The Freeze Frame Game
Emerging Warriors juniors, Men's National League grand final, David Light's cruiserweight emergence, White Ferns vs Bangladesh & more
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The Kiwi-NRL Juniors Who Helped Australian Teams Make Finals In 2022 (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Junior Siua Wong's Crazy Year Of Footy (Rugby League)
2022/23 Kiwi-NRL Train and Trial Breakdown (Rugby League)
Kiwi Steve in the NBA #2: Candied Yams (Basketball)
Blackcaps vs India ODI Series Debrief (Tom Latham, Adam Milne & Bowling Options) (Cricket)
Scotty’s Word
On the back of the latest Ford Trophy round up, here is a breakdown of Blackcaps in Ford Trophy so far...
Martin Guptill: 24 runs @ 24avg/75sr
Mark Chapman: 9 runs @ 4.5avg/37.5sr
Tim Seifert: 28 runs @ 14avg/96.55sr
Neil Wagner: 3w @ 19.33avg/3.22rpo | 45 runs @ 107.14sr
Will Young: 165 runs @ 82.5avg/104.43sr
Dane Cleaver: 144 runs @ 72avg/133.33sr
Blair Tickner: 7w @ 13.14avg/4.34rpo
Doug Bracewell: 4w @ 26.25avg/4.56rpo | 60 runs @ 30avg/100sr
Ajaz Patel: 3w @ 25avg/4.78rpo
Rachin Ravindra: 118 runs @ 39.33avg/100.85sr | 3w @ 24.33avg/5.61rpo
Tom Blundell: 73 runs @ 24.33avg/117.74sr
Ben Sears: 4w @ 10.25avg/4.47rpo
Tom Latham: 76 runs @ 76avg/97.43sr
Henry Nicholls: 63 runs @ 31.5avg/87.5s
Matt Henry: 1w @ 53avg/3.11rpo
Ish Sodhi: 4w @ 14avg/3.77rpo
Glenn Phillips: 34 runs @ 147.82sr
Jacob Duffy: 8w @ 11.25avg/3.52rpo
White Ferns sealed a T20I series win over Bangladesh, winning the second game after a hefty win in the first game. Here are the best performers so far...
Amelia Kerr: 73 runs @ 73avg/143.13sr
Maddy Green: 73 runs @ 152sr
Sophie Devine: 64 runs @ 32avg/133.33sr
Suzie Bates: 61 runs @ 30.5avg/101.66sr
Hayley Jensen: 5w @ 4avg/3.33rpo
Lea Tahuhu: 5w @ 5.8avg/3.62rpo
Fran Jonas: 3w @ 6.66avg/2.92rpo
The absence of Jess McFadyen has opened a wicket-keeping opportunity for Maddy Green in the first two T20I games, something I reckon could continue for the T20 World Cup. Green has been solid with the gloves (same black wicket-keeping gloves as Tom Latham) and this leads to a stronger 1st 11.
As noted in White Ferns preview stuff, McFadyen is a far better batter in one-day cricket compared to T20s. Blackcaps have operated with Devon Conway as their T20I wicket-keeper and this is a similar opportunity for Green as the balance offered in building the 1st 11, absorbs minor errors. This is compounded by the fact that Isabelle Gaze has only batted down the order for White Ferns and if McFadyen was playing vs Bangladesh, she would probably be shuffled down the order as well.
Instead of playing a wicket-keeper who bats 7-10th, Green can do a similar job and a better batter or another bowler can be selected. This means jamming Georgia Plimmer, Rebecca Burns and Lauren Down in a batting line up alongside the quartet of Devine, Bates, A-Kerr and Green. With three of the four best batters (Devine and A-Kerr bowling, Green keeping) offering other skills, White Ferns have ample combinations to deploy.
Rebecca Burns replaced Brooke Halliday in the squad after Halliday suffered a hand injury. Burns has a slightly better T20 record (15.41avg/93sr) than Halliday (12.55avg/92.62sr) and Burns also had a knock of 46 runs (80.7sr) in the one-day warm up fixture against Bangladesh.
This fits the White Ferns vibe of powerful batters sprinkled around the big-four. Burns and Plimmer are vastly different ladies, who share a batting skill of punching strokes through covers and down the ground. Burns hit a trio of boundaries in her 20 runs (105.26sr) yesterday and despite only facing 19 deliveries, Burns ticked things along before A-Kerr and Green finished the innings.
Throughout Women's Big Bash League, A-Kerr's excellence and Green elevating her batting were notable themes.
A-Kerr has a 20+ score and/or a not-out innings in seven of her last 10 games - all T20s.
