Significant Indicators
White Ferns in Sri Lanka, NBA Draft angles, U19s women's footy, heaps of Kiwi-NRL goodness & plenty more
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2023 NRLWahine: Five Funkiest Players From Aotearoa (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Eelin' With Daejarn Asi (Rugby League)
Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Statement Game vs Dragons (Rugby League)
All Whites vs Sweden: Living Through The Learning Curve (Football)
All Whites vs Qatar: Solidarity (And Some Overshadowed Football) (Football)
Flying Kiwis – June 21 (Football)
Getting Up To Date With NZ Breakers Offseason Activities Ahead Of NBL24 (Basketball)
10 NZNBL Players Who Deserve A Crack In The Aussie NBL (Basketball)
2023 Kiwi County Tour: Henry Shipley & Tom Latham Appear (Cricket)
2023 White Ferns Tour Of Sri Lanka: Series Preview (Cricket)
Previewing The Tall Ferns On Their 2023 Asia Cup Quest (Basketball)
Scotty’s Word
White Ferns start their tour of Sri Lanka early next week and there are a few things left over from the series preview to break down. It seems unlikely that White Ferns will play with all four spinners but given that Suzie Bates can also bowl spin and, along with Amelia Kerr and Sophie Devine, three of the top-five batters are genuine all-rounders it is possible to select all four frontline spinners in the same team with Bates as well. This is my favourite combination...
Suzie Bates, Bernadine Bezuidenhout, Amelia Kerr, Maddy Green, Sophie Devine
Georgia Plimmer, Hannah Rowe, Lea Tahuhu, Leigh Kasperek, Eden Carson, Fran Jonas
I reckon Bezuidenhout will continue to open as she's an aggressive hitter who also plays as the wicket-keeper and Devine dropped down the order in the T20 World Cup. That's how coach Ben Sawyer operated at the T20WC and this can easily continue, while I prefer Georgia Plimmer over Brooke Halliday in the extra batting slot. Halliday's a lefty which usually boosts her selection case but Plimmer is a talented youngster who needs frequent game time to keep building.
Even with five spinners including Bates, White Ferns can still deploy three seamers to ensure regular Aotearoa cricket themes. How Bates and Devine bowl won't be as important as their batting, although there is something brewing here.
From the start of 2019 to the end of 2021, Bates bowled 5 overs in T20I and 3.3 overs in ODI cricket. After healing a shoulder injury, Bates bowled 8 overs last year and 2 overs this year in T20I as well as 7 overs of ODI bowling last year. Bates has settled as an offie and she is likely to get overs across both formats in Sri Lanka.
Devine was one of the best White Ferns T20I bowlers last year with 13w @ 16avg/6.4rpo but didn't bowl at the T20WC earlier this year. Combine that with a world-class T20 batter scoring 19 runs @ 6.33avg/61sr at the T20WC for a notable reason why White Ferns struggled at that event.
In ODIs, Devine has averaged 30+ over seven consecutive years. As skipper, Devine has an ODI bowling record of 40avg/4.9srpo. I’m curious how busy Devine is as a bowler in Sri Lanka. Not ideal seam conditions but her craft may be useful, especially if she is one of the few seamers playing. Who will bowl more overs in Sri Lanka - Bates or Devine?
T20 Blast cricket rolls along in England ahead of County Championship games early next week. Here are the three leading kiwis and all three lads are operating with strong batting strike-rates which is a sneaky Blackcaps World Cup wrinkle to track...
Matt Henry (Somerset): 25 runs @ 12.5avg/156sr | 15w @ 16.2avg/8.37rpo
Daryl Mitchell (Lancashire): 383 runs @ 47.8avg/164sr | 9w @ 22.5avg/8.1rpo
Mitchell Santner (Worcestershire): 229 runs @ 28.6avg/144sr | 7w @ 35avg/7.6rpo
John Fineanganofo (AGS) is named on the bench for Redcliffe in Queensland Cup this weekend, having already played Redcliffe U18 and U21s this year. There aren’t many youngsters playing all three grades below NRL in the same year, in Queensland or New South Wales. This is a significant indicator of talent, meanwhile Melino Fineanganofo (Bulldogs summer deal) won't be playing this round as Western Clydesdales have a bye.
John has played centre, halves and hooker across the grades this season. What role he plays in Q Cup will be interesting as Redcliffe already have Christchurch's Sheldon Pitama on the bench as hooker cover. Perhaps as outside back cover with mobile middle potential. Fineanganofo has also leaped ahead of Taniela Otukolo who has been starting hooker for Redcliffe U21s all season.
Henry Teutau (Marist) is another youngster who was promoted from U21s to Q Cup with Townsville. Teutau had been playing middle forward alongside Jeremiah Matautia (Otara) for Townsville U21s this season and Matautia has featured as starting prop all season for U21s.
