The Early Boost
The Early Boost
A fabulous Warriors win, some 3x3 Asia Cup basketball, NZers in A-League W, domestic football notes, and more
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2023 Blackcaps ODI Tracker: 1st in World Cup Super League After Series Win Vs Sri Lanka (Cricket)
2022/23 Ford Trophy: The Josh Clarkson Takeover And More Notes From The Final (Cricket)
2022/23 Plunket Shield: Underground King Bharat Popli & Aotearoa 'A' Check In (Cricket)
Football Ferns In Turkey: Squad Yarns & The Ongoing Journey (Football)
All Whites vs China: The Goal Drought Is Over And The Future Starts Now (Football)
Scotty’s Word
NZ Warriors had a fabulous 32-30 win over Sharks and they have now won three in a row. Three wins over Cowboys, Bulldogs and Sharks. Two of which were away trips. Wins over Bulldogs and Sharks feature come from behind performances as Warriors were down at half-time, then the 60 minute mark. Comeback wins, not from razzle dazzle funky footy but from outlasting the opponent in a set for set grind.
I’m challenging myself to look beyond Shaun Johnson’s mahi in Warriors wins, although Johnson does deserve some air time. Johnson had a direct involvement in three of the five tries. The first was a short ball to Marta Niukore, then Johnson chased his own bomb to pounce on a Ronaldo Mulitalo error and he finished with another short pass to Josh Curran (Niukore and Curran attacked Matt Moylan’s inside shoulder).
Johnson's kicking goals which is always handy as well. Two other things stand out about Johnson's mahi as this performance came without Tohu Harris and Te Maire Martin, meaning the distribution flow was slightly different. Johnson steered the Warriors around from first-receiver where he can also engage defenders with a brief run flurry, while also controlling the game with his boot.
The enjoyable thread throughout these Warriors wins is how they embrace the grind. Despite a slow start, Warriors completed their sets (now 2nd with 83%) and Johnson kept landing kicks inside the Sharks 10 metre zone. Warriors chasers get to the 20m line and Sharks start from deep in their own territory ... while Warriors are smashing them with each tackle.
Warriors have done this is all four wins which helps them rally in the last 10 minutes. Warriors are winning by out-grinding their opponent. Welcome to 2023.
Johnson is playing well in his role. He's just doing his role.
Embracing the grind is helped by Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad's presence at fullback. I reckon Nicoll-Klokstad is as good as the Dylan Edwards/Clint Gutherson types because he mops up most kicks and is immense when running the footy. Sharks consistently challenged the Warriors fullback with towering bombs in wet conditions, plus there were a few grubbers that appeared to be entering a vacant space only for Nicoll-Klokstad to appear.
Then the bloke is taking two hit ups in most sets and he finished with 24 runs - 207m @ 8.6m/run, 9 tackle busts.
Warriors have ample defensive energy thanks to Nicoll-Klokstad. The forwards can dominate tackles tahi and rua after Johnson's pinned the opponent deep in their half. Nicoll-Klokstad also got into the attacking shape for the Ed Kosi try and he is doing similar things to his prime pocket with Raiders in 2019.
Wayde Egan is also a undercover hero for Warriors, playing as skipper vs Sharks. Egan played 80mins in his return from injury after Freddy Lussick played 76mins when filling in for Egan against Bulldogs.
Wayde Egan: 80mins, 1 try, 4 runs - 40m @ 10m/run, 40 tackles @ 91%.
Most Warriors are playing career-best footy right now under coach Andrew Webster. Today's example is Egan scoring 4 tries in as many games and this is already the same number of tries that he scored in 20 games last season.
Ronald Volkman's kick led to Egan's try and coach Webster made a funky tweak late in the game as Volkman departed, with Walker shifting to the halves. When Volkman first left the field for a head knock, coach Webster appeared to deploy Bayley Sironen in that left edge spot. Volkman wasn't terrible in his footy and this move could have been because Walker's a hearty defender, or coach Webster wanted more energy through his middle forwards late in the game.
