Sneaky Mince
Steven Adams Speaks, UFC 271 Preview, Alex Greive at St Mirren & The Undercover Kiwi-NRL Cronulla Sharks
Podcast
TNC Variety Show 50
The Niche Cast: The Empty Vessel
Reading Menu
Welcome To The Annual Wellington Phoenix Midseason Revival (Football)
Football Ferns at the 2022 She Believes Cup: Squad Yarns (Football)
Flying Kiwis – February 8 (Football)
What Does Progress Look Like For The Wellington Phoenix Women This Season? (Football)
2022 Women's World Cup: Aotearoa's White Ferns Squad (Cricket)
2021/22 HBJ Shield: Wellington, Northern And Ranginui Wins (Cricket)
2021/22 Ford Trophy: Central Stags Stay Undefeated (Cricket)
Scotty’s Word
UFC 271…
Israel Adesanya leads the Kiwi-MMA crew at UFC 271 to go down on Sunday afternoon NZT. Team Citykickboxing homies Carlos Ulberg and Mike ‘Blood Diamond’ Mathetha are deep on the undercard, so deep that they sit in the ‘Early Prelims’ section that is usually only available to watch on UFC Fight Pass. The ‘Prelims’ start at 2pm on ESPN and Adesanya’s fight will likely start around 5:30-6pm.
I covered the Adesanya vs Robert Whittaker rematch, plus some notes on Adesanya’s new UFC deal here. A day removed and having also yarned through this on the Niche Cast, I’m chuffed because of what this move represents for Adesanya. Many kiwis would have a certain perception of Adesanya given his flashy style and quirky nature, yet his new UFC deal is all about mana.
Who knows what the value of the deal is. Regardless, Adesanya has all his financials sorted outside the UFC including various revenue streams and this is crucial for UFC fighters when UFC is sharing a teeny-weeny percentage of their revenue. As a champion, I’m sure Adesanya’s new deal is healthy. I doubt it is in the same ball park as boxing fight purses - whether that be straight up professional boxing or what can be earned in the Paul brothers boxing realm.
Adesanya vs Whittaker Key Stats
Strikes Landed per Min: 3.94 (Adesanya) | 4.68 (Whittaker)
Striking Accuracy: 50% | 41%
Strikes Absorbed per Min: 2.59 | 3.34
Takedowns per 15min: 0.00 | 0.64
Takedown Defence: 80% | 83%
Blood Diamond is fighting Jeremiah Wells in the welterweight division. BD has a funky striking style and follows the CKB recipe, now making his UFC debut against a dude who is 9-2 in MMA with four wins by KO/TKO and three wins by submission.
Ulberg is fighting Fabio Cherant in the light heavyweight division. Ulberg lost his UFC debut fight via 2nd round TKO and needs to show growth in his vibe after stalling under the bright lights. Ulberg is another CKB striker which genuinely means world-class striking and this presents a tricky match up against Cherant (7-3 in MMA) who has five wins by submission.
Peep the similarities there? The freshest CKB UFC fighters both have tricky match ups against lads with more MMA experience, plus styles that seem to skew towards grappling (wrestling/jiu-jitsu etc). These are typically glorious CKB stylistic match ups that test CKB’s striking and grappling defence, the type of match ups that Adesanya handled rather easily on his rise to the belt.
Brewing Blackcaps/White Ferns thought…
I’m writing this as rain falls in Auckland and whether it’s chilly rain further south, or humid rain in the northern regions; summer rainfall has hit Aotearoa. I still have this idea about spin bowling in Aotearoa that I’m working through despite the ample rainfall: the narrative around spin bowling in Aotearoa now meets late summer cricket.
Late summer cricket means hot and dry conditions. Again, this is just something I’m working through and can’t pretend like Aotearoa summers stretch all the way to April. I have however followed the mahi of Plunket Shield spinners in March and whether it’s raining or not, cricket pitches have been simmering away for a few months of peak summer.
