The Mantis
McCullum & England, Tom Vodanovich: NBL Champ, Anna Leat leaves West Ham, Kiwi Boxing & UFC updates, a new Breakers coach, all sorts of Kiwi-NRL yarns... and yet more still
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Podcast
Reading Menu
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: The Steady Development Of Joseph Tapine (NRL)
Diary Of An Aotearoa Warriors Fan: Tohu Harris The Saviour (Jokes) (NRL)
Flying Kiwis – March 11 (Football)
Somehow, Despite Everything, The Wellington Phoenix Are Finals-Bound (Football)
There Goes Another Disappointing Breakers Season (Basketball)
2021/22 Plunket Shield All Stars (Cricket)
Exploring The (Relative) Kyle Jamieson Test Plateau (Cricket)
The Curious Summer Of Ajaz Patel (Cricket)
Scotty’s Word
Will Young is The Mantis…
As noted in yesterday's podcast, I'm fizzing to see Aotearoa smoke England in the upcoming Test series. Obviously most kiwis love to defeat England and recent antics have only amplified this notion as Will Young continues to score runs in County Championship, while Brendon McCullum is once again England's saviour.
England's woes are deeply rooted. Unfortunately they have had to address racial issues in English cricket over the past few years, with far too much cricket stacked on top of underlying problems. Too much cricket stems from a financial focus and that breeds bad juju. England's Test team are currently 1-7-4 in the World Test Championship, stuck at the bottom of the ladder and England have not won a Test against Aotearoa since 2015; Aotearoa has three wins with three draws in their last six Tests.
When Aotearoa dominated England in ODI stuff, England zoned in on Brendon McCullum as his buddy Eoin Morgan led the 'white ball revolution'. Now England are stuck in a similar Test hole and they have called upon McCullum to drag them out of it. Bad teams and bad organisations need reviews, England have had at least two major reviews and turned to Aotearoa to fix things.
McCullum's cool, but I look forward to him being unable to deal with such bad juju. Also funky here is how McCullum and Mike Hesson are celebrated for what they did with the Blackcaps while I also ponder how Aotearoa is the only nation to make the final of the ODI and T20 World Cups also winning the World Test Championship in a two-year cycle … without McCullum or Hesson.
McCullum and Hesson planted seeds. They planted seeds with some of Aotearoa's greatest cricketers already in the team (Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Kane Williamson, BJ Watling, Neil Wagner, Tom Latham) and Aotearoa's success is far more dependent on this than McCullum/Hesson guidance. They left, somehow Aotearoa got better.
England's woes are most evident in how Aotearoa's cricketers enjoy County cricket as preparation for Test cricket, while England's cricketers struggle to jump up to Test cricket. Will Young hit 134 overnight for Northamptonshire (against Warwickshire) and this is his third 50+ score in four games so far on the 2022 Kiwi County Tour. It's also Young's third century in County cricket after back to back centuries for Durham last season.
Colin de Grandhomme is also in action with Surrey, waiting to bat after day tahi. Young's playing against Dom Sibley and de Grandhomme is playing against Rory Burns and Ollie Pope, three lads who have each played 20+ Tests for England as batters. This provides a funky comparison between Young and how the three English batters have transitioned from County cricket to Test cricket...
Will Young: 41.54avg (First Class) | 31.35avg (Test).
Dom Sibley: 38.80avg | 28.94avg.
Ollie Pope: 51.02avg | 28.66avg.
Rory Burns: 41.10avg | 30.32avg.
The three English batters have only played Test cricket, while Young has played ODI and T20I cricket. Not only is Young making better use of County cricket as preparation for Test cricket, he simply feels like a better batter and someone with more batting class than the three poms or any other decent England batter.
Fairbreaks T20…
The lazy thing to do for organisations wanting more women's sport is to copy men's sport. That's incredibly lazy given what female athletes go through with their bodies let alone the financial aspect of aligning wahine stuff to the blokes. Women's sport needs to be separate from blokes sport and the best example of this are Australia's cricketers who bring in their own sponsorship and hype, also with a standalone Women's Big Bash League. Empower wahine to build their own eco-system instead of being a lazy bloke.
What was the White Ferns problem? Too many blokes.
