Simpler Methods
Flying Kiwis Transfer Tracker, Warriors vs Panthers reaction, Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, Kiwi-NRL pipelines, the NBL run-in, and more
Scotty’s Word
Stink loss for NZ Warriors vs Panthers. It's only their fourth loss of the season and the first three losses were all followed by at least two consecutive wins, but it was their second home loss in a row. These last two losses at Mt Smart feature the biggest NZW crowds this year and instead of driving NZW wins, these crowds have hyped up the Aotearoa presence for Raiders and Panthers.
NZ Warriors losses this year
Las Vegas vs Raiders: 8-30
Melbourne vs Storm: 14-42
Auckland vs Raiders: 10-16
Auckland vs Panthers: 18-28
Biggest crowds at Mt Smart this year
Auckland FC vs Victory: 29,148
Auckland FC vs Phoenix: 27,009
Warriors vs Raiders: 26,512
Warriors vs Panthers: 25,012
NZW losses are led by notable dips in their physicality and control. A sneaky issue I'm pondering is that their next game is away to Broncos and if NZW can't win collisions, thus controlling territory and all the usual rugby things, Broncos' firepower will thrive in front of their home crowd.
Not all the stats below had as big a difference as I thought they would. The first group is stats with the biggest differences and they generally fall under the umbrella of winning collisions/ruck control.
Biggest differences
Possession: 44% | 55%
Average set distance: 34.53m | 43.66m
Linebreaks: 2 | 6
Offloads: 1 | 9
Ineffective tackles: 20 | 1
NZW had 9 and 10 offloads in their last two games which were both wins.
Not much difference
Tackle breaks: 39 | 33
Post contact metres per run: 3.4 | 2.92
Metres per run: 9.8 | 9.8
Average play the ball speed: 3.43s | 3.44s
Passes per receipt: 0.53 | 0.55
Jacob Laban was awesome and I reckon his best NRL games are his last two. He made some crazy defensive efforts that I want to clip when the full replay is up on Youtube but for now I'm pondering how the youngsters for NZW won't be getting too big for their boots after experiencing two home losses in front of big crowds.
Minutes in home losses
Leka Halasima: 64 | 80
Demitric Vaimauga: 15 | 38
Jacob Laban: 21 | 71
Tanner Stowers-Smith: - | 19
These young players will benefit from such experiences. They have also stepped up for the busiest phase of their seasons in the last two games...
Minutes in last two games
Leka Halasima: 80, 80
Demitric Vaimauga: 38, 38
Jacob Laban: 50, 71
Tanner Stowers-Smith: 21, 19
Second time Halasima has 80mins in back to back games
First time Vaimauga has 35+ mins in back to back games
First time Laban has 30+ mins in back to back games
First time Stowers-Smith has played back to back games
NZW had a win in NSW Cup vs Panthers and are still top of the table with a 14-1 record. As usual I have plenty of reserve grade and U21 notes for paid subscribers and the Patreon whanau, some of which revolves around Caelys Putoko playing his first game of NSW Cup.
Putoko is from Tokoroa and the former NZ Schools rugby union representative had a year in the Titans system before returning to Aotearoa. He has been a regular in the U21 team and showed his class with two tries on NSW Cup debut...
The funkiest wrinkle from the NZW vs Panthers weekend though was Compton Purcell popping up in the Panthers U21 team. The Pt Chevalier junior scored an awesome try for NZW U19s vs Panthers earlier this year and played one game of U21s before moving to Panthers. Purcell scored a try in the Panthers win vs NZW this weekend and joined another former NZW U21 player in Siale Faeamani who has been with Panthers all season.
In the case of Purcell, he has probably got an opportunity for regular U21 footy with Panthers. That's a promotion from where he was at with NZW and it's a great move for him.
For NZW and NZW fans, this is the joy of having a fabulous pipeline. Purcell isn't the first player from this year's U19 team to depart NZW as Meihana Pauling has already shifted to Titans where he has been playing in their U20 NRLQ team.
NZW have too much emerging talent in their pipeline and other NRL teams can offer better opportunities. All of it falls under the Kiwi-NRL umbrella so I love it. Here's a quick list of NZW juniors who have departed since the end of last season...
