The Culture Pot
The Culture Pot
Warriors vs Dolphins winning notes, Flying Kiwis trophies, NZ Football hiccups, NRLWahine signings, Canterbury Rams, Domestic footy roundup & more
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Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: The Return Of Moala Graham-Taufa (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Naufahu Whyte Continues To Flourish (Rugby League)
Notes From The Wellington Phoenix’s Semi-Final Defeat vs Melbourne Victory (Football)
Flying Kiwis – May 21 (Football)
2024 T20 World Cup: New Zealand Blackcaps Basics & Notebook (Cricket)
Previewing The Tall Blacks’ 2024 Olympic Qualifying Campaign (Basketball)
27fm Weekly Playlist: May 24 (Music)
Scotty’s Word
Another Monday and another win for NZ Warriors. Having whipped up a 'Shaun Johnson is not irreplaceable' angle for the Panthers game and then dropping some similar thoughts for Addin Fonua-Blake for Friday's newsletter, I'm fairly confident in my perspective on the NZ Warriors pipeline.
NZW have been missing more than those two lads and a team of 13 can almost be named of players out of action at the moment. But the premise remains of NZW being able to absorb injuries/absences with competitive depth and team culture. The most important aspect of this to highlight is that the players stepping up from NSW Cup are not reserve grade plodders, they are fizzed up youngsters out to make an impact.
Moala Graham-Taufa commanded attention from Roosters while dominating junior footy in Aotearoa, before returning to Auckland with NZW. Adam Pompey had a similar journey but Roosters recruited him while he was shining in 1st 15 rugby for Wesley College. Graham-Taufa and Pompey had similar treatment as Joseph Manu at Roosters as they played SG Ball while still in Aotearoa.
Paul Roache made NZ Schools while playing 1st 15 for Mt Albert Grammar. Ali Leiataua, Jacob Laban, Zyon Maiu'u, Demitric Sifakula, Leka Halasima, Tanner Stowers-Smith, Eddie Ieremia and Sio Kali were all representative league/union players. Rocco Berry was a standout for St Pat's Silverstream 1st 15, just like Maui Winitana-Patelesio and Toby Crosby. I could go on and on, but the point is that the pure talent of the NZW pipeline is undeniable.
Add that talent into a pot of culture and the outcome is what you've watched in the last two games. Mitchell Barnett earned New South Wales squad selection and here is how his NZ Warriors mahi looks...
2023: 15 games, 2 tries, 8 offloads, 91.3% tackling, 135m/game
2024: 12 games, 12 offloads, 92.7% tackling, 151m/game
Barnett and Jackson Ford both played edge and middle against Dolphins. Ford started in the middle which was a sneaky wrinkle from coach Webster with Barnett on the left and Marata Niukore on the right. Jacob Laban came on and played left edge, pushing Barnett to middle and Ford to right edge. Then there was a phase with Barnett and Ford in the middle while Laban was on the left and Niukore on the right…
All the Aussie players seem to love NZW under the two Andys. Barnett's earned a stint around State of Origin and, along with Ford, leads a team-first culture in which they play any role the team needs. This also offers insight into 2024 NRL forward packs as Barnett, Ford and Dylan Walker are not plain props - they are 'locks' or edge forwards. NZW have looked impressive with the mobility of Jazz Tevaga and Tom Ale in the mix, all of which is balanced by Bunty Afoa's ... direct running.