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Last round Will Warbrick scored four tries for Storm in their win over Tigers. Warbrick scored a try from a kick and his last try came when Nelson Asofa-Solomona was off the field. Two of Warbrick's tries came from Asofa-Solomona decoy runs at edge forward and that is tricky to stop given how defenders have to respect Asofa-Solomona's run. If Asofa-Solomona gets the footy he will probably score and if he's a decoy, Warbrick will probably score…
Asofa-Solomona at edge forward is the funkiest Kiwi-NRL thing happening right now. Coach Craig Bellamy deployed this late last year. Now Eliesa Katoa is out injured and Asofa-Solomona is gets an extended run at right edge alongside Kiwi-NRL lads Jahrome Hughes, Reimis Smith and Warbrick.
Black Sticks men managed to grab a 2-2 draw with Argentina this week in FIH Pro League, although it finished as a shootout loss. Black Sticks men and women are 1-3 in shootouts during Pro League. BSW lost both of theirs and the lads won a shootout vs Spain late last year. The last three games for both Black Sticks teams were all losses, although the margins have decreased which could be a positive. Here are all the results of the European tour and their Pro League standings...
BSM vs Argentina: 1-6 loss
BSW vs Argentina: 2-1 win
BSW vs Belgium: 0-7 loss
BSM vs Belgium: 1-3 loss
BSM vs Argentina: 2-2 (s/o loss)
BSW vs Argentina: 0-4 loss
BSW vs Belgium: 1-2 loss
BSM vs Belgium: 0-1 loss
BSM: 9th / 0-2-10 / -26 goal difference / 3 points
BSW: 8th / 2-2-8 / -20 goal difference / 8 points
The Euro tour moves into games against Germany and Netherlands this weekend. Two more high quality hockey nations who are unlikely to slip up against Aotearoa.
Musical jam...
Wildcard’s Notebook
It took awhile to get there but Rayan Rupert has been drafted at 43 overall by the Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA Draft. He was the last remaining bloke in attendance waiting to be picked. Nervous times but the important thing to remember with the draft system is that the fit ultimately matters much more than the number. It’s worth it to drop down the ladder and end up in a more positive spot.
Whether the Trail Blazers will be that or not... dunno. They’re in a weird place as they ponder whether to trade Damian Lillard. The Blazers also picked third overall taking Scoot Henderson as well as getting Kris Murray at 23 and if they do trade Lillard then a youth rebuild probably boosts Rupert’s chances of getting minutes as a rookie. We’ll leave that up to them to figure out, aye? Instead let’s focus on the Breakers providing the final step on the path for another NBA talent – the fourth Breakers player to be drafted to the NBA following on from RJ Hampton, Ousmane Dieng, and Hugo Besson.
Note that former Breakers assistant coach Jacob Mooallem is a team analyst for the Blazers now. He didn’t cross paths with Rupert as he’d already left by then but obviously he’s got a close line on Mody Maor.
This also, gotta say it, continues the trend of NBL guys being picked lower than we’re constantly assured all season that they will be. Dieng and Josh Giddey are happy exceptions to that rule and both went to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Other than them, there’s still no proof that the NBL is improving people’s draft stocks. We can safely say they don’t harm them either but it’s that NBA scouting industry is a strange thing.
Case and point: the fact that one of the experts who has continually assured us that Rupert would be taken in the first round, Jonathan Givony, is actually on the Breakers payroll as a team scout. Others ranked him similarly high too and you’ve gotta think that Rupert’s presence was a big reason why Sean Marks took in a Breakers game live a few months back. But in the end these teams kept on finding someone better to pick ahead of him.
Rupert is a steal at 43 though. Great get for the Blazers as a rare rookie who should be able to hold his own defensively from the outset and with a shooting form that should see significant improvements in his field goal accuracy down the line. Also, his sister was drafted to the WNBA a couple years ago. She won a championship with Las Vegas as a rookie and is now with the Atlanta Dream. Clearly it runs in the family.
Should mention that Mojave King was picked up a few spots later at 47 by the Indiana Pacers too. King was born in New Zealand with an American father (Leonard King) and NZ mother (Tracey King nee Paul), both prominent figures in the Otago basketball community. However Mojave and the fam moved to Australia when he was four and he considers himself to be Australian. Bit of an Aron Baynes situation where he’s sometimes going to be called a New Zealander even though he isn’t really. Still, mark him down as the fourth Aotearoa-born player drafted into the NBA after Baynes, Steven Adams, and Sean Marks. Chuck in Megan Compain if you’re counting WNBA too, and why not.
Mojave King signed as a Next Star with Cairns a couple years ago then transferred to Adelaide the next year before moving to the G-League Ignite programme instead which has led to him getting picked up here. Unfortunately he got drafted during an ad break on ESPN... then again so did Nikola Jokic back in the day.
There were also whispers of Carlin Davison and Flynn Cameron declaring for this draft and there will have been a couple other kiwi players who were automatically eligible. None that got picked up, which was completely expected... but keep an eye out for those undrafted free agent stories. Cameron and Davison both spent time in Los Angeles in recent times. Might be able to wrangle a summer league invite out of that. Cameron’s already signed with Melbourne United for the NBL season but they’re surely not gonna get in his way if something like that comes along. He’d only be a better player for it.