Hence I have found the Fairbreaks Invitational T20 tournament so funky. This is a unique wahine event with players from around the world coming together to form teams and compete alongside each other, plus against their international comrades.
Suzie Bates hit 41* (132.25sr) against Sophie Devine and Katey Martin overnight. Devine went a bit better though with 52 runs (179.31sr) while Martin didn't need to bat. Their respective teams finished 3rd and 4th which puts them through to the semi-final stage to be played on Sunday morning.
Suize Bates: 10th - 126 runs @ 63avg/131.25sr.
Sophie Devine: 11th - 125 runs @ 25avg/143.67sr.
Katey Martin: 41st - 24 runs @ 12avg/88.88sr.
Lydia Ko Alert…
Lydia Ko is currently playing at the Founders Cup in New Jersey. Stay tuned.
Black Sticks Hockey…
Black Sticks wahine are currently playing a series against Australia with the blokes series scratched due to the flu. Doing the mahi we do, it's interesting to see how different organisations cover their own sports/teams and while you won't find game wraps from Black Sticks/Hockey NZ, Hockey Australia do a good job of covering their teams.
Two games down and with a 2-2 draw followed by a 2-1 loss. Despite a love for hockey, I have all of this on the backburner of my Aotearoa sports kitchen. Aotearoa hockey has declined in recent years with the flu playing a major role in that, also it's simply not as fun as it used to be. Less than five years ago Aotearoa had some of the best players in the world on both the wahine and blokes sides, most have moved on while coaches come and go.
Credit to hockey for perseverance and there are major events this year to really tap into. Right now though, hockey isn't high on my agenda. As far as insights from these wahine games goes, I'll leave you with this nugget: Australia has four debutants and 11 players with less than 20 caps in their squad, sealing a 2-2 draw and 2-1 win.
Kiwi-NRL Notebook…
Mainstream media coverage of rugby league has been extra baffling in recent weeks and I love it. How do I feel about NRL expansion into Aotearoa? Well the actual expansion team Redcliffe Dolphins has signed a wide range of Kiwi-NRL players and almost half of their 16 signings played junior footy in Aoteraoa. Yup, the current expansion team is already flush with Kiwi-NRL talent.
Jesse and Kenny Bromwich: Manurewa Marlins.
Connelly Lemuelu: Papatoetoe Rugby Union.
Jamayne Isaako: Aranui Eagles (Christchurch).
Valynce Te Whare: Waikato Rugby Union/Fraser Tech.
Isaiya Katoa: Wellington.
Hearty veterans in the Bromwich bros. South Island presence via Isaako and as we know that plenty of Kiwi-NRL talent is recruited directly from 1st 15 rugby. This is reflected in Lemuelu, Te Whare and Katoa. Lemuelu went to Keebra Park from Tangaroa College, Te Whare was a rugby union deep cut signing thanks to Peter O’Sullivan. The Katoa journey is still tricky to piece together as there is a strong Wellington link (older bro Sione played rugby for Avalon) with Isaiya attending the 2019 IRANZ camp as well.
I'm enjoying the young Kiwi-NRL lads getting opportunities right now. Starford To'a and Asu Kepaoa are joined by Ken Maumalo for a Kiwi-NRL back three at Tigers. Leo Thompson is starting #13 for Knights. Christian Tuipulotu is racking up games at wing for Sea Eagles. Matthew Timoko is a starting centre for Raiders. Griffin Neame is always on the Cowboys bench. Hayze Perham is playing tough at wing for Eels. Jordan Riki is always starting on an edge for Broncos and Te Maire Martin has won all three games starting at fullback for Broncos.
Warriors signed Ronald Volkman and Freddy Lussick from Roosters mid-season. This is a Roosters trend and the Kiwi-NRL trend is funky here because Roosters invest the most in junior recruitment from Aotearoa, which is now flowing into other clubs. Roosters allowed Tuipulotu and Kepaoa to leave for other Sydney clubs despite recruiting/developing them. I've previously noted Moala Graham-Taufa's recent move from Roosters to Eels. Last week Fa'amanu Brown shifted from North Sydney Bears (Roosters feeder) to Western Suburbs and he is now named on the Tigers extended bench. Brown has been out of action for a few years due to injury and is now sniffing around a return to NRL footy.
