Scuffed
NRL & NRLW finals, Warriors in NWS Cup, FIFA U20 World Cup, National League football, and more
Scotty’s Word
Brisbane Broncos will be playing in the NRLW and NRL Grand Finals with at least three players from Aotearoa in both teams. Broncos had a 30-6 win vs Knights in NRLW on Sunday which was followed by a 16-14 win for the men vs Panthers. Here’s how the NRLWahine/Kiwi-NRL folks went...
NRLW
Kerri Johnson (Kaikohe): 70mins, 2 tries, 12 runs - 196m @ 16.3m/run, 4 tackle breaks, 2 offloads, 5 tackles @ 71%
Mele Hufanga (Auckland/Mangere): 70mins, 7 runs - 82m @ 11.7m/run, 1 try assist, 6 tackle breaks, 7 tackles @ 64%
Gayle Broughton (Hawera): 70mins, 5 runs - 66m @ 13.2m/run, 2 try assists, 1 tackle break, 1 offload, 21 tackles @ 78%
Annetta Nu’uausala (Auckland/Otara): 32mins, 12 runs - 110m @ 9.1m/run, 1 tackle break, 1 offload, 12 tackles @ 92%
Brianna Clark (Sarina): 52mins, 15 runs - 144m @ 9.6m/run, 1 tackle break, 3 offloads, 19 tackles @ 83%
NRL
Josiah Karapani (Otahuhu): 19 runs - 160m @ 8.4m/run, 4 tackle breaks, 1 offload, 2 tackles @ 33%
Deine Mariner (Marist): 1 try, 20 runs - 159m @ 7.9m/run, 9 tackle breaks, 2 tackles @ 67%
Jordan Riki (Hornby): 80mins, 9 runs - 84m @ 9.3m/run, 3 tackle breaks, 48 tackles @ 89%
Xavier Willison (Whatawhata): 41mins, 1 try, 18 runs - 151m @ 8.3m/run, 1 tackle break, 1 offload, 25 tackles @ 96%
Stacey Waaka was awesome in her first season of NRLW but Broncos were knocked out in their first finals game last year. Broncos recruited Johnson from Northland/Blues to plug the hole left by Waaka and she has helped Broncos make the GF with 10 tries this season - Johnson is one of five NRLW players with 10+ tries which includes the extra finals games.
Johnson earned selection for every game and has looked just as comfortable as Waaka in her first season of NRLW. Kiwi Ferns outside back depth is tremendous and that may not leave much room for Johnson but the best women’s rugby league player from Northland seems likely to demand squad selection at least.
Broughton has 12 try assists in 12 games. After playing fullback in her first season with Eels, Broughton shifted to the halves for three seasons at Broncos and along with her try assisting mahi, Broughton has added more kicking to her rugby league craft...
2022: 19.96 kick metres/game
2023: 56.31 kick metres/game
2024: 49.49 kick metres/game
2025: 74.16 kick metres/game
For the last stanza of the Broncos win vs Panthers, they had two wingers from Auckland and two edge forwards who aren’t from Auckland on the field at the same time. This coincided with Broncos scoring two tries to come back and beat Panthers with all the lads from Aotearoa rising to the occasion.
Karapani and Mariner had the most runs for Broncos backs. Payne Haas had 20 runs like Mariner and the next busiest was Willison who had 18 runs in just 41 minutes, while the other three played all 80mins. Mariner had more tackle breaks with nine but Karapani averaged more metres per run. Karapani also had more post contact metres per run with 3.4 compared to Mariner’s 2.3.
Riki and Haas were the only Broncos forwards who played 80mins but Riki made the most tackles with 48 vs Haas’ 46. Riki had four times more tackles than he had touches of the footy (12).
Willison came off the bench to roll through the middle initially and then spent the last 12 minutes on the left edge - with Riki on the right edge. That’s where Willison pounced on a loose ball to score his try and coach Michael Maguire has put Willison on an edge at different points this season.
That includes five games starting at edge forward and he played 80mins as a starting edge forward in round eight vs Broncos. Since then Willison as played 40+ minutes in nine of his next 12 games.
Willison should be in the Kiwis squad if he is available. He was brewing as a middle forward already but his versatility boosts his case for squad selection, as well as top-17 because Willison is an awesome bench forward.
NZ Warriors won the NSW Cup championship with 30-12 win vs Dragons. This was their third season in a row finishing top-four and this is extra funky when packaged alongside back to back Under 17 Harold Matthews Cup championships. Regardless of how the NRL season finished for NZW, deeper in the organisation they won NSW Cup and Harold Matthews Cup championships in the same year.