A-Kerr is yet to register a 50+ score in T20I cricket, yet this is her best year of T20I batting with 279 runs @ 27.9avg/107sr. A-Kerr finished with 26.81avg/118.47sr in WBBL08.
Green is yet to be dismissed in these two T20I games and she has six 20+ scores in her last 10 games (only nine innings batted though). Green has a T20I record of 33.57avg/118.68sr this year and this is her first year (since debut in 2012) averaging 20+. Best year of T20I batting, after her best WBBL campaign.
White Ferns are 9-3-1 in T20Is this year, 9-6 in ODIs.
Here are some basics on young/emerging NZ Warriors juniors. All of our content serves to bolster your sporting yarns and nuggets like these should boost your festive season NZ Warriors korero...
Taniela Otukolo (Otahuhu)
Was rumoured to be joining Panthers, but I think I spotted him in the Warriors Instagram feed. Either he's off to Panthers and you can spin yarns about Panthers loving NZ Warriors talent and using the Kiwi-NRL pipeline to add to their junior base, or throw Otukolo up as dummy half depth alongside Wayde Egan and Freddy Lussick.
Tom Ale (Mt Albert), Kina Kepu, Lingi Kepu (Manurewa)
These three are lumped together because they will add power through the middle for Warriors. Ale played four games at the end of this season and he enjoyed 20+ minutes in three consecutive games, averaging 89m and 4 tackle busts. Ale could be a key bench player as he provides value (first/second contract) and is a powerful, mobile runner.
The Kepu twins have been cooking for a few years now and after a niggly stint with Redcliffe-Warriors, they return to Aucklad. One, maybe both could make their debuts this season and any injuries/suspensions to middle forwards will lead to this depth being tested. Warriors have local juniors providing layers of middle forward depth.
Zyon Maiu'u (Te Atatu), Demitric Sifakula (Otahuhu)
Two more powerful forwards. Maiu'u seems to have transitioned from edge forward to middle and I'm curious where he starts the season, while we know that Sifakula transitioned from 1st 15 midfield to middle forward mahi. These two are likely to join the Kepu twins, Ale and Otukolo in the NSW Cup team, which is an exciting amount of power through the middle.
Jacob Laban (Randwick)
Laban could dabble in middle forward, but is likely to develop as an edge forward after a strong stint with Redcliffe-Warriors. Laban was too young for the 2020 SG Ball team (everyone except for Ale played in that team - Warriors development!) and played U18s this year, before settling in U21s. This is a fabulous sign as he played up an age bracket in Queensland where the footy is apparently much better.
Ali Leiataua (Papatoetoe)
Leiataua joins Rocco Berry, Viliami Vailea and Adam Pompey in group competing for fringe-outside back slots. Pompey is the only one who didn't rise up through the Warriors system, while Berry and Vailea had their development stunted by the shift to Australia. Leiataua has been a top-tier footy junior in Aotearoa, impressing for Auckland White U20s last year before playing his final year of 1st 15 with King's College.
Halves?
Warriors recruited Ronald Volkman and Luke Metcalf, both of whom were among the best young Australian halves not in NRL when Warriors signed them. They join Shaun Johnson and Te Maire Martin, which will leave one, maybe both of Volkman and Metcalf to fill the NSW Cup spots. Warriors don't seem to have a half who will rise up to play NSW Cup, leaving me curious about who will play in the halves for NSW Cup if not Volkman or Metcalf.
Sebastyan Jack (Marist) and Tome Poona (Pikiao) are lads capable of stepping up, if they are still with Warriors. Both dabbled in Redcliffe-Warriors footy but there is no concrete information about their futures. Sefanaia Cowley-Lupo (Bay-Roskill) and William Piliu (Manurewa/Mt Albert) are named in the SG Ball squad, both played in spine positions for Junior Warriors vs Tigers at Mt Smart this season.
Cowley-Lupo also played U18 and U21s for Redcliffe-Warriors this season. This means he would go from U21s in Queensland to U19 SG Ball, perhaps suggesting that he could elevate to NSW Cup if he develops this summer.
One last lad to ponder is Etuate Fukofuka who is in the SG Ball squad and played halfback for St Peter's College 1st 15, also kicked goals. Fukofuka made the Blues U18 Development squad and the NZRU Barbarian U18 team, putting him among the best halfbacks in Aotearoa. This could lead to a role in the halves for Warriors SG Ball, giving Warriors at least three halves prospects to track.
