Spontaneous Itches
Warriors vs Dolphins stat preview, U20s World Cup footy, Kai Kara-France, Tai Webster in the NBL, NZ NBA records + ex-All Whites coaches
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Reading Menu
Forecasting The Blackcaps 2023 ODI World Cup Squad (Cricket)
10 Of The Best Emerging Wahine Cricketers In Aotearoa After The 2022/23 Season (Cricket)
Aotearoa at the 2023 Men’s U20 World Cup: Complete Fustigation vs Argentina (Football)
Aotearoa at the 2023 Men’s U20 World Cup: End Of The Road vs USA (Football)
Flying Kiwis – May 30 (Football)
2023 NRLWahine: Breaking Down All Aotearoa Wahine in NRLW (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Stay Ready Broncos With Deine Mariner & Xavier Willison (Rugby League)
2023 Battle of Aotearoa: Team Tamaki Makaurau (Rugby League)
2023 Battle of Aotearoa: Team Aotearoa (Rugby League)
Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Bouncing Back vs Dolphins At Mt Smart (Rugby League)
27fm Weekly Playlist: May 29 (Music)
Scotty’s Word
Kai Kara-France fights this weekend against Amir Albazi in the UFC. Kara-France is one of City Kickboxing's best fighters right now and I'm curious how he performs in this flyweight bout. Here are some basic stats for the prep mahi...
(KKF vs Albazi)
Strikes Landed per Min: 4.7 vs 3.54
Strikes Absorbed per Min: 3.57 vs 2.47
Takedowns Average: 0.51 vs 2.47
Takedown Defence: 87% vs 66%
Kara-France is coming off a loss to champion Brandon Moreno and has a 3-1 record in recent fights. Albazi has earned this opportunity via a 4-0 run. Kara-France has embedded himself near the top of the flyweight division without reaching the upper echelon and now he fights a bloke who is trying to overtake the kiwi. This is a sneaky CKB storyline at the moment as Israel Adesanya is the only lad to be a UFC champion and dwell in the upper echelon, while other CKB fighters have hit a ceiling below the championship level.
I have dipped away from big Kiwi-UFC previews and yarns, as well as Lydia Ko on the LPGA tour. After last year's epic mahi, Ko has the following results this year...
T6, T31, T34, Cut, T42
Here is the NZ Warriors vs Dolphins preview for Saturday's game. Below are bits and bobs that may help your viewing and yarning experience...
NZ Warriors vs Dolphins stats
Tries: 13th (5th)
Penalties Conceded: 5th (11th)
Missed Tackles: 6th (4th)
Offloads: 13th (9th)
Dummy Half Runs: 16th (9th)
Set Completion: 3rd (4th)
Kick Return Metres: 3rd (7th)
Kicking Metres: 4th (10th)
Linebreaks: 8th (9th)
Post Contact Metres: 10th (5th)
Run Metres: 8th (10th)
Tackle Breaks: 5th (13th)
NZ Warriors only have one player in top-50 for missed tackles. Dolphins have four...
Isaiya Katoa: 45
Jackson Ford: 44
Tom Gilbert: 42
Ray Stone: 34
Connelly Lemuelu: 33
Tom Gilbert won't play vs Warriors. Stone is starting lock - Warriors can target edges and middle.
Tohu Harris has played 80mins in six of nine games this season. 40.8 tackles/game. 130.3 metres/game. 4 linebreak assists as well
Addin Fonua-Blake rankings...