There is lots of chat about Te Maire Martin's kicking in these two wins. Some kicks appear to come off the side of his boot, but the outcomes are usually positive and NZW are winning. Most notably, Martin has played halfback in back to back wins with a different halves partner and different styles. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad did no kicking and lots of running vs Panthers, Chanel Harris-Tavita did a bit of running and plenty of kicking vs Dolphins...
vs Panthers
Te Maire Martin: 10 runs - 69m, 3 try assists, 17 kicks - 599m
Charnze Nicol-Klokstad: 15 runs - 136m, 1 try assist, 3 offloads
vs Dolphins
Te Maire Martin: 18 runs - 98m, 1 try, 14 kicks - 312m
Chanel Harris-Tavita: 7 runs - 75m, 1 try, 1 offload, 9 kicks - 298m
NZW had a 16-22 loss to Bears in NSW Cup and a 28-24 win vs Storm in Jersey Flegg. The funkiest thing here is that the NSW Cup halves combo of Luke Hanson and Caleb Laiman were playing U21s Jersey Flegg a few weeks ago. Maui Winitana-Patelesio and Jesse Soric were the U19 SG Ball halves combo and they stepped up to U21s for the win vs Storm.
Tallan Egan was also 18th lad for U21s which means that the Hanson, Soric and Egan have all moved up an age-tier as Aussie halves with NZW. Jack Thompson is the other Aussie half in the system and he helped NZW win the New South Wales U17s competition, so he could either stay in Auckland and hunt an U21s opportunity or return home to Newcastle while still in the NZW system. Soric and Egan both stayed in Auckland after the end of U19s.
Remember that there are already four young Aussie halves in the NZW pipeline before Jett Cleary enters the mix.
Funky Kiwi-NRL team of youngins...
Keano Kini: Northcote
Deine Mariner: Marist
Matthew Timoko: Otahuhu/Ellerslie
Rocco Berry: Greytown
Will Warbrick: Ngongotaha
Daejarn Asi: Aranui
Taine Tuaupiki: Ngaruawahia
Griffin Neame: Greymouth
Paul Roache: Richmond
Leo Thompson: Napier Marist
Jordan Riki: Hornby
Jacob Laban: Te Aroha
Naufahu Whyte: Bay Roskill
Bench
Xavier Willison: Whatawhata
Connelly Lemuelu: Tangaroa College
Alec MacDonald: Auckland
Zyon Maiu'u: Te Atatu
Squad: Raymond Tuaimalo Vaega (Marist), Ali Leiataua (Papatoetoe), Josiah Karapani (Otahuhu), Moala Graham-Taufa (Marist), Ata Mariota (Manurewa), Wiremu Greig (Whangarei), Simi Sasagi (Ellerslie)
Soon after I finished my newsletter bit on Friday celebrating the wave of NRLWahine signings, Knights announced the additions of Grace Kukutai and Isabella Waterman. Both were signed from rugby union in Aotearoa with Kukutai playing Super Rugby Aupiki for Chiefs and Waterman playing for Hurricanes.
Kukutai is from Auckland and linked to Ponsonby. She joined Super Rugby from netball, so her NRLWahine recruitment highlights where the best professional pathway is. Waterman is from Canterbury and was already dabbling in rugby league with Sydenham. Here is an updated NRLWahine signings tracker...
Cowboys
Autumn-Rain Stephens-Daly, Harata Butler
Broncos
Annetta Nu'uausala, Brianna Clark, Gayle Broughton, Jasmine Fogavini, Mele Hufanga, Stacey Waaka, Tafito Lafaele
Titans
Georgia Hale, Hailee-Jay Ormond-Maunsell, Matekino Gray, Ngatokotoru Arakua, Niall Williams-Guthrie
Knights
Abigail Roache, Laishon Albert-Jones, Nita Maynard, Shanice Parker, Grace Kukutai, Isabella Waterman
Roosters
Amber Hall, Mya Hill-Moana, Otesa Pule, Tiana Davison
Eels
Noaria Kapua
Tigers
Leianne Tufuga, Najvada George
Sharks
Annessa Biddle, Brooke Anderson, Pia Tapsell
Dragons
Alexis Tauaneai, Angelina Teakaraanga-Katoa, Raecene McGregor, Trinity Tauaneai, Jesica Patea
Raiders
Amelia Pasikala, Apii Nicholls, Ash Quinlan, Cheyell Robins-Reti, Felice Quinlan, Kerehitina Matua, Mackenzie Wiki, Madison Bartlett, Tatiana Finau
Not much doing on the Kiwi County Tour over the weekend...
