that corner but NZW let Sea Eagles get out of the corner with the first run. Everything here is mediocre rugby league and that's the 2024 summary…
Another big NZW menu this weekend with three games vs Cronulla Sharks (/Newtown Jets who are the Sharks NSW Cup team). NZW went 1-2 vs Bulldogs last week with the NRL team losing, here's how the NSW Cup and Jersey Flegg Warriors match up with Sharks...
NSW Cup
Newtown: 3rd | 14-1-8
NZW: 4th | 14-1-8
Jersey Flegg
Sharks: 5th | 13-1-9
NZW: 11th | 8-1-14
Lavinia Tauhalaliku seems to have picked up an NRLW opportunity with Cowboys as she has been named on their extended bench to play Broncos (full of NRLWahine). This is a funky development because Tauhalaliku was dominating NSW Women's Premiership with Manly Sea Eagles and I have previously highlighted how that Sea Eagles team is full of young ladies from Aotearoa.
Lots of Tauhalaliku tries means lots of clips…
Tauhalaliku went to Southern Cross Campus in Mangere which is a sneaky hot pocket. Superstar Mele Hufanga came out of SCC along with Leka Halasima, Knights duo Elijah Leaumoana and Jarome Faloemoe.
Sneaky hot pocket like Darfield (Canterbury) for cricket: Henry Shipley, Zak and Robbie Foulkes, Cameron Paul, Yssabel Cullen.
Cowboys are one of six NRLW teams with a 3-2 record, currently in seventh via points difference. They don't have a big NRLWahine crew with Harata Butler the main wahine (representing Taniwharau along with Mya Hill-Moana at Roosters).
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
The European football transfer window closes tomorrow in many of the men’s leagues so there could be some news to wake up to tomorrow. Possibly not involving any kiwis though.
Liberato Cacace was strongly rumoured away from Empoli during the offseason but he’s settled back in nicely since then and all the chat has cooled. You never know though... he’s still on an expiring contract.
Ben Waine is another to watch. Plymouth Argyle signed a new striker and Waine immediately missed the next two matchday squads. Wayne Rooney eventually explained that he had a groin injury that was the cause of that, rather than being iced out or made unnecessary. Regardless, a loan move could prove beneficial. Did read somewhere that Northampton Town were keen – that’s where Matt Dibley-Dias and Nik Tzanev are both playing.
Elijah Just (SKN St. Pölten) and Sarpreet Singh (União de Leiria) both made moves in the past week which takes them off the table. There could be loan deals for the likes of Henry Gray (Ipswich) and Scott Morris (Stoke) aimed at getting them some first-team football somewhere. Otherwise there’s always going to be casual interest in Tyler Bindon as a 19yo bossing it in League One. And we’re always open to surprises.
Of course, the women’s transfer windows still have room to roll. That’s where most of the funkiness is at the moment. We’ve been able to tick Grace Jale off the watchlist now that she’s returned to the Wellington Phoenix (where hopefully she’ll find the consistency and quality she’s capable of, not just on the pitch but off it too having moved teams in each of her four ALW seasons – great get for the Nix). Ruby Nathan has re-upped with Canberra United as anticipated – a lot of the ALW clubs seemed to ramp up the announcements recently. There was a bit in Flying Kiwis last week about Jana Niedermayr getting a new club in Austria so that’s cool (she actually signed there a month ago but it took me awhile to realise it, apologies). There seems to be some stuff about Maggie Jenkins signing in Turkey, though nothing that’s been confirmed yet. Even still, that leaves a long list of current free agents with Ria Percival, Jacqui Hand, Paige Satchell, Hannah Wilkinson, Meikayla Moore, Liz Anton, and Erin Nayler all unaccounted for, amongst others.
The Wellington Phoenix fellas have kept busy, signing fresh import midfielder Kazuki Nagasawa and also inking Canterbury gloveman Dublin Boon to a scholarship deal. Nagasawa first because he’s 32 years old with one cap for the Japanese national team (back in 2017). His last two years he’s been in the J2 League with Vegalta Sendai though prior to that he made 138 appearances in the J1 League whilst also getting 11 Bundesliga matches with FC Köln early in his career. He won the AFC Champions League with Urawa Red Diamonds back in 2017. Chiefy calls him a defensive midfielder who could also operate as a ten or a winger or an inverted fullback (pretty sure Italiano’s talking about the positions he’ll find himself in during games, rather than positions where he might start).
Giancarlo Italiano spoke about evolving his team’s style back when Marco Rojas joined and a skilled, versatile footballer like Nagasawa fits right into that. There’s a defensive foundation that’s been set but they’ve lost a goalkeeper and centre-back from that group so they can’t rest on their laurels. They’ve gotta become a more expressive attacking team to make up for whatever loss they might see in defensive production. Specifically, Chiefy’s mentioned wanting to press higher up the pitch and being braver in possession...
“With all the signings that I’m making now, at the forefront of my thinking is that a lot of the players can play in different positions. That’s going to allow us to be more fluid in the build-up, and being more fluid in the build-up means players taking more initiative and taking more risk but also being comfortable with that risk”
Apparently there’s another import attacker on the way soon, possibly being another Japanese player after Italiano spent some time in the Land of the Rising Sun during his offseason. He reckons that’ll more or less be that when that last import arrives (that’d mean using all five of their imports from the start, which they didn’t do last year... although David Ball could get his citizenship at some stage soon to clear up another spot down the line). Anything that does happen contract-wise between now and then will probably be academy related. Jayden Smith, Dylan Gardiner, and Tze Xuan Loke got mentioned by name in Chief’s press conference as deeper defensive options. Loke debuted for the first team in the Aussie Cup recently, while Gardiner was on the bench that evening.