Hudysn Frost: U17 (2024) - Sharks U19
Kaawyn Patterson: U17 - Bulldogs U19/U21
Jackson Stewart: U17 - Roosters U19/U21
Ezekiel Ieti: In pipeline but didn't play - Knights U19/U21
Malachi Filipo: U19/U21 - Bulldogs U21
Siale Faeamani: U21 - Panthers U21
Zyon Maiu'u: NSW Cup - Bulldogs NSW Cup
Ben Peni: U21 - Sharks U21
Ieti Samuelu: U21 - Eels U21
Meihana Pauling: U19 - Titans U20
Compton Purcell: U19/U21 - Panthers U21
Turangawaewae junior Aublix Tawha was the ninth Kiwi-NRL debutant of 2025. Usually crazy journeys and background stories are hyped up in the world of sports but there was nothing about Tawha during his debut for Dolphins, despite playing rugby union in Netherlands and being a fullback for Waikato in the 2019 NZRL National Premiership, then debuting as a middle forward.
Here is a round up of all NRLWahine named in trial squads from the last two weeks...
Roosters: Otesa Pule
Sharks: Annessa Biddle, Jaydika Tafua, Brooke Anderson
Eels: Martha Mataele
Bulldogs: Monica Tagoai, Moana Courtenay, Ashleigh Quinlan, Angelina Teakaraanga-Katoa, Alexis Tauaneai, Shaquaylah Mahakitau-Monschau, Shannon Muru, Paea Uilou, Maatuleio Fotu-Moala, Sarahcen Oliver, Waimarie Martin, Simina Lokotui, Lahnayah Mahakitau-Monshau
Tigers: Terina Te Tamaki
Dragons: Raecene McGregor, Nita Maynard, Pia Tapsell, Trinity Tauaneai
Knights: Fane Finau, Grace Kukutai, Shanice Parker, Tenika Willison, Tiana Davison
Raiders: Madison Bartlett, Tatiana Finau, Kerehitina Matua, Amelia Pasikala, Cheyelle Robins-Reti, Leianne Tufuga, Isabella Waterman, Mackenzie Wiki
Broncos: Mele Hufanga, Kerri Johnson, Gayle Broughton, Brianna Clark, Lavinia Gould, Annetta Nu'uausala, Tafito Lafaele, Azalleyah Maaka
Funky wrinkles
Bulldogs had a starting centre combo of Tagoai and Courtenay, who both came from rugby union. 13 of their 27 players named are from Aotearoa.
Mataele starting winger for Eels - first season from rugby union.
Tafua starting edge forward for Sharks. Sister of NZW hooker Makaia and she is the leading youngster from Christchurch as a Papanui junior.
Te Tamaki starting centre for Tigers - first season from Black Ferns Sevens
Tapsell starting prop for Dragons. Couldn't get an NRLW debut for Sharks last year after leaving rugby union.
Johnson starting winger for Broncos with Maaka on the bench - first seasons from rugby union.
T20 Blast takes a break in England and County Championship has swung back around...
T20 Blast stats
Suzie Bates: 281 runs @ 35.1avg/125sr | 4w @ 23.7avg/8rpo
Maddy Green: 28 runs @ 28avg/155sr | 1w @ 14avg/4.6rpo
Tom Latham: 179 runs @ 30.2avg/133sr
Jimmy Neesham: 160 runs @ 40avg/147sr | 14w @ 16.2avg/8.4rpo
Zak Foulkes: 13 runs @ 13avg/76sr | 6w @ 33.8avg/7.2rpo
Logan van Beek: 121 runs @ 40.3avg/121sr | 13w @ 21.1avg/8.9rpo
Kane Williamson: 200 runs @ 33.3avg/145sr
Matt Henry: 10w @ 20.2avg/7.7rpo
Mitchell Santner: 29 runs @ 14.5avg/111sr | 13w @ 11.3avg/6.9rpo
Nathan Smith: 15 runs @ 167sr | 8w @ 23.7avg/8.3rpo
Jacob Duffy: 24 runs @ 8avg/160sr | 10w @ 23.2avg/8.2rpo
Will O'Rourke: 26 runs @ 26avg/93sr | 9w @ 32.2avg/9.3rpo
County Championship round up ahead of day two
Will O'Rourke (Yorkshire): 15ov, 1w @ 4rpo
Henry Nicholls (Worcestershire): 31 runs
Jacob Duffy (Worcestershire): 10 runs | 5ov @ 3.6rpo
Nathan Smith (Surrey): 12ov, 1w @ 2.2rpo
Mitchell Santner (Surrey): 15ov, 1w @ 2.5rpo
Tim Robinson (Northamptonshire): 1ov @ 8rpo
No action yet for Matt Henry (Somerset) vs Tom Latham (Worcestershire)
The NZ-A women's team had a warm up game vs England Development and I have notes for that beyond the paywall and for the Patreon whanau. Beyond the paywall last Thursday I had some Will O'Rourke stuff. Here's it updated now after the T20 Blast game from the weekend...
