Summoning Attention
Wellington Phoenix stride onwards, Lydia Ko's form quest, Blackcaps/Super Smash goodness, Charlisse Leger-Walker draft buzz, Perth Wildcats Kiwi contingent & more
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Digging Into the Wellington Phoenix Women’s Clunky Away Form (Football)
Looking Back At New Zealand’s U17 World Cup Bronze Medallists, Five Years Later (Football)
The Glorious Revival of Kosta Barbarouses at the Wellington Phoenix (Football)
Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Releasing Ronald Volkman & Updated Depth Chart (Rugby League)
Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Three Staples Of Warriors Footy For 2024 (Rugby League)
27fm Weekly Playlist: January 19 (Music)
Scotty’s Word
Lydia Ko is back with a win in Orlando to start 2024. Ko finished -14 and was one of three golfers to score -10 or better, which is fabulous after her down year in 2023. The low phase started with just one top-10 finish in her first five tournaments last year and the other four results were worse than 30th. Considering how Ko started the two years prior, in which she built towards a fantastic 2022, starting with a win this year could set the tone.
Her first five results in recent years...
2021: T2nd, T8, T26, 2nd, 1st
2022: T10, 1st, T23, T12, T25
2023: T6, T31, T34, Cut T42
Here's how the last two years look in key stats for Ko. First is 2022 followed by 2023 and the dip in form is pretty clear...
Average Driving Distance
255.34m | 251.71
Driving Accuracy
66.44% | 62.61%
Greens in Regulation
72.88% | 65.57%
Putts per GIR
1.72 | 1.75
Putting Average
28.61 | 29.92
Sand Saves
66.25% | 51.82%
Scoring Average
68.99 | 71.25
One notable difference is in Sand Saves. When Ko is playing well she can exit bunkers smoothly and her 66% in 2022 was first in the LPGA (much better than second best on 62%) Even when Ko slips into a bunker, she is capable of making the most of that situation and when out of form, this flips into compounding frustration.
Next up for Ko is the Drive On Championship in Bradenton, Florida this weekend. Bradenton is just south of Tampa. Tampa is just west of Orlando. Cool stuff.
Aotearoa's Black Sticks Men qualified for the Paris Olympics with a 3-2 win over Pakistan. Keeping up with the geographical funk, this qualification tournament is being played in Oman. Scott Boyde scored twice for NZ and he made the switch from Australia to Aotearoa a few years ago as a fun wrinkle.
This is obviously excellent in the context of Friday's outline of hockey in NZ. There is plenty of time to learn more about BSM and set up the Olympics campaign, which could feature various top players re-entering the selection mixer. It's odd that the blokes qualified but the ladies did not given that the women have better Olympic results and were at least steady in Pro League; BSW opted out of the Pro League, BSM were relegated.
BSM Olympics Results (BSW result)
2004: 6th (6th)
2008: 7th (12th)
2012: 9th (4th)
2016: 7th (4th)
2020: 9th (8th)
Covered the Blackcaps T20 series with Pakistan here. Two leftover bits...
Blackcaps have made semi-finals in the last three T20 World Cups, including one final. They are a good T20 outfit and expectations for the 2024 tournament are semi-finals at least.
Here are the best Blackcaps across T20 series vs Bangladesh and Pakistan...
Batting
Finn Allen: 316 runs @ 39avg/175sr
Daryl Mitchell: 191 runs @ 38avg/146sr
Glenn Phillips: 157 runs @ 26avg/122sr
Tim Seifert: 94 runs @ 15avg/113sr
Kane Williamson: 83 runs @ 83avg/145sr
Bowling
Tim Southee: 13w @ 13avg/6.5rpo
Adam Milne: 10w @ 19avg/10.1rpo
Ben Sears: 7w @ 19avg/8.3rpo
Mitchell Santner: 6w @ 26avg/6.5rpo
Ish Sodhi: 6w @ 27avg/7.7rpo
Super Smash rolls along towards finals. Canterbury women and Northern Districts blokes won't be in those finals though, despite being champions last summer. Neither result signals great concern. The cycle moves in favour of other teams, while these two teams relied more on youngsters promoted into bigger roles. Consider this when stressing about the age of athletes: Auckland Aces and Wellington Blaze are first in their competitions with a strong crop of proven performers (from Louis Delport to Leigh Kasperek).