Run Metres: 17th
Post Contact Metres: 8th
Tackle Busts: 25th
Offloads: 36th
Linebreaks: 37th
Tackles: 47th
Rocco Berry 2023 breakdown
NSW Cup: 4 games, 2 tries, 3 try assists, 7 tackle busts, 5 offloads 92.8% tackling, 114m/game
NRL: 2 games, 1 try assist, 4 tackle busts, 1 offload, 92.5% tackling, 90m/game
Another bonkers Selumiela 'Leka' Halasima update...
vs Bulldogs: 19mins
vs Magpies: 44mins
vs Knights: 38mins
vs Sea Eagles: 52mins
vs Eels: 56mins
vs Roosters: 68mins
vs Bears: 45mins
vs Panthers: 80mins
Halasima is still at school and played 80mins of NSW Cup. All up…
8 games
3 tries
150 tackles @ 87%
102m/game
21 tackle busts
Demitric Sifakula (19yrs) played 12mins vs Broncos and backed up with 52mins in NSW Cup vs Panthers. 50+ mins in all 8 games of NSW Cup, 60+ mins in 6 of them. 4 consecutive games with a linebreak. Also…
4 tries
5 linebreaks
225 tackles @ 93%
99m/game
31 tackle busts
Blackcaps ODI batting averages…
Will Young: 49.33avg
Kane Williamson: 47.83avg
Devon Conway: 45.81avg
Daryl Mitchell: 43.63avg
Michael Bracewell: 42.5
Martin Guptill: 41.73avg
Tom Latham: 35.49avg
Henry Nicholls: 34.92avg
Kyle Jamieson: 34avg
Glenn Phillips: 31.9avg
Finn Allen: 31.35avg
Mitchell Santner: 28.36avg
Jimmy Neesham: 28.17avg
Blackcaps ODI bowling averages…
Henry Shipley: 23.93avg
Trent Boult: 23.97avg
Matt Henry: 25.59avg
Glenn Phillips: 26.2avg
Kyle Jamieson: 26.9avg
Lockie Ferguson: 31.04avg
Tim Southee: 33.46
Jimmy Neesham: 34.76avg
Adam Milne: 37.07avg
Ish Sodhi: 38.05avg
Mitchell Santner: 38.58avg
Michael Bracewell: 42.26avg
Blair Tickner: 42.43avg
Rachin Ravindra: 48.25avg
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
The U20 World Cup ended in a bit of a stumble for the New Zealand lads, losing their last two games 5-0 (Argentina) and 4-0 (USA). Outclassed by much bigger nations with much bigger resources and infrastructure. That’s how it goes. As I wrote in my match recap, it’s the stuff that happens after these youth World Cups that really matters as players stride on into professional careers. Not all tend to manage that but the hit-rate is getting better and better each time.
I didn’t delve too deep into the mangroves with overall tournament performances in that piece. They started well in the first game and a half but played within themselves due to some conservative tactics. Then opened up at the point where it no longer mattered because Argentina and USA were simply too good. Especially the Argies... who then lost 2-0 to Nigeria in the knockouts. As soon as the pressure went back on, aye?
So here now are some collated match stats via the FIFA website...
Four games and only 17 combined shots. The lone positive there was that they had a high percentage of those on target and thus were able to score three goals. Surprised to see that the kiwis didn’t complete a single switch of play after the first game considering they always had wide players and that seems an easy outlet to find some space against an oppressive opponent. Tricky to land them though, to be fair. And they were at least able to occasionally get the ball in behind the opposition defensive line - albeit not nearly as often as it happened back the other way.
Possession numbers were also quite confronting (note that FIFA also includes ‘in contest’ possession hence those don’t add up to 100%) plus the overwhelming defensive pressure they were under in those last three games really shows through in these stats. Not sure what ‘goal preventions’ specifically means but damn we made a lot of them. So many crosses to deal with. And the shot tallies... jeepers.
By the way, Uzbekistan lost 1-0 to Israel in the round of sixteen conceding a very late and very avoidable goal. Our entire group has now been eliminated lol.
Every outfielder took the field for NZ, with only backup keepers Henry Gray and Alby Kelly-Heald not getting out there. Starting keeper Kees Sims played every minute as did midfielder Fin Conchie. Captain Finn Surman was the other bloke to start all four games but he did get subbed off for a rest in the Argy defeat. Additionally Oliver Colloty, Jay Herdman, Norman Garbett, and Kian Donkers played some part in all four games. Actually, the way they balanced it, Finn Linder and Everton O’Leary were the only outfielders not to feature in at least three games (they got two each – one sub and one start for EOL, two starts for FL).