I’ve got more notes for the NSW Cup Warriors, Melbourne Storm and all finals footy in Australia beyond the wall for paid subscribers. The full newsletter is copied into Patreon as well if you prefer that platform. I also expand on the cricket stuff below and drop a few swift observations about the teams playing in the NZC Development Series.
New Zealand has two cricket games vs Australia on Wednesday. White Ferns start their ODI World Cup against the Aussies and Blackcaps start their T20 series. Don’t expect much winning for Aotearoa...
White Ferns vs Australia in ODIs
15 consecutive losses
2015 onwards: 2-17
2020 onwards: 0-9
Blackcaps vs Australia in T20Is
Three consecutive losses
2015 onwards: 5-9
2020 onwards: 4-6
Two of my favourite nuggets...
Maddy Green scoring quickly in recent games…
North vs South: 26 runs @ 63sr
North vs South: 109* @ 185sr
One-Day Cup: 21 runs @ 91sr
One-Day Cup: 97 runs @ 108sr
T20 Blast: 1 run @ 100sr
T20 Blast: 12* @ 171sr
T20 Blast: 15* @ 150sr
Warm up vs India A: 30 runs @ 86sr
Warm up vs India: 49 runs @ 117sr
Zak Foulkes the all-rounder. T20I batting strike-rate of 144 and bowling average of 24.4. Averaging below 30 in all formats.
Musical jam…
Nick’s Notebook
The U20 World Cup has begun... and New Zealand were beaten in heartbreaking fashion by Chile in the opener. They played some lovely football under Chris Greenacre’s coaching. Physically, they were every bit as good as Chile, even dominating them in a few areas thanks to the size and strength in this kiwi team. Luke Brooke-Smith and Stipe Ukich were skipping past challenges all evening. But two defensive mistakes, completely avoidable, condemned them to a 2-1 loss.
The first concession came when Fergus Gillion overplayed on the edge of his area after collecting the ball in a tricky spot. Nathan Walker then won a penalty with ten mins left for a deserved equaliser. Scored it himself. But deep into stoppage time, Henry Gray fumbled a cross and then Finn McKenlay didn’t clear it fast enough and Chile stole the points. Devastating stuff. They’re going to need to beat Egypt on Wednesday to have a shot at progressing to the next round now, having thrown away a point against the hosts.
This was the starting line-up...
Players six-foot or taller in this squad: Joe Wallis, Lukas Kelly-Heald, James Bulkeley, Fergus Gillion, Keegan Kelly, Luke Supyk, Henry Gray, Noah Dupont, Jayden Smith, Finn McKenlay, Stipe Ukich, Josey Casa-Grande. That’s 12/21 players.
This game was played in front of 45,000 people. Massive crowd and pretty much everyone was there to support Chile. Add that to the context of New Zealand matching them kick for kick... including holding their heads when Chile resorted to a few dark arts (a favourite of which was when the penalty was given and Keegan Kelly was alert enough to run the Chile keeper off the spot so that he couldn’t scuff it up).
Lukas Kelly-Heald playing CB makes the Luka Coveny absence make more sense. I’d assumed LKH was being seen as a left-back but he did really well in partnership with James Bulkeley (JB made a couple of superb defensive blocks). Two massive units at the back there. Along with the wingers, I also really liked Keegan Kelly’s workrate up top. And Finn McKenlay is the real deal in midfield. They deserved more than they got in this game but that was their own fault. If they don’t make it through to the next round, it’ll have a lot to do with a tougher draw that didn’t deliver them a game where they’re clear favourites. While the U20s Men have made knockouts in four consecutive U20 World Cups... their wins at those events came against Myanmar (5-1 in 2015), Honduras (3-1 in 2017), Honduras (5-0 in 2019), Norway (2-0 in 2019), and Guatemala (1-0 in 2023).
I was gonna add some Breakers stuff after they lost again but I’ve run out of time... however paid subscribers can check out a predicted All Whites squad and some Women’s U19s footy ideas
National League Transfer Top-Ups…
The buzziest thing about week one of the Nats is seeing team sheets and spotting names that never played for these teams before. The Men’s National League allows each club to add two under-20s players for the National League championship phase as well as allowances to replace any players who’ve left for professional gigs. Pretty sure there’s no restriction on free agents either. The Women’s NL seems to leave even more room for additional signings specific to the competition so here’s a breeze through the major moves that each club has made since their winter campaigns ended...