Michael Rae: 0 runs, 12ov @ 1.6rpo
Nathan Smith: 1 run, 14ov @ 2.2rpo
Will Young: 2 runs
Musical jam...
Wildcard’s Notebook
Just thinking about some of the kiwi footballers who’ve won trophies in the past few weeks...
Marko Stamenic (Red Star Belgrade) – Serbian SuperLiga & Serbian Cup
Victoria Esson (Rangers) – Scottish Cup & League Cup
Callum McCowatt (Silkeborg) – Danish Cup
Matt Dibley-Dias (Fulham U21s) – Premier League Cup
Maya Hahn & Suya Haering (Turbine Potsdam) – German Bundesliga 2
Alex Greive (Dundee United) – Scottish Championship
Ria Percival (Crystal Palace) – English Championship
Dalton Wilkins (Sønderjyske) – Danish Division 1
Andre De Jong (Stellenbosch) – South African Knockout Cup
Erin Nayler (Bayern Munich) – German Bundesliga
And with some luck we might be able to add Malia Steinmetz (FC Nordsjælland) to the list soon as her team chases a Danish League/Cup double. There have been trophy presentations in the Flying Kiwis yarns every week for the last month. Mandatory reading… if I do say so myself.
In other news, Jitka Klimkova won’t be with the Football Ferns for their two-game tour of Japan. According to NZF, she has “opted to take a leave of absence from the role for this tour while an investigation is concluded into an employment related matter”. Which, honestly, could mean anything. It could mean behavioural complaints, it could mean some disgruntled ex-assistant causing a fuss, it could mean a performance review, it could mean an impending resignation, it could mean nothing at all.
Fact is, we don’t have a clue and NZF says that they will make no further comment. I did do a small bit of internet sleuthing but there was no point trying to manoeuvre beyond all the grumpy old blokes on social media complaining about her terrible winning record. Love that more folks are taking an interest in the women’s national team. Hate that so many assume themselves to be experts because they watched the World Cup (where we had our best ever performance, by the way).
My opinion is that JK has been a solid enough head coach whose difficult results mostly reflect the quality of the opponents the team has faced. She’s had limitations in the talent available but has also failed to embed a strong enough creative game-plan to overcome that. My main complaint is that she’s been a bit too reactive with her tactics. The commonly-repeated idea that she only picks the same old players is – and I cannot stress this enough – completely stupid. The current squad has 24 players and only nine of them went to the Olympics Games, which was Tom Sermanni’s last task in charge. She deserves criticism for some of the silly defeats but also huge praise for a flawless plan for the Norway win.
Some ups and some downs. Absolutely not an unmitigated disaster like the misery merchants like to suggest, though still with room for improvement. Ultimately I just don’t think any issues are coaching ones, I think it’s more about the depth of players available... something which is improving with every tour (just look at the trophy winners above). But we’ll park all that and see what happens with this random “employment related matter”.
Also in NZF related shenanigans... Chris Wood will miss the Oceania Nations Cup for the All Whites due to his wedding. This isn’t quite what it sounds like though. Woodsy scheduled the nuptials so as not to clash with the FIFA window which the All Whites were planning to use... then they changed their mind and decided to enter the Nations Cup after all. They weren’t going to because of the lesser level and the lack of a Confederations Cup to qualify for these days but then they remembered that you get more world rankings points for confederation tournaments than in friendlies. And since the All Whites are likely to qualify for the next World Cup, suddenly those rankings points are huge as they contribute to the seedings of the groups.