Tai Webster is joining the Otago Nuggets for the rest of the NBL, how about that? It’ll be the perennial Tall Black’s first kiwi domestic season since 2013 before he went to college and then progressed into the pro ranks. And it’s an especially big move for the Nuggets who had been 7-0 and atop the table but have lost two games in a row since then. Webster gives the team an elite local guard presence to complement their supreme defensive capabilities and their outside-and-in offence.
There is a bit of adjustment that’ll need to happen alongside import PG JaQuori McLaughlin who also likes to feel the ball in his hands... but that shouldn’t be too much of a drama, especially if they’re competing for a championship. Webster’s gonna boss it on the pick and roll with this lot, giving them a heap more offensive versatility.
Granted, he won’t be available for two more weeks by the sounds of it. That means he’ll be kitted up in time for the last five games of the regular season which is the minimum to be available for the playoffs. The Nuggets have shared ownership with the Perth Wildcats so that’s how this has come together. The rumour has been around for weeks now. As for Tai’s reasoning, pretty simple: this is all about getting reps ahead of the Tall Blacks World Cup campaign – more prevalent for TW than most because of his limited Aussie NBL minutes as a mid-season acquisition who then got injured.
Will there be other Tall Blacks candidates popping back to partake? Maaaaybe. Isaiah Mauriohooho-Le’afa kinda counts in that category although the Wellington Saints were able to convince him to turn up earlier than first anticipated. There are a couple guys overseas who might (Fotu, Wetzell, Delany, Waardenburg) though they’ve been pretty active in their club seasons so it’d be down to whether they feel the personal need.
On the podcast yesterday we spontaneously picked our preferred Tall Blacks World Cup squads and here’s what I ended up with...
PG - Shea Ili, Tai Webster
SG – Corey Webster, Flynn Cameron
SF – Reuben Te Rangi, Tom Abercrombie
PF – Finn Delany, Sam Waardenburg, Hyrum Harris
C – Isaac Fotu, Yanni Wetzell, Rob Loe
Pretty happy with that. Bit short on shooting but stacked with mean defence. Apologies to Izayah Le’afa who’s the next man up in case of injury... and obviously I’d have had Steven Adams were he healthy, probably in place of Harris or maybe Waardenburg. Decent bit of positional flexibility in there too. We’ll see how it goes.
Tai Webster’s not the only recent NBL signing either. There have been roster tweaks the whole way through but this past week went bonkers for them. Especially for new imports, with the timings of a few overseas leagues wrapping up certainly an aid in that cause. But we can let the dust settle on all that until we’ve actually seen them play, ya know?
It was a weirdly good week for ex-All Whites coaches. Danny Hay got himself a new job coaching Perth SC in the at NPL level (aka one tier below the A-League). Not quite the Perth Glory gig that was being rumoured a few months back but maybe that one was never realistic. Hay’s wife is from Perth and he spent a chunk of his playing career there so this is a homecoming of sorts for him. Interesting that the locals seem to be viewing this as a coup to nab a former international boss from whereas in Aotearoa this has been met with indifference. Good luck to him though, always wanna see kiwi coaches doing well.
Meanwhile that pesky old Anthony Hudson fella has found a new gig. He’s left his position as interim boss of the USA men to take up an unspecified head coaching role at a middle eastern club (remember he was with Bahrain prior to New Zealand so there are some prior links to the region). Oddly US Soccer had only one week earlier said that Hudson would remain in charge through the Gold Cup but clearly that’s not happening now. Instead BJ Callaghan has been named as a second consecutive interim – BJC and Huddo were both part of Gregg Berhalter’s staff and Callahan had more recently served as Hudson’s assistant. He’s apparently the longest serving member of the USA technical staff... in other words they’re entering their Darren Bazeley Era.