The Oceania U19s Women’s Championships are underway and the New Zealand team began their quest with a 3-0 win over host nation Fiji. This is qualification for the U20 World Cup next year so important areas. Goals were scored by Emma Pijnenburg (15’) and Rebekah Trewhitt (65’, 74’)
Gotta say they were pretty sloppy in this game. Lots of giveaways, partly brought about by a very one-note strategy of trying to get the ball in behind the high Fijian defensive line. Problem with that was it turned things into a physical battle and Fiji just seemed stronger and faster in those moments, with the offside flag a regular spoiler as well. However they did take an early lead when Pijnenburg curled one in from range after noticing the keeper was out of position and that always helps. Ruby Nathan hit the post too although Fiji rattled the crossbar themselves later in the first half as they unleashed several feisty long shots.
Luckily the NZers came out with more patience and control in the second half, much more willing to work the ball around and find those angled low crosses from the wide areas. Fiji ran out of gas so goalie Aimee Danieli was untroubled the rest of the way. Then finally a couple goals, each from set pieces, each straight after making substitutions, each from Fijian goalkeeping mistakes, made the scoreline much more comfortable. One was a free kick spilled to Rebekah Trewhitt. The other was a corner kick spilled to Rebekah Trewhitt. Zoe Benson probably should have added a fourth late on while Manaia Elliott also hit the post and Alexis Cook did put one in but she was ruled offside.
Plenty of room for improvement but these OFC tourneys are all about whatever means necessary. This was the first game and it was against probably the next best team in contention. They had some scares and they certainly didn’t play to their potential but that’s fine because they got the win.
Starting XI (4-2-3-1): Aimee Feinberg-Danieli | Rebekah Trewhitt, Marie Green, Ella McMillan, Zoe McMeeken (c) | Emma Pijnenburg, Charlotte Mortlock | Manaia Elliott, Ella McCann, Kiara Bercelli
| Ruby Nathan
Subs Used: Alexis Cook (Bercelli 63’), Helena Errington (Mortlock 63’), Zoe Benson (McCann 73’), Suya Haering (McMeeken 73’), Danielle Canham (Nathan 82’)
The European football summer transfer window opens at different times in different nations but it’s the start of July when things really kick off. That’s when expiring contracts will officially end and all the major leagues will rip into their business. Having said that, we know those things are merely guidelines and that dealings get done outside the windows too (they just can’t be confirmed/finalised).
It’s shaping like another hectic few months for kiwi players – in the written preview to the recent All Whites tour I noted how damn near half the squad could be moving clubs. Tommy Smith, Callan Elliot, and Max Crocombe are all free agents with Marco Rojas likely to join them imminently. Oli Sail and Clayton Lewis are switching A-League teams. Marko Stamenic’s move to Serbia becomes official in a week. Matt Garbett (and also Chris Wood) is on a loan that’s soon to become permanent. Nik Tzanev has had some rumours. Francis De Vries will probably aim for a move back to Europe once his fitness is at the required spot. It’s worth keeping an eye on Eli Just, Callum McCowatt, Max Mata, and Nando Pijnaker who all have room to move up the ranks while Joe Bell’s lack of recent game time for Brøndby is a sneaky one.
Less impending drama for the women... although that’s largely because of the focus being on the World Cup. After that spotlight event there’s every chance of a few moves, particularly as those European clubs get busy ahead of their seasons. Seems like all four of the Ferns in the English WSL are staying put but with a plethora of A-League free agents there’s a decent hope they get some company while leagues in Germany, Scandinavia, and Scotland have often been kind to kiwi players in the past.
A couple of wider notes... looks like Tottenham Hotspur are signing Liberato Cacace’s Empoli teammate Guglielmo Vicario. Really good goalkeeper who has stood out in Serie A for a couple seasons now. Of course the one we’re really waiting for is left back Fabiano Parisi. Sooner he leaves and clears the path for Cacace to be a regular starter the better. Latest on that is he’s now Juventus’ top preference for the position as they seek to move on from Alex Sandro. Empoli are one of those teams that have a lot of player turnover from year to year and their predilection for loan deals only adds to that.
Also nice to see reports that Emmanuel Dennis is “highly likely” to leave Nottingham Forest this window. He was a bit of a flop so, despite only signing a year ago, they’re already seeking to move him on... which is good news because it’ll remove one more striker option from a hugely bloated NFFC squad that Chris Wood finds himself a part of. They made a disgusting 30 new signings over the course of the last two windows so there’s some shuffling to be done there. Taiwo Awoniyi’s late season form definitely nudges him ahead of Woodsy in the pecking order although there may be room for both if Brennan Johnson ends up leaving with plenty of clubs apparently keen on him (if they can match NFFC’s valuation).