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
There was a brilliant Men’s National League grand final yesterday and, yes, it had drama. Already spent most of the day writing my recap of that fella (women’s Team of the Week will be in Friday’s mailer because I haven’t finished watching the games yet) so have a read of that.
What I want to do here was break down a few of the refereeing decisions a little deeper, which I didn’t really do in the write-up because those things do happen in finals, comes with the territory, and they shouldn’t overshadow the overall spectacle. Also might as well stock up the Substacker, why not.
For a bit of context, Auckland City beat Wellington Olympic in week one of the National League in a scrappy 2-1 result down in the nation’s capital. Olympic dominated the first half but couldn’t score. City then had the better of the second half and did score, not once but twice. First Ryan De Vries on 50’ and then an own goal for Tor Davenport-Petersen in the 85th minute clinched it after Gianni Bouzoukis had equalised on 75’. But there was a moment in the first half which stood out as Jonty Roubos was denied a screamer of a goal because of a phantom offside...
Needless to say they weren’t stoked with that, the Olympic boys. Nor should they have been as a goal when they were on top could well have turned into two or three – they’re that sort of team. Instead they failed to capitalise and ended up losing a close one which eventually cost them the top spot on the table when they and ACFC ended tied on points. Had it gone to goal difference then Olympic would’ve had it easy. Instead it was head to head and ACFC claimed it.
With that in mind, this grand final also had a few burner moments. First was a sneaky one as Liam Gillion’s goal had so much scrambling chaos that it was hard to pick one thing out from another. As Dylan Manickum and Ryan De Vries pressed to win possession on the left wing there was a hint of offside about Manickum collecting the ball, though the freeze frame game suggests he was level (and I can only fit so many screenies into this email so you’ll have to either take my word for it or watch the highlights back yourself).
At the very least it was close enough that there’s no way an assistant ref could be expected to spot anything. If a marginal offside slips through the proverbial net without VAR then so be it – heaps of people seem to get annoyed when legitimate but tight offsides are given by the video refs anyway so this is what it looks like when you take that element out of it.
There was also no doubt that Gillion’s touch crossed the line before it was cleared away. But there was a definite offside missed amongst the carnage as Manickum collected the rebound from a blocked RDV shot and flipped it onto the post himself. Pretty clear that Manickum was offside here...
Ah well. That one was missed. Sorta can’t be too ruthless against an official who misses something minor like that when there’s a pinball game breaking out in the penalty area though. VAR catches that and denies the goal. Without VAR it’s probably going to stand in most games you see.
Next was the red card where Reid Drake chopped down Jack-Henry Sinclair just before half-time. Can’t have any complaints about the foul itself. He’s in good company for having been carded fouling JHS this year – at least five blokes got caught in that trap this season and that’s just off the top of the head, it’s probably a lot more. Garbhan Coughlan is the reigning king of drawing a free kick but JHS suffers more card-worthy ones.
Except that after initially giving out a yellow card, the refereeing team all huddled together to decide upon an upgrade to a red one instead. The logic was that a deliberate foul had prevented a goal-scoring opportunity. Here’s the state of play as the foul was committed...
Cheeky trip of the heel. Brotherton and Mitchell are in the vicinity by the time JHS falls over (he stumbles another step before losing his footing) but looking at when he was specifically tripped it’s hard to argue that anybody had a hope of catching one of the quickest blokes in the comp before he would have been 1v1 with the goalie. This one feels like they got it spot on.
Then there was Olympic’s disallowed goal after 62 mins. Sam Brotherton turned a JHS cross into his own net but it was called back for an offside decision. Here’s the screenie...
First thing, the lino is in a perfect position here and we’ve learned recently at the World Cup that camera angles can be deceptive. Bouzoukis (#10) looks fine but the ball doesn’t get to him anyway. It’s Gould (#9, obscured) who is supposedly at fault. Brotherton (#12) is right behind him and wins the actual contact.
Is Kailan Gould offside? Can’t say for sure from that angle. His left foot is further forward than anyone else’s but Howieson is leaning slightly forward which could swerve the call back the other way.
However there’s another factor at play because even if he is slightly off he doesn’t actually touch the ball. It goes over his head and Brotherton kicks it into his own net behind him. So the real question is: was Gould interfering with play? He challenged for the header which some will say is enough. Others will argue that he wasn’t actually anywhere near it and Brotherton had to play the ball regardless since Bouzoukis (and Randall) was lurking over his shoulder. I’d have preferred to see that goal stand. I can also see why a referee would take a hardline approach in denying it.