Addin Fonua-Blake: 52mins, 11 runs - 112m @ 10.18m/run, 24 tackles @ 92.3%
Jazz Tevaga: 66mins, 17 runs @ 156m @ 9.17m/run, 3 tb, 41 tackles @ 97.6%
Jazz Tevaga played the Tohu Harris role well and led the middle with mana. Addin Fonua-Blake was typically efficient. Jackson Ford and Marata Niukore are cooking among the best edge forward duos in the NRL. Then Sironen and Josh Curran provide versatility and energy off the bench; Sironen does everything and Curran is a x-factor who offers a different style to Niukore's physicality.
Tom Ale played the most minutes of his five games this season with 25mins off the bench. I was kinda shocked to see him driven back a few times and his 8 runs - 65m @ 8m/run was a dip ... but he hasn't missed a tackle all season. Ale had 35 tackles @ 100% prior to this game and then he made 12 tackles @ 100% against Sharks.
That's Warriors footy under coach Webster: Elite completions, really good defensive effort and mana that generates momentum as the game flows along.
Unfortunately, Warriors now have a player in the top-50 for missed tackles. Viliami Vailea's 4 missed tackles takes him to 45th with 13 missed tackles - keep in mind Warriors haven't had their bye yet.
Sharks have three players in the top-20 for missed tackles. Warriors defeated Bulldogs last round and after their win over Cowboys, Bulldogs have five players in the top-50 ... let's make it top-40 for missed tackles.
One last note because the Aotearoa flavour is always overlooked by Aussies...
Ronaldo Mulitalo is from Otara and he played for Ellerslie. Ed Kosi is a Mangere East junior.
Two kiwi usos from South Auckland going at each other in the NRL. Perhaps their chirp included some local gems.
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
Good basketballing fun over the last week as the 3x3 Asia Cup took place in Singapore. Both the kiwi men’s and women’s squads had an exciting look to them, the blokes sending Dominique Kelman-Poto, Christopher McIntosh, Richard Rodger & Tai Wynyard, while the women were able to call upon Lauryn Hippolite, Krystal Leger-Walker. Esra McGoldrick & Sharne Pupuke-Robati. Contender potential there… and that’s exactly how it played out with both teams medalling.
The women took it further. After cruising through qualifying, they bagged comfortable group stage wins over Malaysia and Mongolia to breeze into the knockouts with no dramas. They weren’t able to put Philippines away inside the ten minutes but were defensively on lock for a 17-10 victory in the quarters and then they whalloped Thailand 21-8 in the semis. That sent them into a collision course with Australia in the grand final.
But that went down the way it often goes down against Australia, sadly. The pesky Aussies ran out to an early lead as the 3x3 Ferns couldn’t match the shot-making ability. Fair play to Australia, they were nuts. The only team that could withstand the kiwi defensive pressure and there just wasn’t the offensive firepower in response to muster a comeback. Went down 21-11 with 1:23 left on the clock. However Sharne Robati did make the Team of the Tournament, finishing as the second top scorer behind MVP Marena Whittle of Oz.
As for the blokes, again there were no issues in getting to the main event. They did lose 21-13 to Australia in the group phase but they also beat Japan very handily to progress to the knockouts where Iran gave them plenty of trouble in the quarters. They were trailing for a while there until Rodger knocked down a couple long shots. Even after that Iran hung around as the kiwis missed a few potential winners and it took some strong defence to prevent anything frisky in the latter moments. Iran had multiple shots to tie it up at the death but nothing that was particularly close.
But they tripped up in the semis when they lost 19-18 to Mongolia. A low-scoring game initially as the 3x3 Tall Blacks were happy to get into the grind against a big opponent. It was only 9-8 to the kiwis a little after the midway point of the contest. With a little more offensive touch the Aotearoa side might’ve done the business but instead as Mongolia nursed a narrow lead the rest of the way.
Wynyard did his best with a few late highlights. The lads were within range at the end but couldn’t find space for a two-pointer… however Kelman-Poto drew a foul with 2.8 secs left. Except that with a chance to tie it up he missed the second shot. Then McIntosh couldn’t hit on a contested shot at the buzzer. Game over.