T20 Blast game by game
vs Northamptonshire: 4ov @ 16.7rpo | 5* @ 167sr
vs Worcestershire: 4ov, 1w @ 10rpo
vs Birmingham: 4ov @ 10.2rpo
vs Leicestershire: 3ov, 1w @ 4rpo
vs Nottinghamshire: 0* | 4ov, 1w @ 7.7rpo
vs Birmingham: 4ov, 3w @ 7.7rpo
vs Durham: 21* @ 95sr | 4ov @ 7.7rpo
vs Durham: 4ov, 3w @ 9.2rpo | 0 runs
Batting break down
Test: 18 runs @ 3avg/9.3sr
ODI: 6 runs @ 3avg/40sr
FC: 86 runs @ 7.1avg/20.3sr
LA: 70 runs @ 7avg/41.6sr
T20: 49 runs @ 16.3avg/98sr
Not-outs
Test: 18 innings | 12 not-outs
ODI: 4 innings | 2 not-outs
T20I: 1 inning
FC: 34 innings | 22 not-outs
LA: 18 innings | 8 not-outs
T20: 11 innings | 8 not-outs
Total: 86 innings | 52 not-outs
Musical jam...
Wildcard’s Notebook
The NBA Draft is happening next week and there’s no reason to fuss about it from the usual Steven Adams perspective because his Houston Rockets just traded away their tenth overall pick as part of the Kevin Durant deal so they won’t be adding anyone. There is always the Sean Marks x Brooklyn Nets angle though it’s hard to stay enthused about the Nets as they embark on a new rebuild on top of their original rebuild. Chances are, there won’t be any Aotearoa focus to bother with... but just in case, the name you’ll want to learn is: Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones.
ATJ began his college career with Hawai’i Hilo playing Division 2 ball, where he was awesome. Over three years, he scored consistently and won plenty of accolades. That led to a transfer to UC San Diego where he spent the last two years of his NCAA career, peaking with a superb senior season just gone in which he won the 2025 Big West Conference Player of the Year award – the first New Zealander to ever win a conference POTY honour.
Tait-Jones shot more free throws than any other player in Div1 college basketball during that season. He averaged 19.1 points per game with shooting splits of 57.6 / 31.3 / 75.1 along with 5.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists (his skill set is more that of a power forward, which is what he showed in college, though his size will put him in more of a SG/SF mould in the pros... so he may admittedly need to work on that jump shot). More than that, he earned plenty of praise for his excellent attitude, his crafty decision-making, and his mature leadership.
Plenty to like about a 6’6 wing who can do all of those things. Probably not enough to see him scooped up in the draft, although a sneaky second round punt is not impossible. As it stands, there have been four NZ-born players drafted into the NBA across history but two of them were Australians (Aron Baynes and Mojave King). Steven Adams (12 overall in 2013) and Sean Marks (second round in 1998) are the real ones.
Niwa could get a nudge in that direction but the more likely path seems to be targeting a two-way deal as an undrafted free agent, with Summer League surely on the cards one way or another. It’s already been reported that he’s had workouts for a plethora of NBA teams: Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Brooklyn Nets, and Oklahoma City Thunder.
If that doesn’t work for him then whatevs there’s always the NBL where he should walk onto a roster with a full contract. Unless he opts to head overseas instead. The timing of the NBA quest might lean more towards an overseas fallback... but first things first.
The NBL Finals Run-In...
