The Hybrid Model
The Hybrid Model
Domestic cricket happenings, Women's National League changes, OCL qualifiers, standard Kiwi-NRL excitement, Football Ferns reality & more
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Reading Menu
The Legend Of Charlisse Leger-Walker Grows Ever Larger (Basketball)
The Breakers Were Wooden-Spooners, Now One Year Later They’re NBL Finals-Bound (Basketball)
All Whites vs China: Squad Yarns & Preview (Football)
Football Ferns vs Portugal/Argentina: Part One, Keeping Things In Context (Football)
Football Ferns vs Portugal/Argentina: Part Two, Into The Mangroves (Football)
Flying Kiwis – March 7 (Football)
Basking In Some Stats & Records From The Blackcaps’ One-Run Win Over England (Cricket)
2022/23 HBJ Shield: Maddy Green's Ascension, Amy Satterthwaite Bows Out and More (Cricket)
2022/23 Plunket Shield: Blackcaps Intrigue and Notes For All Teams (Cricket)
Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Round Rua vs Roosters (Rugby League)
Scotty’s Word
The summer of women's cricket isn't over just yet with a North vs South T20 series being played this weekend. Three games featuring Aotearoa's best available players sounds lovely and it will be fascinating to see who emerges as the best performers for either team.
The North team features Bernadine Bezuidenhout, Izzy Gaze and Jess McFadyen as wicket-keepers. They have all been given a crack at the White Ferns role since Katey Martin retired and there does not appear to be a plan in place. Hopefully someone scores plenty of runs because this fits snug into weird White Ferns stuff.
Lauren Down, Brooke Halliday and Molly Penfold are also intriguing players for North. Down and Halliday didn't play at the T20 WC, neither has dominated domestic cricket recently. Penfold is a development project, who might take wickets soon?
The South team has Kate Anderson and Gabby Sullivan who are the best domestic players you don't know about. This is massive opportunity for them to showcase their talents against fringe White Ferns.
Suzie Bates and Kate Ebrahim lead a hefty Otago crew in the South team, although Ebrahim is one to watch out for. Ebrahim has been consistently dominant in HBJ Shield and like many wahine, Ebrahim showcased extra power in Super Smash this season. Ebrahim's best asset is her winning mana and that could be useful in a passive WF team but Ebrahim needs to keep scoring runs to demand another opportunity.
The South team also has 18-year-old spinner Abigail Hotton. After taking 4w @ 19.75avg/4.15rpo at the Under 19 T20 WC as the busiest kiwi bowler, Hotton's first two Super Smash games were finals as Canterbury won that championship. Hotton didn't take Super Smash wickets but her selection was notable, then she took 2w @ 2.87rpo against Otago to help Canterbury reach the HBJ Shield final.
Best Youngsters In Plunket Shield…
Will O'Rourke: 6th - 19w @ 30.68avg/3rpo
Adithya Ashok: 13th - 12w @ 22.33avg/2.71rpo
Kristian Clarke: 19th - 12w @ 41.33avg/3.39rpo
Dean Foxcroft: 5th - 485 runs @ 44avg
Rachin Ravindra: 6th - 469 runs @ 39avg
Mitch Hay: 12th - 356 runs @ 39.55avg
Thorn Parkes: 14th - 346 runs @ 31.45avg
Panthers defeated Rabbitohs last night with Aotearoa Kiwis forwards Moses Leota and James Fisher-Harris settling into a classy groove. These blokes barely miss a tackle and lead Panthers physicality which usually revolves around a strong kick-chase, along with brutal runs around the ruck. Both had an offload and a pass as well as they develop their distribution skills.
Panthers have lost some nice players and there are a bunch of notable players who take attention away from the Kiwi-NRL props. Leota and Fisher-Harris are cornerstones of the Panthers forward pack along with Isaah Yeo, with this trio still in tact after back to back championships. As long as Panthers have these lads in their forward pack, they will be a top-notch NRL team.
Queensland Cup footy starts this weekend and here are some notable Kiwi-NRL lads named...