That loss looked much better in hindsight after Mongolia beat Australia in the final though. Meanwhile the kiwis beat out defending champs China to win the bronze medal. Tai Wynyard made the Team of the Tourney (with Mongolia’s Delgernyam Davaasambuu getting MVP). Wynyard was the second-leading rebounder at the comp and tied-third top scorer. He was one of only four blokes with three blocked shots and had an excellent turnover rate of less than one per game. Fella’s been dominating the 3x3 stuff these last couple years and this was no different.
Chris Wood’s been ruled out for the rest of the Premier League season with a thigh injury suffered on international duty. Not the thigh injury that he brought into the All Whites camp but a separate one on the opposite leg that he picked up during training. Which does explain why he was sent home early from camp. Dude had scans in NZ then had more scans back in ENG and ended up having surgery that’ll rule him out until roughly July-August range.
This means that there’ll be no Woodsman when the All Whites play Sweden (and probably someone else) in the next international window in June. That’s a bummer. It also means he won’t be able to help Forest in their relegation battle. Wood’s transfer is going to become a permanent one after the season as the trigger clause was a very generous three starts which he ticked off in quick time.
He may find himself on a Championship club when he gets back on the pitch… and in any case Ryan Nelsen’s NZ record of 198 Premier League appearances is now going to last a wee bit longer. Wood is on 196 games as it stands. Winston Reid got to 166. Next up are Simon Elliot (12), Danny Hay (4), and Lee Norfolk (3). 50% of NZers to play EPL have gone on to surpass 150+ games which seems like a big proportion.
Must be about time we added a seventh bloke to that list, surely? The most recent debutant was actually Reid in the 2010-11 season (Wood had already featured for West Brom by then). Long time between new blood… but there’s still been a kiwi in the Premier League in each of the past 19 consecutive seasons.
The A-League Women’s just had a thrilling final weekend of regular season action. The Wellington Phoenix scoring a 90+9th minute equaliser against Melbourne Victory gave them a positive end to their campaign despite it not being enough to avoid the wooden spoon. One point off in the end, just goes to show how much could’ve been different had they been better at finishing. All those single-goal defeats with positive performances, mate. The Nix in eleventh had the same goal difference as Brisbane Roar did in seventh (-10).
More on the WahiNix later in the week. Got something cooking there in proper article form. This bit’s more looking at the wider competition because Melbourne Victory failing to win gave Canberra United a chance to overtake them for fourth if they could beat Melbourne City. That was enough context to serve up a thriller of a game with Hannah Wilkinson and Grace Jale trading efforts for their respective teams. Jale also got another assist as Canberra rallied from 3-1 down to draw 3-3… but they needed to win to progress. Didn’t happen. Same as it didn’t happen for Perth when they also drew 3-3 with City during the midweek. Jale misses the finals, as do Liz Anton and Hannah Blake.
Hold up though, because three of the four teams to make those finals do still have kiwis involved. Anna Green wasn’t hardly playing at all until recently but a few injuries have seen her start four of their last five matches. Didn’t get a go in the 4-0 win over Newcastle most recently as Kirsty Fenton returned at left-back but she was still on the bench which bodes okay for the preliminary final against Western United (no kiwis) after the international break.
Then in the elimination match it’ll be a good old fashioned Melbourne Derby between City (Hannah Wilkinson & Katie Bowen) and Victory (Claudia Bunge). All three of them should start, especially with Wilkie hitting some form these last couple games. Also saw Bowen playing in midfield against Canberra which is something to watch. The last seven ALW’s have had a kiwi international in the championship team and that’ll continue as long as Western United don’t win the thing.