Canterbury Rams (14-3): Taranaki (H), Wellington (A), Franklin (H)
Wellington Saints (14-4): Hawke’s Bay (H), Canterbury (H)
Manawatu Jets (9-7): Franklin (A), Auckland (A), Tauranga (A), Otago (H)
Taranaki Airs (10-8): Canterbury (A), Otago (H)
Southland Sharks (10-8): Tauranga (H), Nelson (A)
Auckland Tuatara (8-9): Nelson (A), Manawatu (H), Hawke’s Bay (A)
Franklin Bulls (8-10): Manawatu (H), Canterbury (A)
Tauranga Whai (7-10): Otago (A), Southland (A), Manawatu (H)
Nelson Giants (7-11): Auckland (H), Southland (H)
Hawke’s Bay Hawks (7-11): Wellington (A), Auckland (H)
Otago Nuggets (2-15): Tauranga (H), Taranaki (A), Manawatu (A)
Canterbury and Wellington are already booked in with top two seeds, it’s just a matter of in which order... and after the Jets beat a Taylor Britt-less Rams side last night to snap the 10-game winning streak suddenly that scrap for the top seed could be very interesting... as they face each other in the final round.
Beyond that, it’s spots 3-6 that get finals entry so we’re probably looking at 10 wins being the buffer. That’s a mark that neither Nelson nor HB can reach, so they’ll be begging for other results to go their way. Especially Nelson, who’ve overcome their awful start to have won six of their last eight. Feels like they may have left it slightly too late though. If they beat the Tuatara on Wednesday then they’ll still have a chance. If they lose then it’s all over for them (and Hawke’s Bay).
By the way, the U19 FIBA Men’s World Cup begins this weekend and Aotearoa have an absolutely stacked squad of supreme young talent. The Tall Ferns will also name their Asia Cup squad this evening at 7pm so check for some yarns on that probably in Thursday’s email.
Auckland City played their second game at the Club World Cup on Saturday and lost 6-0 against Benfica. They almost held them at 0-0 until half-time only for Haris Zeb to concede a penalty which Angel Di Maria converted in the eighth minute of stoppage time. Then came a two-hour weather delay due to thunderstorms in Orlando, Florida... and that pretty much rigged it against ACFC. Obviously the semi-pro team was not going to have the conditioning to wait two hours and then pick up where they left off for another forty-five. They conceded a steady diet of goals in the second half, the last of them being an Angel Di Maria penalty in the eighth-minute of stoppage time. Yup, both halves ended in the exact same way.
To be honest, City were lucky to still be at 0-0 as long as they were. Benfica missed several good chances and were heavily dominant throughout, just lacking the same cutting edge that Bayern Munich had shown. Actually, the best spell for ACFC was the opening five minutes after the weather delay where they were able to spend some time on attack and create a few halfies of their own. Same as the first game, it’s hard to single out players when the whole team was so thoroughly outplayed (as was always going to be the case given the gulf in talent between the two). But young backup keeper Nathan Garrow made several good stops to get his name out there.
Another hefty defeat for Auckland City, no dramas there. Despite what silly buggers from overseas might say, there’s nothing embarrassing about any of these results. But it was kinda embarrassing seeing midfielder Tong Zhou throw a hissy-fit after the medical staff tried to substitute him following a concussion test.
Zhou is the only Chinese player at the entire tournament and he did an interview with Chinese media after the Bayern game in which a few ACFC folks were quoted talking about what a lovely bloke he is. No doubt that’s true... it’s just funny to read after he threw his toys like that. Tong Zhou was a common presence in the Chinese leagues before moving to Auckland City two years ago to accompany his wife who is studying for a masters degree in NZ and he just sorta fell into playing for Auckland City without any prior intentions. Now he’s meeting Bayern and Benfica at the Club World Cup. Another one of those amazing stories.
Flying Kiwis Transfer Tracker
It is time. Transfer season is upon us and therefore the regular Transfer Tracker segment shall return to these newsletters. Think of this is a companion to the weekly Flying Kiwis roundups. There will be some crossover but, generally, the Tracker will deal more with rumours and speculation whereas FKs is about going deeper into confirmed happenings.
For example, Flying Kiwis last week explained about why Victoria Esson has decided to leave Rangers. The Transfer Tracker here will now throw up the interesting ‘coincidence’ that one of her RFC teammates, Tessel Middag, just signed with the Wellington Phoenix – who have already used three of their five visa spots and the impressive import goalie that they had last season, Carolina Vilao, recently posted her farewells to the country on her Instagram.