This hasn’t resulted in any drastic change for Blackcaps Test cricket played in February. Let me make that clear. What I’m pondering is how Keshav Maharaj was the best bowler when South Africa last toured Aotearoa in March 2017. Maharaj took 15w 2.60rpo, Jeetan Patel took 7w @ 2.60rpo while JP Duminy and Mitchell Santner both bowled 20+ overs.
That’s a note because all three Tests were played in March. Both Tests vs South Africa this summer are played in February and in Christchurch, so let’s see how that plays out. The Women’s World Cup will be played in March though and I believe Leigh Kasperek’s absence is partly due to White Ferns confidence in their seam attack, getting spin from Amelia Kerr and Amy Satterthwaite. Frances Mackay and Fran Jonas are in the squad, yet I’m struggling to see either play major roles.
White Ferns will believe they can copy the Blackcaps when playing in Aotearoa. India showcased a bunch of nifty spinners in the lone T20I on Wednesday and if we have a few dry weeks to round out February, I’m curious to see how big a factor spin is during the World Cup.
Undercover Kiwi-NRL Cronulla Sharks…
There are some headline Kiwi-NRL clubs and I’m working through this idea of Cronulla Sharks being the low key club to keep tabs on. Shaun Johnson’s returned to Warriors but the Sharks have a funky Kiwi-NRL crew spread through their club. Salesi Ataata (Otahuhu) is now joined by Carlos Tarawhiti (Pakuranga) in the SG Ball squad for this weekend, plus the Sharks Jersey Flegg squad features Toataua Porima (RBHS), Ceiza James (RBHS), Marco Talagi (Otara).
Semisi Sikei (Otahuhu) hasn’t popped up in the JF squad and could start in JF or might be straight into NSW Cup.
Former Warriors Kayal Iro and Tyler Slade move up from JF to NSW Cup (reserve grade). Jensen Taumoepeau (New Plymouth) will make his NRL debut this season if healthy, Jackson Ferris (Palmerston North) has already played NRL but missed last season with injury. 2019 Junior Kiwi Charbel Tasipale moves from Eels to Sharks.
Sharks NRL squad: Braden Hamlin-Uele (Glenora), Mawene Hiroti (Western Suburbs - Taranaki), Ronaldo Mulitalo (Otara), Briton Nikoa (Tauranga).
Wildcard’s Notebook
Greivous Damage
Mate, Alex Greive has played four games of professional football in his career. The game in which he scored that goal was only his second start, it was his first ninety minute performance, and at the end of it he’d played 180 minutes in total. Plus another 25 or so mins in a cup game. And yet here’s his coach afterwards saying things like this...
Different class. Superb. Man of the match. And he’s not just saying that for the camera either, the gaffer made a point of putting an arm around AG after the final whistle and giving him a few encouraging words with a massive smile on his face.
I’ve watched quite a bit of those four Scottish Premiership matches and initially I thought the thing that he’d have the most trouble with was the physicality of some of those massive burly central defenders. He definitely isn’t winning a heap of headers. But that game against St Johnstone he was genuinely excellent at holding the ball up. The way he’d anticipate where the ball was going and then adjust his body to suit, it shows you don’t have to be the biggest man on the part to hold your own for strength.
Don’t forget that even aside from the goal he scored, he won the penalty that equalised things for St Mirren late in the first half. And he won it by getting his body in the right position to draw contact via a shove in the back. He was doing that kinda thing all day. Winning foul after foul. I mean, just look at this...
Greive did have to drift and drop into space to collect the ball quite often. All the way out wide a few times which is going to limit his shooting opportunities but it’s also going to help facilitate things for those around him and you can guarantee that his coach has spotted that. All four games in which Greive has played, the Buddies have won.
How’s this for a timeline...