Some quickfire yarns…
An incredible 29 different kiwi women took the pitch during this ALW season. Even discounting the Welly Nix players there were still nine others which is more than any other nationality except Australians and American
Liz Anton was one of only seven players to play every minute of the regulars (and Katie Bowen only missed out by 1 minute while Mickey Foster was on track until she got hooked on a yellow card in the second to last match)
Hannah Wilkinson was/is the top scoring kiwi with five goals, never in the golden boot hunt after missing the first month with injury but she’s finding some touch towards the end leading into the finals – Milly Clegg scored four while Marisa van der Meer, Grace Jale & Hannah Blake all got three
The definition of an assist can be pretty wobbly at times (and there are a couple more that I’d have credited to kiwi players which seemingly haven’t been) but officially Grace Jale’s seven assists are second-equal across the whole league with Cortnee Vine leading the way on eight. Foster only had three although plenty more of her corners did lead indirectly to goals as we well know
Extra credit Emma Main who played two games off the bench and had an assist in each of them. Nobody with multiple goal contributions had a better per-minute average than Main: two assists in 65 mins
Top Ten xG Tallies For NZ Players in the ALW
Hannah Wilkinson – 5.6 (5 goals)
Ava Pritchard – 3.3 (3)
Grace Jale – 3.1 (3)
Milly Clegg – 2.5 (4)
Betsy Hassett – 2.5 (2)
Hannah Blake – 2.1 (3)
Paige Satchell – 1.6 (1)
Grace Wisnewski – 1.5 (2)
Marisa van der Meer – 1.4 (3)
Michaela Robertson – 1.4 (1)
A few things that caught the eye from the latest round of domestic footy...
Manurewa laid the beat down in the battle of the promoted teams by beating West Coast Rangers 5-1. Incredible result from Paul Marshall’s side, note the bro Monty Patterson scoring another two goals in that one. Rewa laying down an early statement to the rest of the league. That’s a really solid squad they’ve put together with plenty of previous National League experience… will be fascinating to see if this is an early boost of if they can sustain it and make a top four challenge.
The other notable result from the Northerns was Birkenhead, who lost to Rewa in week one, bouncing back with a 7-0 thrashing of Manukau Utd. Birko saw their most notable player, Sam Burfoot, switch over to Takapuna midweek (Taka’s coach Chris Milicich worked with Burfoot at Waitakere United a couple years ago and Taka have also grabbed a couple others via that connection, most notably defender Andrew Cromb). But no dramas there as they blitzed past Manukau scoring twice inside the first two minutes. Curtis Hughes with both. Manukau have a new manager and a bunch of new players this season. Could be they take their time getting going… could be they find themselves stuck very deep in a relegation battle.
Here’s Cam Howieson doing something cool…
Emiliano Tade also scored his 150th goal for Auckland City in that 5-1 win over Bay Olympic. No troubles there.
The allure of the Club World Cup is a funny thing. Wellington Olympic made a heap of signings ahead of their qualifiers against ACFC. One of those was Derek Tieku who proceeded to return to Hamilton Wanderers when Olympic missed out on the prize. Now two more, Ryan Feutz and Ollie van Rijssel, have made their way back to Western Suburbs. In fact Feutz scored a brace off the bench in their 3-3 draw with Stop Out. But Kailan Gould is back from Aussie now so no dramas. Anyway, Olympic won 2-1 away to Waterside Karori this week and here’s a very sexy goal scored by Merlin Luke-Miny...
It’s Petone who are top of the Central League ladder after two weeks though thanks to goal differential. They beat Napier City Rovers 4-2 on the weekend, a game that they also live-streamed on their YouTube channel. Shout out to the technical improvisers around the motu.
Also shout out to Joshua Tollervey who scored all four goals in a 4-3 WeeNix win away to Whanganui Athletic. Phoenix, Petone, and Welly Olympic are the three teams with maximum points after two rounds in the Centrals.
Meanwhile down south… it’s all going to plan so far. Big wins for Cashmere Technical and Christchurch United. Garbhan Coughlan has six goals from two games. Sam Philip, a Christchurch native formerly of the WeeNix and back from his USA college experience, scored a hatty for Chch Utd on the weekend and has five in two himself.
Ferrymead Bays and Dunedin City Royals have also gone two wins from two in the Southern Conference. Too early to read much into that at this stage but DCR have scored eight times without concession so their trip to face Christchurch United this upcoming weekend should be a banger. Big early test as to whether to United and Technical might have any legitimate threats to two National League spots this year.