USA have been without a head coach since Berhalter’s contract expired at the turn of the year amidst some soap opera shenanigans. In short, Gio Reyna wasn’t getting games at the World Cup and he threw his toys out of the pram. Berhalter threatened to send him home. Then Reyna’s mother made public a domestic violence incident of Gregg’s dating back to 1991 – which turns out to have been GB kicking his partner Rosalind in the leg in an argument at a bar (in no way acceptable behaviour... but also on the lower end of the scale tbh). Gregg, 18 years old at the time, and Rosalind patched things up and have been married for 25 years. An investigation concluded it had all been properly reported and he was cleared to be re-hired if desired, thus making the whole thing look far worse for the Reynas... especially since both husbands and wives had been former teammates and friends. But all that drama aside they didn’t bring back Berhalter because, frankly, he wasn’t that good of a coach.
Anthony Hudson spent six months as interim boss of this team, during which he coached five games with two wins, two draws, and one defeat. The results were as follows...
USA 1-2 Serbia (Home)
USA 0-0 Colombia (Home)
Grenada 1-7 USA (Away)
USA 1-0 El Salvador (Home)
USA 1-1 Mexico (Home)
Funky fact... Huddo had the same number of home games with the All Whites in 3.5 years as he did with USA in six months. He even had a better home record with the Dubs: 3 wins, 1 draw (+9 goal difference), compared to: 1 win, 2 draws, 1 loss (0 GD). The big win over Grenada was nice, tops the 6-1 win over Solomon Islands that was his best result with NZ (memorable Chris Wood hatty that day). But his record outside the confederation was just as bad.
Huddo with NZ vs non-OFC:
16 GM | 1 W | 4 D | 11 L | 8 GF | 24 GA | -16 GD
Huddo with USA vs non-CONCACAF:
1 GM | 0 W | 0 D | 1 L | 1 GF | 2 GA | -1 GD
That lone non-Oceania win was, of course, a 1-0 triumph over Oman with Chris Wood scoring the only goal.
Also notable is that USA Soccer just hired Welshman Matt Crocker to be the new Technical Director of the governing body, poaching him from Southampton where he’d spent the last three years in a similar role. Yes, that’d be the same Southampton that just got relegated. A club which used to have one of the best academy pathways in the Premier League and tended to make really smart managerial appointments until they upended that to start buying young players from other clubs (mostly Chelsea) in an expensive change of focus that had drastic negative effects on their first team results and now they’re a Championship club. Yup, USA hired the bloke that masterminded that.
It’s funny because USA’s U20s just smashed ours and it’s so obvious that there’s massive football talent in that country but they hire these mediocre people and continue to fall short of their potential. By the way, Phil Neville just got sacked by Inter Miami after 10 losses from 13 games. America is the place you go to fail upwards in football, apparently.
The race is now on to see whether NZ Football or USA Soccer can find their next men’s head coach first. NZF have been without one for eight months. USSF are up to six months and counting.
Random thought, but I was looking at some Steven Adams stuff the other day and wondering if there are any kiwi NBA records not yet held by Funaki. And the answer is: yeah, a couple. Adams towers above the only other two Aotearoa representatives to make the big league, Sean Marks and Kirk Penney, but he hasn’t yet topped everything...
Despite playing roughly nine times as many minutes and triple the total games, Sean Marks still has one extra year in the league (as a player) so Steve-o will tie that when he returns next term. Marks also made five threes, a hurdle that Adams is yet to even really attempt to match (he has one non-heave attempt from those fifteen... though he did nail one from the corner in preseason once).
All the other basic totals are overwhelmingly in his favour but, naturally, Marks was a superior free throw shooter...
Shout out to Kirk Penney, Aotearoa’s greatest ever NBA three-point shooter.
In scratching this spontaneous statistical itch, all this really told me was that we’re long overdue another New Zealander in the NBA. Even more so in the WNBA but at least there’s only one more year to wait, with Charlisse Leger-Walker sure to be drafted following her next/senior year at Washington State Uni.
As for the blokes the draft system doesn’t really serve its purpose for most international lads however the Aussie NBL is beginning to really draw in some scouting eyes – that’s the pathway to target, I reckon. The Xavier Cooks route to the top. Hence it’s fascinating that Dontae Russo-Nance is doing exactly that at the expense of a potential college career.