Because Roosters have the best pipeline of talent (from Aotearoa and Australia), they have too much talent that needs opportunities elsewhere. There is plenty more Kiwi-NRL junior talent within the Roosters system so even though they are allowing blokes to leave, they are still the best Kiwi-NRL club. As for Volkman and Lussick, well they're Aussies who want opportunities and Roosters have too much talent.
Wahine Rugby League…
The luxury of team lists isn't around for local wahine rugby league, but the Auckland Rugby League wrap for last weekend did mentioned Madison Bartlett and Katelyn Vaha'akolo. These two played NRLW and are now back in Auckland, while I imagine a few more are back as well but can't confirm that. Some have stayed in Australia with Georgia Hale playing for Tweed in the Queensland competition and Autumn-Rain Stephens-Daly starting at fullback for Knights (great opportunity) in New South Wales.
Other wahine are based in Australia and playing in either state right now too. All of these notes are from last round's team lists, so I'll keep this updated when other players pop up.
Based in Australia: Hailee-Jay Maunsell (Burleigh), Kimiora Breayley-Nati (Souths Logan), Rangimarie Edwards-Bruce, April Ngatupuna (North Queensland), Kiana Takairangi (Cronulla), Raecene McGregor, Nita Maynard (North Sydney).
Breayley-Nati, Takairangi, McGregor and Maynard have already played for Kiwi Ferns. The other three could be factors in the next squad.
Kiwi-UFC Updates…
Aotearoa will have two UFC title fights in July with Israel Adesanya booked to defend his middleweight championship against Jarrod Cannonier on July 2 (3rd NZT) and Kai Kara-France sealing an interim flyweight bout against Brandon Moreno on July 31 NZT. Incase you needed a reminder, this is why Aotearoa is the best sports nation in the world.
First though, is Mike 'Blood Diamond' Mathetha's second UFC fight on June 12 NZT. BD had a weird loss in his UFC debut and sparks up a funky winter season for City Kickboxing. These are the only three fights locked in to the best of my knowledge and I'm especially intrigued about Brad Riddell's next fight, also Dan Hooker's next move.
Raise Your Mana…
Wildcard’s Notebook
Tommy V x NBL Champion
Oh you know that’s just Tom Vodanovich celebrating an NBL title with the Sydney Kings. Drinking confetti, throwing up the shaka, cracking jokes. Having the time of his damn life as a freshly minted champion.
This from a piece focussing mostly on Shea Ili – but touching upon all the kiwis in NBL22 – which’ll be up very soon (potentially already by the time you’re reading this)...
Tom Vodanovich certainly had his moments for a Sydney Kings team that just swept their way through the playoffs to win the NBL22 title. His opportunities shrunk as rotations shrunk in the postseason stuff, though he did average 11 mins per game during the regulars with a decent rebounding rate and a positive net rating. Only shot 20% from threes... but he then made 3/4 in the finals. Tommy V had a DNP and a three-minute outing in the semis against Illawarra but the lower-scoring, defensive-minded Tasmania JackJumpers offered a more inviting style of game for Vodanovich. Here were his Finals box scores...
G1 (W 95-78):
4:47 MIN | 4 PTS (1/1 3PT, 1/1 FT) |
-4 +/-G2 (W 90-86):
9:46 MIN | 5 PTS (2/2 FG, 1/1 3PT) | 2 REB | 1 TO | +11 +/-
G3 (W 97-88):
8:51 MIN | 5 PTS (1/4 FG, 1/2 3PT, 2/2 FT) | 3 REB (2 OFF) | 2 PF | +12 +/-
Let it be known that he was out there for a lot of the fourth quarter of the game three clincher too as the Kings took a close game and blew it out in their favour on the way to trophy time. Another kiwi champion in the NBL, get in there.
Once the hangover subsides, Vodanovich will be flying back to Wellywood to lace up for the Saints in the NZ NBL. Which, by the way, is already thrilling even as the comp eases into its first few rounds with most teams understrength. I saw a bit of Ethan Rusbatch going nuts for 30 points last night in a Hawke’s Bay win. Hit five trebles in that. Jayden Bezzant was absolutely superb for Franklin last weekend with 28 points and 8 assists. It’s been a joy watching Rob Loe play unleashed basketball and utterly dominating. Good yarns. Great comp.