18 January 2022 – Alex Greive’s transfer to St Mirren is confirmed
18 January 2022, evening – Alex Greive makes his Scottish Premiership debut off the bench in a 2-1 win over Dundee United
26 January 2022 – After a couple more subs appearances for St Mirren, Greive is called up to replace an unavailable Andre De Jong in the All Whites squad, his first senior call-up
28 January 2022 – Alex Greive makes his national team debut off the bench against Jordan
5 February 2022 – Alex Greive returns to St Mirren after international duty and immediately makes his starting debut in a 1-0 win over Hibernian
9 February 2022 – Alex Greive scores his first goal for St Mirren, the 49th minute winning goal in a 2-1 win over St Johnston having earlier won the penalty that they’d equalised from
***Steven Adams Interview Alert***
Good yarns. They always are when Steve-o talks. Unfortunately he didn’t get asked the question that The Niche Cache submitted about his favourite pie (though other sources indicate he’s partial to a sneaky mince) but he did answer plenty else. Here are a few transcribed quotes for those of you too lazy to listen to a swift half hour podcast. Or who just want to see things given more context, dunno.
On his nickname...
“Steve-o’s fine. It’s been a staple ever since I came to America. I’m pretty hard to find a nickname for, I think. Steven Adams is such a default name, you know what I mean? Nothing special. Nothing too fancy about it so adding an O and taking away the N seems to be maximum coolness... although my Maori name back in New Zealand is Tipene so people used to call me Tips.”
On what makes this team so good...
“I’m still learning the ropes. I know I’m more than halfway through the season and that but it’s hard to give a proper analysis yet, if that makes sense. But face value, from what I’m seeing, the culture in terms of how positive and fun everything is, and that’s the main thing and the main focus and that’s the key. We all have the same goal in mind, trying to make it as far as possible and win championships. Stuff like this. Obviously we have that in sight but we don’t dwell on any of the small things. We’ll tidy them up, we’ll acknowledge them to the finest detail, but then to move on from that and just progress is quite special here. It’s being pushed from the management, pushed from the coaches, and also pushed by the players. Everyone is on the same page which is amazing. And that’ll give you the best chance of success in whatever you’re trying to do, if everyone’s on the same page and everyone’s singing the same song.”
On communication amongst teammates...
“Honestly is quite ugly sometimes. It’s not always going to look pretty. Some people might yell it. Something crazy. However it gets across, as long as the message is received well and it’s efficient.”
On who he’s been learning most from this season...
“I’ve been learning a lot from Tyus and Ja. I usually choose my cues from the guards and how they operate because I feel it helps me more to understand what they’re trying to accomplish on the floor. It’s a lot from Tyus. And this goes on how he plays, what he sees. Same with Ja, what he sees and what he’s trying to attack. Stuff like this. Along with that I think I learn the most from Coach and Darko, and some of the assistant coaches. Mainly from that strategy side. Overall picture. I think I’m at that stage now.”
On the similarities between Ja Morant and Russell Westbrook...
“Well they’re both amazing attackers. That’s the most similar, like they’re really good downhill attackers. It’s tough to guard. And also I guess just the highlight stuff. It’s just one of those things when it happens you’re like: what the... They’re just amazing. They have that same energy. It seems quite effortless for them but then for us mere mortals we’re just like: oh my goodness.”
On his legendary diet...
“Yeah I eat the vast majority of food. Everything but... vegetable are tough for me. Because it takes too long. I feel like when I order a salad I’ll be eating the same salad for half an hour. It just takes awhile, all the chewing and whatnot. I’m a bit of a caveman savage, give me a steak and I’ll take care of that in thirty seconds... I mean I still do veges, I just blend it down... you have to hit the greens, it’s part of the injury prevention.”
On whether he’s ever met actor Jason Momoa...
“No I haven’t. People have been trying to link us up but I’ve always found that quite awkward, you know what i mean? If you meet someone just like: hey meet this person they look like you! It’s like, oh hey we look like each other. And then that’s it. That’s as far as that conversation goes.”
On his iconic and unique sense of fashion...
“My rule of thumb for my teammates is if I really like it, the fashion that they’ve got going on, usually if I give a super good compliment then I tell them to do the opposite. I have no idea what I’m bloody talking about aye? I like colours here and there.”