Which brings us to Dublin Boon, the Nomads product who spent a year with Roda JC last season (even sneaking onto the extended matchday squad bench on three occasions). He’s 19 years old and has been playing for the WeeNix these past few months – as well as being one of the blokes on the senior bench for that Aussie Cup match. There wasn’t any mention in the announcement but gotta think this news will be followed by Alby Kelly-Heald being elevated to a full contract to serve as Josh Oluwayemi’s back-up. Happy days.
Wellington Phoenix ALM Squad for 2024-24
GK – Josh Oluwayemi (I), Alby Kelly-Heald (S), Dublin Boon (S)
DEF – Scott Wootton (I), Tim Payne, Sam Sutton, Lukas Kelly-Heald, Isaac Hughes, Matt Sheridan (S)
MID – Alex Rufer, Paolo Retre, Kazuki Nagasawa (I), Mohamed Al-Taay, Fin Conchie
FWD – Kosta Barbarouses, Marco Rojas, David Ball (I), Unnamed Future Import (I), Oskar van Hattum, Luke Supyk, Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues (I), Luke Brooke-Smith (I)
That’d be 22 players, including either four or five scholarship players depending on what happens with AKH. Possibly a little light on defenders, though admittedly that depends on the formation. OVH and MAT can both play fullback. LKH can play centrally. Rufer’s been used as a CB on occasion. Lots of options. Lots of versatility. That’s the aim.
Check it out, we’ve got another Women’s U16 Oceania Championships coming up in a couple of weeks. Here’s a squad...
FIFA are being weird and making the U17 World Cups happen every single year so the kiwi girls have got to go and try qualify for next year’s edition before this year’s edition has even happened. That includes seven players who were part of last year’s qualifying quest, those being: Laura Bennett, Mackenzie Bryant, Kara McGillivray, Katie Pugh, Holly Robins, Pia Vlok, and Natalie Young. The only one of them who has moved clubs in that time is Pugh, who left Nelson Suburbs to join the Wellington Phoenix Academy. There is also a new coach in place with Canterbury United’s Alana Gunn taking charge of this wave.
Unlike a year ago, there are a couple of overseas players included here: Keira Tichbon in Canada and Derelle Avery and Heidi Draai from Australia. Good array of clubs represented too. Only three are from the WeeNix and one of those has moved there in the past 12 months... the WeeNix are pretty smart with recruiting players after the U17 wave so don’t read much into that. Of the 15 domestically-based players, nine of them are from Northern clubs (though only five from Auckland Clubs). There are five Central League players (the three WeeNixers and a couple of Central club reps). And shout out to Grants Braes AFC from down in Dunedin. Not a club I think I’ve ever seen mentioned in these things. Coach Gunnie’s done her scouting, that’s for sure.
Also, NZF have said that Logan Rogerson’s been added to the All Whites squad for the North American matches... but they didn’t actually say if anyone’s been ruled out. Nando Pijnaker and Ben Waine have both had knocks recently, with Waine the closest like-for-like to Rogerson. Slightly odd pick given that Rog is still in preseason mode with Auckland FC but he does have some decent international experience, including under Bazeley. Alex Greive and Andre de Jong might be a bit miffed to read that update though.
Doings were afoot in a few domestic football spots during the week, with Auckland United beating West Coast Rangers 4-1 to seal the deal on the NRFL Women’s Premier Division. Rene Wasi’s goal got them started and AU ran away with it from there. A comprehensive win against their closest rivals... AU can finish the season undefeated if they take care of business against Western Springs on the weekend. Then of course they’ll be meeting that same opponent again a week later in the Kate Sheppard Cup final.
Springs won’t be too fussed about this week’s outcome after they were able to defeat Fencibles 3-2 in their own midweeker, with Megan Lee scoring a stoppage time winner (after Rosie Missen had tied things up for Fencies on 83’). Enormous goal, enormous win. With that, Springs are guaranteed a top four spot and the only hope Fencibles have left of joining them is if they win against Hibiscus Coast, which they probably will, and Eastern Suburbs lose against West Coast Rangers, which could also happen to be fair. Finally, Hibiscus Coast won 3-1 against Hamilton Wanderers in a result that relegates the Waikato side. Bit of a bummer to lose the only regional team, although FC Tauranga Moana are set to replace them. One in, one out.
There was also an important midweek game in the Men’s Southern League with Coastal Spirit beating FC Twenty11 2-0. Joe Hoole and Apisai Rabuka with the goals. Mission accomplished for that evening, now Spirit just need to win against Universities of Canterbury this weekend to qualify for the National League (at the expense of Christchurch United, whose draw with Nelson Suburbs last week has left them in a spot of bother). It’s been a brilliant year from Coastal Spirit who also made it to the Chatham Cup semis in their best ever run in the competition. One more win and they break up the Southern League duopoly.
Most of the regional leagues wrap up with this weekend’s fixtures, with just a few catch-up games to follow - like the title decider in the Women’s Central League for example. It’ll be Cup Final Day the following weekend. That means it’s almost time to zone in on National League footy, which oughta kickoff roughly around October. What a wonderful time of year.
Men’s National League Qualifiers
Northern League: Auckland City (C), Eastern Suburbs, Birkenhead United, Western Springs
Central League: Wellington Olympic (C), Western Suburbs, Napier City Rovers, Wellington Phoenix Reserves
Southern League: Cashmere Technical (C), Coastal Spirit/Christchurch United
Women’s National League Qualifiers
NRFL Prem: Auckland United (C), West Coast Rangers, Western Springs, Eastern Suburbs/Fencibles
Central League: Wellington United, Waterside Karori, Wellington Phoenix Reserves
Federations: Central, Canterbury United, Southern United
Musical Jam...