Wynnum: Deine Mariner (Marist), Caius Fa'atili (Hornby)
Townsville: D'jazirhae Pua'avase (Manurewa)
Sunshine Coast: Javvier Pitovao (Pt Chevalier)
Souths Logan: Alex Fidow (Hurricanes)
Burleigh: Keano Kini (Northcote/Marist), Vaka Sikahele (Manurewa)
Redcliffe: Valynce Te Whare (Waikato RU)
Mariner can't crack the Broncos team and dominated Q Cup last year so I'm excited to see him with Wynnum. Caius Fa'atili played U21s and Q Cup last year with Wynnum, perhaps with a chance to push for a wider NRL gig next year. Younger brother Felix Fa'atili scored two tries for Sharks SG Ball last weekend but there were no highlights - he's scored in all five games.
Pua'avase has climbed through the Cowboys system since leaving Auckland and if he impresses with Townsville, he could be in the mix for an NRL debut later this year. Cowboys also have Jeremiah Matautia (Otara) and Henry Teutau (Marist) in their system as forwards from Auckland.
Pitovao made a bunch of rep teams while in Auckland and then entered the Bulldogs system before moving up to Sunshine Coast - who are aligned with Melbourne Storm. A high pedigree junior being in a Storm-ish system is an intriguing Kiwi-NRL recipe.
Fidow has moved from rugby union and is named to start as an edge forward for Souths Logan. Fellow union convert Te Whare will start the season in reserve grade with Redcliffe and he could command an NRL opportunity later in the year.
Gold Coast Titans juniors Kini and Sikahele are named for Burleigh. I'm fascinated by Kini as he has swiftly progressed through the ranks in Australia and after a summer of Titans NRL mahi, Kini could dominate Q Cup at fullback. Sikahele was an impressive talent in Auckland and has commanded opportunities in the Titans NRL squad as a hooker/middle forward. Sikahele is similar to fellow Manurewa junior Erin Clark - covering both positions increases their chances of game time.
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
There are doings afoot in domestic football! The Women’s National League has gotten a revamp ahead of the 2023 season, with two new teams added and a change in format. The hybrid model with the federation teams against Northern League clubs remains (for now) though the competition will now be structured as a single round robin rather than the home and away fixtures of last year. With a grand final to follow – exactly the same as the men’s comp.
The biggest boost is the inclusion of a Wellington Phoenix reserve team. It had to be inevitable and now here we go. They’ll get automatic qualification every year – although that doesn’t really mean anything considering that’s the case with all the federation teams. It does appear that they’ll be an U20s team same as the blokes, though you’d imagine they have the same ability to pick a handful of older first-teamers in need of minutes. Also, a lot of the SheNix side are under the age of twenty anyway (or were when they first signed).
This means there’s now a clear pathway all the way to the A-League team for the female half of the academy. It also means that top players who’ve aligned themselves with that Nix Academy, but don’t have ALW contracts, no longer have to skip out on National League footy. I’m thinking of players like Macey Fraser, Emma Main, and Helena Errington for example. All huge talents (Main is a bit older tho). The Phoenix now have competitive teams at U15, U17, and U20 level beneath their senior side.
So that’s cool. The other new team is going to be an additional Capital Football selection though, which is less exciting. Capital were second to last in 2022 with two of their three wins coming against last-placed Central. Admittedly there were doubts as to whether that squad included all of the best talent in the region... but we are also adding a WeeNix team to the mix too.
The most competitive thing to do would have been to add a fifth Northern team... granted that’d also mean 5/8 NRFL Women’s Prem teams making the Natty League which would be a bit silly. But the Auckland teams did dominate things last year, let’s be honest.
Also gotta recognise that these changes are being made as part of the longer term vision of going fully-club based, presumably with three clubs from the Central/Capital region qualifying (as well as the Nix) same as in the MNL. Hence the location of the new teams. Apparently a review will take place after the 2023 season to see whether to stick with the federation teams through 2024 or not. There’s also a point in there about Capital working closely with clubs to provide its teams so there could be some kinda hybrid within the hybrid thing going on.