Breakers Coaching Yarns
The Breakers may have finished 5-23 for their worst ever NBL season, worse even than their first few expansion years, but there was never any question of coach Dan Shamir being sacked. The Breakers, more specifically owner/CEO Matt Walsh who runs the show, have continually expressed their faith in Shamir’s abilities and continually emphasised the impossible task that he’s been up against in these covid-affected years. In fact the Breakers have extended Shamir’s contract twice since he’s been here. Despite missing the playoffs three times outta three.
Nonetheless, Dan Shamir has resigned as Breakers coach. They never would have sacked him despite a 32-60 career record but that doesn’t mean they can force him to stay. Very understandably, Shamir has handed in his papers in order to return to Israel with his family. Can only imagine how tough recent times would have been for the whole Shamir whanau and regardless of how you feel about his coaching tenure, we’re all people first.
I would have liked to see what he did next season without all the distractions/excuses. I’ve written plenty of times about how the covid stuff may have been an amplifier for the club’s struggles but it’s not the cause. As far as Shamir goes, he’s clearly a clever bloke who knows basketball. But he didn’t seem to be a particularly good motivator, his preferred style was very tailored to an Israeli/European approach that didn’t seem to translate well in Aussie, and then on top of that it didn’t really feel like he was given rosters that suited his coaching ideals.
People always underestimate the value of fit in sports. Dan Shamir might well be a great coach but he was on the wrong team. Or maybe he was on the right team but was given the wrong support. Hard to say. The fact is that the alignment was wrong one way or another… but don’t think for a second that the Breakers recognised that. 32-60 record be damned coz already announced to be replacing Dan Shamir is... his assistant Mody Maor. After all, continuity is what you really need when you’ve just won a wooden spoon.
As it stands Tom Abercrombie, Rob Loe, and Sam Timmins are the only players contracted for next season. Abercrombie is the team captain and a crucial player who, had he been healthy in the first half of the season, would surely have helped them to at least another couple wins which might have avoided them getting to the point where as a team they threw up their hands and surrendered. Don’t blame them one bit for that, by the way. The damage had long since been done. But Loe and Timmins were only really used sparingly. Gonna be very funky to see if they retain guys like Finn Delany, William McDowell-White, or... not sure who else they’d want to retain to be honest.
But they’re going to have to find some folks. Can they attract top kiwis from overseas? Will starter level Aussies want to play for this team? Will they back the domestic talent to step up? They’ve begun to pay more attention to that scene over the last two years with guys like Isaac Davidson and Sam Timmins being signed... but then Shamir would hardly ever play them when it counted. The NBL community is full of kind words for the Breakers and what they’ve been through the last two years and the league loves the memes and the banter despite how cringey you or I might think it. I just don’t know how many of those people would put their money where their mouth is on that matter and sign with them.
WSL Footy Transfers
Curious one here seeing Anna Leat leave West Ham after only one year with the club. One promising year in which she immediately became their backup keeper and performed really well whenever she was called upon – including a stretch as the number one while Mackenzie Arnold was at the Asian Cup. Leat is 20 years old and this was her first professional deal. In nine total appearances for the club (four in the league) she kept five clean sheets.
There isn’t a lot of detail in that WHU release other than mentioning that those players are all leaving with their contracts coming to a conclusion. Single-year contracts are common in women’s football so don’t read too much into Leat only being signed for one season. It’s beginning to change now but long term financial commitments have always tended to be a hesitancy on the wahine side of things.
Also worth mentioning that it’s not like these players have all been happily offloaded by the Hammers either because Czech international Kateřina Svitková has been one of their top performers and is reportedly going to sign with newly re-minted WSL champions Chelsea.
Nah, it feels like maybe this is more about kiwi manager Olli Harder announcing his resignation last week. There was a brief word on that in Flying Kiwis earlier in the week – he guided this team to a pretty remarkable sixth placed finish in the league as well as the semis of the FA Cup and the quarters of the League Cup. His star is very bright at the moment... and he’s chosen to leave now with the implication being that he has something else lined up. At least that’s what it reads like when the club says that he has left “to pursue new opportunities”.