Unfortunately for The Woodsman, the Nations Cup is scheduled in its own larger offseason window and that clashed with the wedding date he’d already booked. So no Chris Wood at the Nations Cup. Other fellas can step up and score the goals instead. Fair enough. Keep in mind that he has expressed an interest in attending the Olympic Games as one of the three overage players too – far more important to have him available for that than the OFC Nations Cup. That’s roughly one month later than this. Bit of a stitch up from NZF but it probably works out for the best.
Over to the NBL and the Canterbury Rams won both games this week, going back to back against the Tauranga Whai and the Wellington Saints. Admittedly an under-strength Saints side who were already without Izayah Le’Afa and then lost Hyrum Harris to injury very quickly (he’s been battling through it for awhile – disrupting what had the potential to be an MVP candidate season). But the Rams have now won nine games in a row, the defending champs rising up to second on the ladder and they could join the Auckland Tuatara at the top if they win their two games in hand.
Those nine wins coincide exactly with the arrival of Aussie import big Lachlan Olbrich. Still only 20 years old, he joined the Illawarra Hawks as a Next Star last season after skipping out on the rest of his time at University of California Riverside (same university that Flynn Cameron went to - they were teammates in FC’s senior year).
LO averaged a shade under 12 mins per game for the Hawks in the last Aussie NBL, averaging 3.8 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. Solid numbers for a young big. His plan is to do one more year of that and then enter the 2025 NBA Draft... if so his Canterbury Rams footage is going to make up a large portion of his scouting highlights. Dude is averaging 20.4 points, 11.7 rebounds, 3.0 assist, and 1.6 blocks per night whilst shooting 57.1% from the field and 38.9% from deep. Outrageously good stuff... Olbrich had 20+ points in both of this week’s wins.
But he’s far from alone. The Rams have two other excellent and dependable imports in their American duo of MJ Walker and Kenyon Buffen. They’ve also got Tall Blacks regular Taylor Britt out there running the show from the point with his 15.7 points and 5.3 assists per night. And in Walter Brown, Max Darling, Taki Fahrensohn, Kaia & Tama Isaac, and Aidan Tonge they have arguably the deepest and most intriguing selection of young kiwi ballers in the league as well. Not to mention the outstanding Judd Flavell as head coach. If the Breakers are serious about winning then they could do a lot worse than hiring Flavell as their next head coach... but that’s probably too much to ask.
Domestic Football Roundup
Auckland City are the champions of Oceania once again. They were slow to build into their OCL tourney but ended up doing the business with a 4-0 win over Pirae in the final. Goals from Michael den Heijer (6’), Liam Gillion (30’), Stipe Ukich (48’), and Christian Gray (59’). Previously they’d beaten AS Magenta 1-0 in the semi-final with a Stipe Ukich goal after 66 minutes proving the difference. Not always at their clinical best but they turned it on in the final. Liam Gillion was named the Player of the Tournament, continuing on his outstanding form all year (they were miles better last National League whenever he was on the pitch too)... though spare a thought for Stipe Ukich who went to the U17 World Cup last year and scored in both the semi and the final. Don’t often see ACFC giving big minutes to guys this young so that alone is evidence that Ukich has something special about him.
Back in the Men’s Northern League, there was more good news for Auckland City as Western Springs were beaten 2-1 at home by West Coast Rangers. Jackson Manuel scored early but WCR got the slipping with Emiliano Tade not playing to score his prerequisite goal or two. Springs are one point clear of Auckland City but with two additional games played. Third-placed Birkenhead didn’t play this week. They were scheduled to face Tauranga City but that game was postponed at late notice after a medical event in the U23s game, as a Tauranga played needed extended treatment after a head clash. The player is now recovering in hospital so hopefully everything is all good. Never want to see stuff like that. Respect to the two teams and the officials for doing what had to be done.