Meanwhile the Canterbury United and Southern United teams will carry on for at least a couple more seasons with 2026 pencilled in as when they want the South Island to go club-based. However there will be an integrated South Island league beginning this year to get that ball rolling and down the line that should become the qualifying path for those clubs.
Last year made it pretty obvious that the clubs, despite the presumably smaller catchment areas, had a huge advantage over the federation teams due to their full winter seasons compared to a couple of weeks of prep for the feds. The second round of fixtures saw those fates even out somewhat but by then it was too late for anyone to catch Eastern Suburbs or Western Springs. That’s backed up by the NZF claim that: “the feedback we had from the 2022 women’s National League Championship was that participants want to move to a club-based competition as soon as possible”.
However the expanded comp also means single round robin. A concession to the most annoying aspect of the men’s NL, meaning fewer games overall. Admittedly club teams do have their entire winter seasons as well, which for the highly competitive NRFL Premiership teams tend to be of a similar competitive level to the National League (since they were the ones setting the standard). It’s all very push and pull. There’s no perfect system that’ll balance high performance and player development and club engagement. I dunno… this bit’s getting too long, I may have to continue it in a full length article over the weekend.
Oh and while we’re talking domestic footy, gotta let you know that it may be mid-March but there’s a very big game going on this weekend: the Oceania Champions League qualifier between Auckland City and Wellington Olympic, the two finalists from last year’s National League. Auckland City already had their FIFA Club World Cup jaunt earlier in the year now the work begins to qualify for another one – as only one team from each nation gets into the OCL these days.
It’s a two-legged series with game one in Wellington at Martin Luckie Part at 2pm tomorrow (Saturday) and then the second leg in Auckland at Kiwitea Street at 3.30pm on Saturday 18 March. Winner on aggregate advances. If it’s tied then it proceeds to extra time and then presumably penalties. No away goals rule if I’m reading it correctly. The other seven established nations (there’s also a qualifying tourney for clubs from the rest of Oceania with the winner advancing to make it eight teams in the tournament proper) have already done these qualifiers but the NZ ones were pushed back a few weeks probably because of ACFC’s Club World Cup participation. Also because the three big regional leagues kickoff in a fortnight so it’s as close to the season as possible.
Not too many folks are gonna want to hear this... but Auckland City have strengthened since last season. They didn’t get to keep Nikko Boxall after scooping him up ahead of the CWC, with NB going on to sign with the Wellington Phoenix. However they do have Michael Den Heijer while Dan Morgan has returned to the club (and would have played at the CWC but for injury) and Nathan Lobo remains around having missed the second half of 2022 to do some college things in the USA. Plus they’ve brought in former Chinese pro Tong Zhou who has moved to Aotearoa to support his wife who is studying here. Pretty cool story. Granted the Navy Blues have lost Sam Brotherton so there’s a gap in central defence to ponder. Maybe either Mario Ilich or MVDH drops deeper so as to get them both into the line-up?
Wellington Olympic haven’t quite sustained things to that same level. Jesse Randall has left to play USL in the States. Kailan Gould has crossed the Tasman to play NPL with Preston Lions in the Victorian second tier. And a sneaky one: Gianni Bouzoukis has been on trial with Salon Palloilijat in Finland. Best of luck to him there.
That’s a triple blow to their attacking ranks... but they’ve pulled no punches in replacing them. Hamish Watson and Joel Stevens, two absolute killers at Natty League level, are now on the books. Watto swapping over from Miramar Rangers and Stevens returning from playing professionally in Sweden. Plus Olympic have also added two Ole Academy grads in Ryan Feutz and Ollie van Rijssel. Feutz had been with Rangers last year too although didn’t play National League. OVR had been overseas in Finland through one of them Ole hookups.
Watson’s a straight replacement for Bouzoukis. Feutz is the same for Randall. Stevens for Gould. And OVR will suit their winger/wing-back formation beautifully.
Very much looking forward to that one... which we can all watch live on the Oceania Football website and also on the Eleven Sports app/site.