Where exactly those opportunities may be is a hard guess however there is a rumour about interest from the Houston Dash in the American NWSL. That season has only just started and Houston currently has a coach... although said coach, James Clarkson, is currently suspended amidst claims of misconduct so, yeah, that’s a possibility. The thing with Harder is that he’s a world traveller. He’s got links all over the globe. America, England, Norway, Germany, etc. You’d imagine he wants his next job to be somewhere with strong investment in the women’s team and in as competitive a situation as possible. We’ll see how it goes.
This is me reading between the lines but I don’t think that West Ham are offering him those things. Probably feels like he’s already taken them as far as he’ll be able to. This is a club whose co-owner pretty much handed the running of the women’s team to his uni-aged son a couple years back, who promptly made a reality tv series out of the experience (no kidding). It’s not that they’re not serious about it. It’s just that maybe they’re not as serious as many other clubs are... and if Liverpool could get relegated after underinvesting in their team then West Ham certainly aren’t safe if they don’t grow at the same level as others.
Those four players are leaving as free agents, already confirmed. That’s on top of club captain Gilly Flaherty already announcing her departure. Plus Halle Houssein and Lisa Evans returning to their parent clubs after loans. And, of course, the manager’s goneskees too. Whether that player turnover is coincidental or deliberate or whatever... it’s not a great look. These aren’t all fringe youngsters being released, after all.
Olli Harder is a manager who has brought players along with him in the past. Tameka Yallop for example. Coached her at Klepp in Norway, coached her at West Ham too. Same deal with Zaneta Wyne who is part of Leat’s group of departees. So that’s something to consider if Harder pops up with another gig nice and quickly. Alternatively there’s already been talk that Aston Villa are making a move for Leat’s services...
On this same topic, Liverpool have released Meikayla Moore amidst their end of season housekeeping. That one is both a bummer and also not a bummer. On the one hand, Moore seemed to love it at the Reds and having been a part of their Championship winning campaign she’s been let go after gaining promotion but before getting a chance to actually play in the English top flight. On the other hand she was never a first choice player for the Reds after Matt Beard came in as coach and with reinforcements likely now that they’re a WSL club there was every chance that she’d fall further down the pecking order.
There will be clubs out there that offer her more playing opportunities and if she wants to be a starter for the Football Ferns at next year’s World Cup then that might be the better thing for her. Certainly can’t say that this news was unexpected though it’s definitely a shame. We’re coming to the end of a lot of European seasons at the moment so the transfer talk is probably going to ramp up now.
Aotearoa Boxing
Wanna see something cool? Look at this...
Junior Fa, Hemi Ahio, and David Nyika all on the same card. The George Kambosos Jr. vs Devin Haney undisputed lightweight title bout in Melbourne on 5 June.
Fa is taking on former Aussie contender Lucas Browne in what’ll be his first fight since the Joseph Parker bout, covid wreaking havoc on a kiwi boxer based in NZ sadly. He’s long overdue his next crack and while Browne is kind of an unserious opponent at this stage (he’s 43 years old), he’s a well-known name who Junior Fa can absorb some recognition out of.
Ahio is another City Kickboxing dude same as Fa and he last fought in October with an impressive win in Dubai. He’s 18-0 as a pro but hasn’t really fought anyone of note yet. Joe Jones, an American fighter (13-4 with 10 KOs) will be his highest profile bout yet. That one is an eight round fight, btw.
Then David Nyika will also take on an unnamed opponent for what’ll be his third fight as a pro. Chances are it’s another touch-up fight like his previous two though it’ll be a good boost before heading into the Commonwealth Games in July/August. Nyika has trained mostly as a solo act in the past but has some affiliations with CKB. More recently though he’s latched onto the wider Tyson Fury camp via Joseph Parker. Trained by Andy Lee, same as Parker. He’s fighting at cruiserweight compared to the other two heavyweights. This is the second time they’ve all been on the same card as Ahio and Nyika also fought in the same event as Joseph Parker vs Junior Fa (Ahio was Fa’s main sparring partner while Nyika was Parker’s main sparring partner).