Matt Fisher was the main injection for Northern Brave. Fisher didn't play last season and played six games this season (5w @ 38avg/11.35rpo). Experienced offie Joe Walker played all 10 games last year and is yet to play this campaign, while Katene Clarke struggled after two championship seasons...
2021/22: 228 runs @ 32avg/153sr
2022/23: 266 runs @ 29avg/137sr
2023/24: 166 runs @ 18avg/116sr
Canterbury Magicians had Amy Satterthwaite last season - enough said. Satterthwaite wasn't Canterbury's leading run-scorer in their championship run though, that was Kate Anderson. Anderson and Satterthwaite both averaged 50+ last season as the only players averaging 20+. This season Canterbury had four batters averaging 20+ but none higher than 27. All of which lays out how Satterthwaite's absence and a dip in mahi from Anderson have hindered Canterbury this season. Here is how Anderson's two seasons look...
2022/23: 536 runs @ 59avg/115sr
2023/24: 182 runs @ 20avg/105sr
Musical jam...
Wildcard’s Notebook
This past weekend’s two Wellington Phoenix results really told a tale of where those respective teams are at. The blokes pulled in over 9k at Sky Stadium for a top of the table clash with Melbourne Victory. They spent large portions of that game on the back foot defending their own penalty area, though actually allowed very few seriously threatening chances from all that. Then even after an unlucky concession, as a shot off target struck a teammate and deflected in, the Nix were able to hustle their way into a very late equaliser. That’s twice they’ve been bossed by the Victory this season and yet they’ve somehow mustered up draws in both games.
This particular game... was unfortunately one of those bonkers VAR-defined contests. The Nix really should have gotten a penalty in the first half when Bozhidar Kraev was dragged down by the shoulder... no dice. The next intervention was a fair one as Tim Payne’s heavy touch lured him into a reckless challenge with his initial yellow upgraded to a red card. Can’t really argue with that (although it would have been nice for some more consistency with bookings for other challenges). For the first time in years it looks like the Welly Nix won’t be the most fouled team in the ALM... although Ben Old is doing his best, so far getting fouled roughly once every half hour played.
Into the second half and they were bloody fortunate to see a Victory goal chalked off for an offside toe (it took a bunch of replays to figure out what was going on), one of those ones that is technically correct despite the offence having no effect on the play and it was only through hyper-video-officiating would it even have been considered. Finally, deep into stoppage time, having not gotten the penalty they should have been given they were given a penalty they shouldn’t have gotten. Very soft one as Oskar Van Hattum tried to bring down a high ball. We know by now that with those clashes, VARs just looks for any old contact and forgets all about context. But it balanced out. Alex Rufer then showed some captain’s cojones to take and score the spot-kick, ceded to by Kosta Barbarouses despite Kosta needing a goal to set a new club record for scoring in six straight games.
Huge guts from the lads to get a point out of that game. Keeps them top of the table. Probably going to need to have more of a foothold next time they play these jokers but this ability to grind out results is massive... and a large part of what the women are missing at the moment. To be fair, away to Melbourne City (with City determined to bounce back from a defeat) was always going to be a tough ask. In the end they performed alright in a 2-1 defeat. Mariana Speckmaier got a much-needed boost to her confidence with a sharp finish to give her side a chance.
Defensively they’re pretty sound. Having a game like this where they could strip the gameplan back to basics against a strong opponent might end up helping them moving forward. But they really struggled to keep the ball, missing Macey Fraser’s presence, and as a consequence it was only City’s wastefulness that left the door open. Hannah Wilkinson missed a huge chance to seal the deal. MCY attempted 437 passes at 86% success. WPX attempted 186 at 71%.
That was the most difficult game of their fixture list out of the way. They just had a brutal stretch of four straight games in Australia. They lost them all... but they’re home next week against a Canberra Utd side that concedes a lot of goals. A good chance to get back to that good small ball stuff and light the candle of their top six hopes again.
