The Presence
Warriors in NSW Cup finals, Blackcaps vs Afghanistan, U20 WWC & Flying Kiwis football, rugby league foundations, and more
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Exploring New Zealand Warriors Halves Depth For 2025 And Beyond (Rugby League)
The Best New Zealand Warriors Youngsters You May Not Know About (Rugby League)
The NSW Cup New Zealand Warriors Deserve Your Attention Once Again (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Sebastian Su'a Debut For Newcastle Knights (Rugby League)
NRLWahine Spotlight: Tafito Lafaele The Broncos Big Bopper (Rugby League)
NRLWahine Spotlight: The Incredible Rise Of Lavinia Tauhalaliku (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: No Ceilings With Ali Leiataua (Rugby League)
NRLWahine Spotlight: Alexis Tauaneai Is The Best NRLWahine You Don't Know About (Rugby League)
The All Whites in North America: Squad Yarns & Preview (Football)
Flying Kiwis – September 3 (Football)
Checking In With Auckland FC’s Inaugural Preseason Activities (Football)
The Breakers Are No Longer Coached By Mody Maor (Basketball)
How Have Those NZ Breakers Next Star Lads Been Tracking Since Their NBA Drafts? (Basketball)
Why Aren't The New Zealand Breakers Signing New Zealand Players? (Basketball)
A New Australian NBL Season Looms And Once Again It’s Chock-Full Of Kiwi Players (Basketball)
Recapping The Tall Ferns at the FIBA World Cup Pre-Qualifying Tournaments (Basketball)
New Zealand vs Afghanistan Test Preview (Cricket)
Early Guide To The 2024/25 Women's Domestic Cricket Summer (Cricket)
Scotty’s Word
Blackcaps vs Afghanistan starts Monday afternoon so below are some more Blackcaps Test stats. Most have their Test career (batting | bowling) and then the same for Tests since October 1st 2023 (Tests in Bangladesh onwards) with some big differences swinging good and bad. For lads who didn't play Tests in this period it is replaced with their First-Class career stuff.
Devon Conway
Career: 41.5avg/50.2sr
Since October 1st 2023: 11.7avg/35.8sr
Tom Latham
Career: 39.8avg/46.9sr
Since October 1st 2023: 22.3avg/43.2sr
Kane Williamson
Career: 54.9avg/51.4sr
Since October 1st 2023: 56.2avg/50.6sr
Rachin Ravindra
Career: 39.9avg/49.2sr | 33.1avg/2.7rpo
Since October 1st 2023: 55.7avg/55.2sr | 20.4avg/2.4rpo
Daryl Mitchell
Career: 50.2avg/53.3sr
Since October 1st 2023: 32.4avg/47sr
Will Young
Career: 26.5avg/41.6sr
Since October 1st 2023: 27avg/36.3sr
Tom Blundell
Career: 35.6avg/50.3sr
Since October 1st 2023: 9.8avg/60.1sr
Glenn Phillips
Career: 33.2avg/72.6sr | 17.4avg/2.9rpo
Since October 1st 2023: 34.8avg/81.5sr | 17.4avg/2.9rpo
Michael Bracewell
Career: 19.9avg/57sr | 41.7avg/3.8rpo
First-Class: 32.2avg/52.8sr | 40.7avg/3.5
Mitchell Santner
Career: 24.3avg/43.2sr | 39.2avg/2.7rpo
Since October 1st 2023: 19avg/69sr | 17.4avg/2.4rpo
Tim Southee
Career: 15.8avg/82.9sr | 29.6avg/2.9rpo
Since October 1st 2023: 13.5avg/79.7sr | 52.9avg/3.1rpo
Matt Henry
Career: 22.2avg/80.7sr | 32.4avg/3.1rpo
Since October 1st 2023: 23avg/110.4sr | 16.9avg/2.8rpo
Ajaz Patel
Career: 11.5avg/34.5sr | 29.7avg/3rpo
Since October 1st 2023: 1 run @ 7.1sr | 23.9avg/3.5rpo
Will O'Rourke
Career: 17.3avg/2.8rpo
First-Class: 26avg/3rpo
Ben Sears
Career: 32.2avg/4.8rpp
First-Class: 28.1avg/3.7rpo
NZ Warriors are playing in the NSW Cup finals vs Panthers on Saturday … in Sydney. A loss in Sydney vs Jets last week means that NZW are 6-6 in Australia this season. No major Kiwi-NRL wrinkles in the Jets vs Raiders fixture.
Panthers: Asu Kepaoa, Austin Dias, Preston Riki
NZ Warriors:
Taine Tuaupiki, Setu Tu, Moala Graham-Taufa, Ali Leiataua, Edward Kosi
Paul Roache, Luke Hanson
Tom Ale, Makaia Tafua, Bunty Afoa, Jacob Laban, Leka Halasima, Kalani Going
Geronimo Doyle, Tanner Stowers-Smith, Zyon Maiu'u, Eddie Ieremia-Toeava
Not confident of a NZW win, mainly because it's in Sydney. As usual I’m most intrigued about Makaia Tafua at hooker and what role Eddie Ieremia-Toeava plays as an excellent bench option. Ieremia-Toeava has switched between prop, edge forward and centre while sustaining these stats:
24 games, 6 tries, 9 linebreaks, 7 offloads, 91m/game, 94% tackling
Makaia Tafua doesn't have a NSW Cup profile which is a bummer because one of the few random cases of no profile is one of my favourite NZW juniors. Tafua is a Linwood junior from Christchurch who was eligible for U21s (Jersey Flegg lads aren't in finals) but has commanded the starting hooker role in NSW Cup. Tafua last week vs Jets:
80mins, 6 runs - 58m @ 9.6m/run, 1 try assist, 2 offloads, 38 tackles @ 86.3%
Paul Roache is named at halfback...