End of yarn lesson: sometimes you get the calls, sometimes you don’t. That’s how it goes. These instances are never 100% decisive within a ninety minute contest – Olympic also won a penalty late on while City were denied a couple shouts. All correct decisions again IMO but then I’ve seen far worse penalties given across this season (taking the cake was the ‘foul’ committed by Harry Chote against ACFC a few weeks ago for Miramar Rangers – took the ball clean as a whistle... only to hear the whistle anyway). Plus Olympic hit the woodwork twice and put a couple too many good opportunities wide of the target. They had their moments. City had theirs too. That’s grand final footy for ya.
It hasn’t been a good year for kiwi boxing, with Joseph Parker, Junior Fa, and Hemi Ahio all losing their most recent heavyweight bouts. David Nyika continues to work up the cruiserweight ranks at least. But there’s another fella out there who may have just salvaged 2022 and that’s David Light.
Light is a 31 year old cruiserweight from Auckland. He took on American Brandon Glanton in Florida over the weekend... and despite being the underdog, despite getting knocked down in the tenth (and final) round, he bagged a split decision upset victory which surges him into title contention in the division. Incredible mahi from the fella, moving to 20-0 as a pro with 12 KOs.
The decision was a bit controversial. One judge had it 97-92 to Light, another saw it as a 95-94 Light victory. The other went with Glanton 95-94. Glanton (of Atlanta) had been undefeated through 17 fights coming into this bout and clearly had the power advantage but a clever fight plan from DL and trainer Isaac Peach allowed him to keep a lot of the bout at close distances where he could tally up without taking too much damage. By his own admission this was a very different version of David Light to how he usually fights, putting away the jab to keep things nice and tight. Lots of punches, tricky to score.
Glanton finally cut loose in the last round with Light hitting the canvas with 1:50 remaining... granted it looked like a slip rather than a clean knockdown. Dodged a punch on the ropes and tumbled over, admittedly amidst some heavy punches flying in his direction. Didn’t get the benefit of the doubt from the ref on that occasion but he got back up to grind it out and take a very narrow victory via the benefit of the doubt from the judges instead. Huge guts from the kiwi slugger.
Light was ranked 6 by the WBO leading into the bout. Glanton was ranked at 7. What this win means is that he’s now the mandatory challenger to English WBO Cruiserweight champion Lawrence Okolie (18-0 with 14 KOs and a regular on the undercard of Anthony Joshua bouts). His next bout could be a title bout.
Okolie hasn’t fought since February so he’s ready to go... although he’s apparently got his eyes on Aussie IBF champ Jay Opetaia instead and unification bouts trump mandatory challenges so we’ll see what happens with David Light. Regardless, the bloke’s just launched himself into the big time with this win.
Also get familiar with Tafara Gapare quickly because this guy is one of Aotearoa’s absolute top basketballing prospects...
It was an improved performance from the Welly Nix Wahine on Sunday evening. Ruthless heat over in Melbourne, dunno why they insist on having afternoon games at this time of the year but okay. Alyssa Whinham was a casualty of the conditions as she went off mid-second half with what looked like heat stroke. Yet despite the fact that they were still without about four injured players (including Kate Taylor who missed this one having been struggling with an ankle injury since preseason) they can be pretty satisfied with only losing 1-0 to the defending champs Melbourne Victory.
Admittedly the Victory have not been so flash lately. A pair of 1-0 defeats to start their season had them stuck on the bus to struggle street... but that was before playing the SheNix, to be fair. The Victory’s troubles have been at the attacking end which helped the Nix settle into the game though defensively they’re still all class with Claudia Bunge and Kayla Morrison at the back – keeping the Nix scoreless for the first time this term. The match-up therefore suggested a close defeat and that’s exactly what happened.
Marisa van der Meer surprisingly swapped in for Taylor, playing central defence and doing a pretty excellent job of it too. Even had a few of those KT flourishes winning the ball and stepping forward with it. Most important was that they eliminated the individual errors that had been plaguing them. There were some sketchy moments, there always will be, but they scrambled well. Brianna Edwards had her best showing in a Nix jersey. Plenty of clearances. Much better areas.
That was how remained within range the entire way, only ever one moment of brilliance away from an equaliser. That moment never arrived. Never really got close. The Victory were too solid and the Nix were too poor in possession. Hence it was another defeat... but a defeat that might help provide a platform that’ll serve them well in future games against teams that don’t have Claudia Bunge at the back.
Grace Wisnewski and Emma Rolston are close to returning... Lily Alfeld shouldn’t be far away either. Rolston’s presence up front and Alfeld’s leadership and experience at the back would go pretty well about now. Pity about the slow rolling start but hopefully this team is starting to gather a bit of speed now.