Also, jot down that Helena Errington debut off the bench against Melly City. One of Aotearoa’s best young prospects, having starred at the U17 World Cup in 2022 and likely to do similar at the U20s in September. But then you’ve already heard this story from me before. More than once, in fact. More than more than once.
Here are some Chris Wood stats, breaking down his Premier League numbers per ninety minutes under his two different managers this season, Nuno Espirito Santo and Steve Cooper...
Wood played 15 games under Steve Cooper but because of all his substitute appearances that only adds up to 469 minutes. He’s only had four EPL games under Nuno Espirito Santo to date but has played every minute which adds up to 360 mins. Obviously there’s cup stuff as well (like his winning goal in extra time of the FA Cup replay against Blackpool last week) but we’re ignoring those for this purpose.
We see there a slight boost in his touches and passes, though his passing accuracy is almost identical between both. That’s only after he completed 25/30 passes against Brentford on the weekend – which goes to show that these are small sample size areas so be aware how quickly things change, especially now that he’s become such a key player for Forest.
The one spot that’s dropped there is the aerial challenges... yet his aerial success has gone from 37.3% to 63.3%, suggesting that less is more. Fewer hopeful nudges in his direction and more deliberate stuff. He has also clearly been more commanding in those spots lately, boosted not only by the goals he’s been scoring but also how well he’s linking up with teammates with lay-offs and flicks. Plus all of a sudden he’s keen to run at defenders, a new trick up his sleeve.
But the real spotlight is on six goal contributions in four Prem matches under Nuno. Arguably could have been a few more assists too. He had four key passes against Brentford. The Shot Creating Actions boost is superb. It’s more than doubled since Nuno took over. He’s a fully integrated focal point in how Forest are playing these days and it’s beautiful to see.
In the end, Finn Allen had to settle for third all-time in the Most Runs In A 5-Game T20I Series rankings. His less efficient second innings numbers outweighed his form and the bro Mark Chapman’s oft-overlooked magnificence in that tour to Pakistan early last year remains at rua…
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Charlisse Leger-Walker & Washington State were on NZ television (Sky Sports) again this morning. They were advertised over the weekend too but that one ended up being Washington Uni, their close rivals, and I didn’t hang about to see if they ever managed to switch it across to the proper game instead. But this morning’s game was a doozy as WSU turned a close game against Arizona into a convincing win as they surged onwards in the last quarter and a half.
CLW had 10 points and 11 assists and it was the latter that spurred her team onwards to victory. She summoned defensive attention then allowed teammates to do the scoring, constantly picking them out with excellent passes as they cut to the basket. This was the fourth time this season that she’s had double-digit assists. In her fourth and final year of college ball, she’s averaging her lowest points per game (13.6)... but career highs in rebounds (6.9) and assists (4.8). That’s despite her overall field goal percentage being pretty steady at 40% (career average of 38.1%, though that’s risen with each season). The three-pointers remain something to work on but mostly the scoring drop is just because she’s passing more and shooting less.
When you peek at the scoreboards each game, it’s a shade underwhelming not to see her dominating the shots like she has done in the past. When you watch the games in full, however, you see that she’s more dominant than ever with how she pulls the strings for her team, as well as setting a tone with her attitude and energy. It’s going to be a blast watching her in the WNBA next season.
The 2024 WNBA Draft takes place in April after the NCAA season ends and it has the potential to be absolutely stacked depending on which players take up their extra year of covid eligibility or not. CLW has basically said already she wants to go pro.
Looking around some of the early mock drafts, Yahoo Sports had her going 17th overall, ESPN only did one round (12 picks) and didn’t mention her, while The Athletic, USA Today, and The Lead all have her going seventh to Minnesota Lynx. This is what The Athletic had to say about it all...
The Breakers had a big win this weekend, trouncing South East Melbourne Phoenix 106-75. They were led by 31 points for Anthony Lamb while Mantas Rubstavicius (15), Parker Jackson-Cartwright (13), Will McDowell-White (13), and Zylan Cheatham (10) also got to double figures. They destroyed them and with that win they snap that pesky losing streak and are back talking about the top six again.