I wrote a two-parter Football Ferns yarn last week (links at the top of the email) and apparently not enough people read it because ever since I’ve still consistently seen the same debunked myths repeated about that team. I also had a similar yarn on the Variety Show podcast the week before last. Now here I am having to repeat the same chat again... but it needs to be done.
It’s no secret that the Fernies are struggling for results and for goals. The All Whites, by the way, are in the exact same bag. Neither team has a win or a goal in their past five fixtures. The AWs did have a nice wee run of wins earlier on against OFC teams and against lowly ranked global teams, though they then failed to translate that against better teams like Costa Rica and Australia. Exactly like the Footy Ferns who beat Mexico and Philippines last year but have been consistently topped by higher ranked sides. The results against Argentina were annoying because those were much more competitive games where they couldn’t translate that into success... yet we can’t also ignore that they were missing several key players.
On that note, there’s this idea that I keep seeing about senior players in the Ferns side keeping their spots without delivering performances and I honestly can’t even think who folks are talking about there. Maybe Erin Nayler... but she hasn’t kept her spot. She’s dropped to second maybe even third choice keeper status in recent times, it’s just that both Vic Esson and Anna Leat were injured for the last tour. Certainly not Ali Riley, surely, who is always amongst the best performers when she’s fit to go and captains a team in one of the top domestic leagues in the world. Betsy Hassett, perhaps? Not sure about that either, bruh.
I s’pose Hannah Wilkinson is under pressure as a striker in a team that doesn’t score goals. But who is a better option? There isn’t one. I actually thought Wilkie played quite well in that series aside from a couple of poor finishes. I realise that’s no small aside but the fact is we haven’t exactly got an abundance of attacking options. Certainly not proven international ones (although Grace Jale needs to play more striker for this team, I’ll give you that - ideally alongside Wilkie).
On the contrary, it’s the ongoing injury-enforced absences of experienced players like Ria Percival, Rebekah Stott, and Annalie Longo that’s one of the biggest issues. It’s not that they’ve got too many vets, it’s that they don’t have enough. The veterans are, in most cases, the best players. It’s why they’ve hung around so long.
The other thing about that narrative, apart from it not being true, is that it’s predicated on the assumption that this is a team stocked with veterans. And that’s not true either. Here’s the squad from the last World Cup...
Eight of those 23 players have since retired and that doesn’t even include Amber Hearn who missed that tournament with the knee injury that caused her own retirement (and who has turned out to be even tougher to replace than Erceg – at least we’ve got other strong defenders, even if nobody’s of the world class calibre of AE). That includes several centurions and also a large proportion of forwards (Kete, White, Gregorius).
In reality, this is quite a young and inexperienced side that’s having to be refreshed with younger players, some of whom perhaps aren’t quite ready for the roles required of them. 10 of the 16 players that started games during in the last window have fewer than 50 caps. Exactly half of them have fewer than 30 caps. Damn, mate, five of them haven’t even reach the 20 mark yet. And that’s not even including the youngsters on the bench.
Once the injury replacements for Rebekah Stott and the two goalies are taken into consideration, the 23 player squad that took on Portugal and Argentina had four players over the age of 30 whereas there were 14 aged 24 or younger. But apparently there are too many older players blocking the pathways?
Not to mention the other tangents I went into in those articles such as where Aotearoa sits in the fast-developing world of women’s international football as well as some realism about how mad it is to keep the same expectations for a team when half the best starting eleven are absent. You think we can simply replace the likes of Percival, Esson, Bott, Riley, Chance, etc? For every key player that’s unavailable the chances of success shrink. Of course they do. Or the point that this team never won a game at a World Cup before and are now we’re demanding they make it out of the group or else it’s a catastrophic failure.
This Footy Ferns team are still underperforming and there’s still valid criticisms to be made. But at least keep those criticisms within the bounds of fact, right? And don’t even get me started on the jerries who think that social media activities have any bearing whatsoever on a player’s performances.
Anyway, enjoy your weekend. Here’s a new Fazerdaze tune…