Further abroad, after Nik Tzanev popped up with Newport County last week, another All Whites goalkeeper looks set for a move. Max Crocombe was offered new terms by Burton Albion at the conclusion of last season but clearly nothing’s doing there... and now he’s being strongly linked with Millwall FC. While Tzanev has dipped from League One to League Two with his move (in search of more game time), Crocombe is jumping from a team that barely avoided League One relegation to a side that only just missed out on the playoffs in the Championship. Millwall have an established number one in Danish keeper Lukas Jensen but he tore his achilles tendon in April so probably won’t play again until close to Christmas. That’s potentially going to give Crocs a clear run of games to prove his worth at the highest level he’ll have played at to date. Supposing it happens.
George Stanger has also made a jump up the divisions. He’s left Ayr United to join Kilmarnock as a free agent. Had been linked with a move to an EFL club but he’s chosen to stay in Scotland. After running down his contract with Ayr United in order to try and earn promotion to the Scottish Premiership, only to get injured as AU fell short in the playoffs, Stanger’s gotten there by a simpler method. He’s already started training with his new team. Not sure if he’ll be seen as a first eleven addition straight away but they did lose their best centre-back to free agency a few weeks ago and they’ve got a brand new manager so you never know.
One fella moves into the Scottish Premiership realms, another dips out. James McGarry fell out of favour with Aberdeen so a departure made sense for all parties. He’s been released from his contract one year early to join Brisbane Roar on a three-year deal. Seems like there’s been a sneaky boost in kiwis at Aussie A-League clubs lately. Sam Sutton to Perth. Kosta Barbarouses to Western Sydney. Dane Ingham has left Newcastle Jets to join Sabah FC in Malaysia but Oli Sail remains at Perth alongside Sutts.
Maya Hahn was one of roughly half the Turbine Potsdam squad who left after their Bundesliga relegation (they didn’t win a game all season, getting just one draw). She’s not staying in the top flight though. Instead she’s joined Viktoria Berlin, who have only just been promoted to the second tier. Hahn’s left a team on the slide to join a team on the rise... meeting in the middle. Suya Haering is still with Turbine so hopefully they both get promoted.
These are all the clubs that have been specifically linked with Liberato Cacace so far:
Roma, Torino, Cagliari, Pisa, Cremonese, Lecce, Nice (FRA), Anderlecht (BEL)
There’s also chat of an English Championship club (with promotion aspirations) hovering around but no names have been mentioned yet. Cagliari seems to be the club with the most interest and Il Tirreno have claimed that a price tag around the €3-4m range is anticipated.
Contracts from last season expire on 30 June so there should be plenty of clarity arriving over the next week. Sunderland’s women were nice enough to get their retained list out early so we know now that Katie Kitching has re-signed for next season. Of the others in England, Indi Riley has one more year with Crystal Palace after their relegation to the second tier (where she’ll face Kitching). Pretty much everyone else we have to assume are coming off contract but, as I say, we should get some clarity there. Mickey Foster was featured in a training clip for Durham so it looks like she’s staying.
This is the latest update on Elijah Just’s situation...
NÖN-PLUS: “Also still pending: Elijah Just's continued commitment. SKN has until June 30th to exercise the purchase option. The move is said to be for €180,000. However, the New Zealander would prefer a move away from St. Pölten. "We're still considering it. We still have a little time," [Sporting Director] Freitag explains.”
Just was on loan with SKN last season but, like the fella says, they have an option to buy. Based on that, Just would rather they didn’t use it and by the sounds of it the Wolves might not be able to afford the output anyway. But we’ll know within a week. There’s also a two-year contract extension option for Sarpreet Singh at UD Leiria if they choose to accept it, otherwise he’ll be unattached again. Other notable free agents include: Matt Garbett, Ben Waine, and Niko Kirwan... while Tyler Bindon, Marko Stamenic, and Alex Paulsen are all on loan watch (granted, nothing’s gonna happen there for a wee while).
Done Deals
Scott Morris - Stoke U21s to Auckland FC
Sam Sutton - Wellington Phoenix to Perth Glory
Lara Colpi - St Polten to FC Thun
Dane Ingham - Newcastle Jets to Sabah FC
Nik Tzanev - Northampton Town to Newport County
James McGarry - Aberdeen to Brisbane Roar
George Stanger - Ayr United to Kilmarnock
Maya Hahn - Turbine Potsdam to Viktoria Berlin
Musical Jam...