MNL
Western Springs - Louis Wickremesekera (Wānaka)
Birkenhead United - Isaac Bates (Eastern Suburbs), Morgan Wellsbury (Tauranga City), Jackson Garnder (Bay Olympic)
Auckland United – Jaylen Rodwell (Edgeworth Eagles), Taine Bracken (Hibiscus Coast)
Auckland City - N/A
Auckland FC – Van Fitzharris (Tauranga City), Aston Burns (Fencibles), Sam Lack (Napier City)
Wellington Olympic - N/A
Western Suburbs – N/A
Wellington Phoenix - N/A
Coastal Spirit - Yusuf van Dam (Cashmere Technical), Nick Petherick (Eastern Suburbs), Derek Tieku (Bay Olympic)
Christchurch United – Noah Karunaratne (Eastern Suburbs), Bray Whitecliffe (Petone)
WNL
West Coast Rangers - Anjelina Ujdur (Gold Coast United), Leyla Butler (Brunswick)
Auckland United – Kiara Bercelli (Sampdoria), Siobhan Edwards (Illwarra Stingrays), Kris Molloy (Indy Eleven/Bulleen Lions), Emma Rolston (N/A)
Eastern Suburbs - Rebekah van Dort (Essenden Royals)
Western Springs – Maddi Ollington (Ellerslie), Britney Cunningham-Lee (Franklin)
Central – Iris Reweti-Gould (Miramar Rangers), Jacque Broughton (Miramar Rangers), Caitlin Byrne (Tauranga Moana)
Wellington Phoenix - N/A
Wellington United – Amelia Abbott (Waterside Karori), Maggie Jenkins (ALG Spor), Sammie Senior (Waterside Karori), Blair Currie (USA)
Petone – Renee Bacon (Waterside Karori), Nicola Ross (Waterside Karori), Amy Price (Southern United, AU)
Cantebrury United – Annie Foote (Waterside Karori), Hayley Julian (Otago University)
Southern United - Mackenzie Rastatter (USA), Emma Vane (USA), Georgia Keen (Gold Coast Knights)
Biggest game-changers there are Petone and Western Springs Women, both of whom signed legit goal threats who massively improve what those teams are capable of, while Wellington United are only a shade behind them because they were already great even without those four awesome additions. As for Auckland United, that’s just rich getting richer. They had the best squad even without signing four more players of that calibre. Auckland FC’s new additions are impressive too. And Noah Karunaratne basically won the game for Christchurch United in week one so that move’s already paying dividends.
WNL Team of the Week #1
GK – Aoife Gallagher-Forbes (Petone) – Genuinely didn’t have a clue which goalie to pick in a week where half the keepers conceded 4+ goals and the others barely made a save. So I reverted to the keeper who kept the most unexpected clean sheet.
RB – Tiana Hill (Western Springs) – In a game that ended 5-4, absolutely thrilling stuff, there was this one last-ditch tackle that Tiana Hill made which was as valuable as any of those nine goals. Hill’s always in the battle and she was as tough as ever against Welly Utd.
CB – Hannah Mackay-Wright (Southern United) – Two goals, both penalties, plus an assist in a 4-1 win plus she probably made about twenty interceptions in an outrageously good individual performance. Her coach told the ODT that Mackay-Wright was the best player on the pitch. I’ll go further and say hers was the best individual performance across the entire competition in week one.
CB – Caelin Patterson (Petone) – Petone’s unexpected win over WCR was built upon their excellent defence and while Marie Green also deserves heaps of credit too, Patterson is the spiritual leader at this club.
LB – Victoria Neuefeind (Eastern Suburbs) – One look at her in the National League and it’s immediately clear how VN scored so many big goals for Eastern Subs through the winter with that rocket of a left boot on top of her strength and speed.
CM – Ella Findlay (Eastern Suburbs) – More used to seeing Findlay at centre-back but she’s done plenty of midfield jobs in her time and based on the way she was running around and making things happen against Central, with a goal and two assists, this might be her future.
CM – Chloe Knott (Auckland United) – She scored a hat-trick within the first half of the first game. How are you even supposed to defend against a midfielder who continually gets into goal-scoring positions like Knott does? Too good.
CM – Maddi Ollington (Western Springs) – Such an exciting addition for Western Springs following a standout winter with Ellerslie. Ollington’s power was unstoppable. She dribbles, she shoots, she links up. Two goals and an assist on debut. Match-winning stuff.
FW – Alexis Cook (Auckland United) – AUFC were 6-0 up after an hour against Canterbury and with a goal and four assists, the only one of those goals that Cook didn’t directly contribute to... she got the secondary assist for. Her pace and directness on the right wing had no answers.
FW – Georgia Nixon (Southern United) – The star of Otago Uni’s fantastic winter campaign, Nixon debuted for Southern with a goal and an assist and plenty of good, clever work getting involved across the frontline.
FW – Cema Nasau (Eastern Suburbs) – We need more clubs investing in bringing Oceania talent to the Aotearoa leagues, there are so many good examples of that strategy paying off. Cema Nasau is an established Fijian international. She’s been chipping in all year. She scored twice and assisted another against Central who didn’t have an answer to her pace and vision.
Musical Jam…