Eastern Suburbs beat Hamilton Wanderers 1-0, with Dylan Laing-McConnell scoring in the 82nd minute for the points. Tough beat for winless Wanderers. Eastern Subs should probably be looking smoother with the squad that they’ve got but you can’t hold it against a team for grinding out wins. Good trait to have. They remain in fourth place... while Auckland United are up to fifth after a very important 1-0 win against Bay Olympic. Ben Wallace got the only goal in the second minute, bit of a sneaky one. Those are two clubs battling away for a top four spot so those were necessary points for whoever got them. Also had East Coast Bays with a clean sheet win, beating Melville United 2-0.
The Women’s NRFL Premiership also came with a 1-0 win for Eastern Suburbs, in this case beating the upstarts of Fencibles thanks to an early goal from Sofia Garcia. Not too dispiriting for Fencies since they remain in fourth place with a six-point buffer over Western Springs after the WS were dropped 4-2 by Hibiscus Coast. Danica Urlich-Beech scored a hatty for Coast in the upset.
In contrast, Auckland United and West Coast Rangers are running away with it up the top. There’s now 11 points between second and third with all teams having played ten matches. However, WCR only just got it done against Ellerslie... the Ponies were down 4-1 with ten to go, Bree Johnson scoring three for Rangers, but a couple of late goals almost pulled off an unlikely comeback. No such issues for Auckland Utd who won 6-0 down the highway against Hamilton Wanderers. Charlotte Roche and Chloe Knott both got doubles.
Men’s Central League saw the three-way points tie up top finally broken as Napier City Rovers and Western Suburbs drew 2-2 in a crazy match with Max Chretien’s late late goal seemingly giving Rovers the win only for Albie Francis-Alles to level things back up even later in stoppage time. That in turn allowed Wellington Olympic to move two points clear after Jack-Henry Sinclair’s double in a 4-2 win versus North Wellington.
Good win from Miramar Rangers. Martin Bueno and Spencer Cameron scored the goals as they beat Stop Out 2-0 on the road. Keeps them fourth... although only top three will get National League. Waterside Karori are also in the mix having beaten Petone 2-1 courtesy of an 82nd minute goal from Lachlan Candy. Plus the Wellington Phoenix Reserves enjoyed a 3-1 victory against Island Bay. Nathan Walker (x2) and Daniel Makowem scored the goals there. Fergus Gillion was the only dude in there who’s played A-League so this was a fresh looking side.
Wellington United had a 3-0 win over Victoria Uni in the Women’s Central League. Misha Koyari, Natalie Olson, and Milla Green with the goals as the Diamonds remained undefeated. As do Petone... but only just after Pepi Olliver-Bell scored right at the death to salvage a 1-1 draw against Moturoa. That keeps Waterside Karori in range after they won 2-0 against PN Marist. Also had a 1-0 win for Taradale against Seatoun. Early days in this one so it’s still taking shape but the expectation is that it’ll be Welly United, Karori, and Petone scrapping it out for two NL spots.
Righto, down south where the Men’s Southern League is the only one to track right now and Cashmere Technical are without the unstoppable Garbhan Coughlan for the meantime but still find goals when they need them. Ferrymead Bays scored an 82nd minute equaliser so Jack Hallahan scored an 86th minute winner, his second of the day. He’s an Irish midfielder, capped at youth level, who was in the West Brom academy, went to Michigan State University, got drafted by (but never played for) LAFC, and most recently was over in Cyprus. Seems like a tidy addition.
Meanwhile Christchurch United won 4-0 against Nelson Suburbs with Matt Brazier getting two of them as he regains his match rhythm. All four were first half goals. Coastal Spirit were 3-0 up after 17 minutes against FC Twenty11 and ended up winning 7-0. Ryan Stanley and Liam Cotter braces in amongst. Universities of Canterbury got a last-gasp leveller for a 1-1 draw against Nomads. The latter led 1-0 at the break but a 53rd min red card to their captain changed the picture leading to Hunter Hine’s late goal. And a 3-0 win for Dunedin City Royals against Selwyn United completes the set for another week. Chatham and Kate Sheppard Cup footy up next week for King’s Bday.
Musical Jam contribution...