Thing about that is who did they lose to prior to this? Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. All top five teams. How are the SEM Phoenix going? Absolutely terribly. They’re now last after allowing 100+ points in four straight losses (they’ve lost five in a row overall). So, yeah, if the Breakers couldn’t win that then they were no hopes.
The Breakers might make the play-in from here, there’s work to be done but they’re in the mix. But if you’re fizzing for kiwi basketball then the team to look at right now is the Perth Wildcats who are in spectacular form and just won their sixth on the trot (after an OT loss to Melbourne United in an absolute thriller just before Xmas). They’d won seven in a row prior so make that 13/14 wins. The Cats are purring and they’re doing so with a slick allotment of New Zealanders.
Tai Webster’s last three games:
vs SEM: 26 MIN | 20 PTS (9/14 FG) | 4 AST | 3 REB | 1 STL
vs BRI: 30 MIN | 20 PTS (8/11 FG) | 6 AST | 2 REB | 1 STL
vs SYD: 30 MIN | 16 PTS (7/10 FG) | 5 AST | 3 REB | 3 STL
Those are his three highest scoring games of the season, the self-confessed Loose Unit really giving it the lefty-loosey to those hypothetical screws. The Wildcats are now 9-0 when T.Webster plays at least 22 minutes.
And of course you know that Hyrum Harris hasn’t been slowing down either. They’re 12-2 when he plays at least ten minutes. He had 3 points, 5 assists and a career-best 11 rebounds in the Brisbane win, and then 9p/6r/4a in 23 mins against Sydney. What’s even better is that in that Brizzy victory, a 118-86 domination, they were also able to find time for Corey Webster, Jack Andrew, and Dontae Russo-Nance. All five of them took the floor in that game. Going to assume that’s the first time an Aussie team has ever used five kiwi players in a single game. The Breakers only used two this week.
Will just mention quickly that Tyrell Harrison had 12 points and 9 rebounds in that game for the Bullets, who clawed themselves off the canvas with a 102-84 win away to Cairns a few days afterwards in which Harrison had 16 points and 13 rebounds plus a couple of steals for good measure. He’s straight-up starting ahead of Aron Baynes these days. Legitimate Most Improved Player consideration will be coming his way when season awards begin to get discussed. In fact Hyrum Harris might make that shortlist too. Yep, that’s the good stuff.
I did a big Flying Kiwis Transfer Tracker bit on Friday so just a couple of quick notes today. One, following up from last time, is that young defender Nelson Abbey didn’t play for Reading on the weekend with the manager confirming that he’s on his way out of the club. Surprisingly he’s off to Olympiakos rather than Luton Town, who had been swirling around having already signed Tom Hughes (loaning him back to Reading for the rest of the term). Olympiakos are a team that tends to have continental footy each season, although they also share ownership with Nottingham Forest so this could instead be a sneaky way of getting him there given that Forest can’t really do much themselves with that FFP axe hanging over them. Anyway, Abbey’s absence means that Tyler Bindon should be a guaranteed starter for as long as he remains with Reading. He does share an agent with Abbey though, so watch this space.
Also keep an eye out for Michael Woud who is (finally) a free agent after Kyoto Sanga released him from the last year of his contract. Wasn’t much point in hanging around when there was no pathway towards first team minutes, the 25yo had been linked with a move to a third tier side (albeit one on the rise) recently but now that he’s out of this spot there’s no longer a parent club involved in negotiations. Might want to go back to Europe. Might want to stay in Japan. Time shall tell.
Also, if you’ve been wondering (like everybody else) what Callan Elliot has been up to since leaving the Wellington Phoenix then wonder no more. Word on the street was that he’d gone over to Scotland (where he was born) to test the waters. Now a few months later comes this EXCLUSIVE! from the Scottish Daily Record...
“Motherwell are closing in on the signing of Callan Elliot. The New Zealand international is set for a move to Fir Park. The right-back, who was born in Dumfries, is a free agent after leaving Wellington Phoenix. The 24-year-old will provide another defensive option for Stuart Kettlewell’s side. Elliot had a training stint at Hearts earlier in the season. The players came through the ranks at Tasman United. He went in to Wellington but also had a stint with Xanthi. Motherwell have already signed Adam Montgomery and Andy Halliday.”
And now: a song…