14 games, 1 try, 10 try assists, 6 linebreak assists, 4 offloads, 57m/game, 90.9% tackling, 89.1 kick metres/game
Last three games as halfback…
vs Sea Eagles: 1 try assist, 2 tackle breaks, 329 kick metres
vs Bulldogs: 1 try assist, 4 tackle breaks, 1 offload 186 kick metres
vs Jets: 2 try assists, 2 tackle breaks, 148 kick metres
Leka Halasima (18yrs) in NSW Cup...
2023: 18 games, 6 tries, 5 linebreaks, 6 offloads, 103m/game, 88.4% tackling
2024: 11 games, 3 tries, 7 linebreaks, 7 offloads, 144m/game, 93.3% tackling
Kiwi-NRL lads in U21 Jersey Flegg Finals…
Panthers extended bench: Franics Manuleleua (Papatoetoe)
Bulldogs: Cassius Tia (Marist), Callum Donaldson (West Coast), Fahmy Toilalo (Otahuhu)
Knights: Sosaia Latu (Mangere East), Haami Loza (Mangere East/Otara), Sebastian Su'a (Mt Albert), Elijah Salesa-Leaumoan (Southern Cross), Bailey Carmichael (Te Puke)
Sharks: Salesi Ataata (Otahuhu), Felix Fa'atili (Hornby), Richie Tupuailei (Hornby)
Monster representative rugby league phase in Aotearoa at the moment. I've laid out some things that hit the antenna below, all of which is on the men's side. The thing I'm most curious about in the women's scene is more broad with high quality talent hitting NRLWahine from the top-tier as well as youngster rising up from within rugby league.
Lots of buzz about top-tier NRLWahine/NZW recruits. Stacey Waaka and the Black Ferns Sevens wahine command the big headlines, plus it's boosted by lots of Black Ferns/Super Rugby Aupiki/Farah Palmer Cup ladies making the switch. All of which is awesome and takes NRLWahine beyond rugby union in Aotearoa.
The rugby league foundations are fabulous though. Young wahine from local rugby league in Aotearoa are dominating NRLW in their first seasons, let alone backing it up for a second season. Alexis Tauaneai (Wainuiomata), Annessa Biddle (Otara), Mackenzie Wiki (Manurewa) are just three examples of youngsters who have had instant impact in NRLW. Others have got NRLW development contracts and I've recently highlighted how many women are playing NSW Women's Premiership...
Manly Sea Eagles sum this up. They usually have at least five wahine from Aotearoa in their NSWWP team and Lavinia Tauhalaliku earned an NRLW gig with Cowboys mid-way through her first season in Australia.
Women's rugby league has the opportunities to draw in high profile recruits in Aotearoa and the young women who are already playing rugby league are awesome. Keep this tucked away when pondering NZW women's squad building because there will probably be high profile recruits, but the strength of NZW women will come from the quality of local rugby league players - many of whom will return to NZ from NSW Women's Premiership.
Back to Kiwi-NRL junior notes...
NZ Warriors who played SG Ball/Jersey Flegg and named in Auckland Vulcans squad: Andrew Nansen, Malachi Filipo, Noah Harmer-Campbell, William Piliu (all Mt Albert), Sefanaia Cowley-Lupo (Bay Roskill)
Fringe NSW Cup: Dylan Tavita, Matthew Whyte, Quinnlan Tupou (all Pt Chevalier)
Fringe NSW Cup in Counties Manukau squad: Walter Fifita (Papakura)
Caelys Putoko is named for Bay of Plenty after mainly playing U19s for Ipswich this year. Started the year training with the NRL squad and I'm curious to see where he pops up next season.
NZ Warriors in St Thomas of Canterbury: Meihana Pauling, Jackson Stewart, Zeke Faga-Ieti, Immanuel (Bishop) Neal, Lennox Tuiloma
EJ Mahu-Delamere halves for Aorere College as a Roosters junior
Rico Toeava-Ward halves for De La Salle as an NZW squad member
Ambrose Puluno prop, Hudsyn Frost lock for DLS played U17s for NZW
Larry Leha edge forward for DLS linked to Tigers
Ashton Denton-Woodhouse halves, George Kite prop for Manurewa College linked to NZW U17s
NZ Warriors in St Paul's College: Compton Purcell, Ezekiel Davidson-Faaiuaso, Lucky Kali, Tyrone Hurt-Pickering, Waka Tate, Gordon Afoa, Ramona Whitiora
Albert Balchin lock for St Paul's College as a Bulldogs junior
Tyson Hansen halves for Rotorua Boys High School played U17s for NZW
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
The U20 Women’s World Cup is happening as we speak and the New Zealand team has been able to take a presumably unprecedented squad with 15/21 players having either a professional contract or professional playing experience already in their careers. Granted, that may have misguided a few folks as to how they’d perform since. It’s really only Emma Pijnenburg who plays regular senior professional footy outside of the A-League. Everyone else is on the way up but they’re not quite in that place where they’re going to be competitive with a world-beating age grade side like Japan... who smoked us 7-0 in the first game.
It was pretty bad. Maddie Iro was given the start ahead of Aimee Danieli in goal, an unexpected but exciting selection (exciting because we know that Danieli’s pretty good so for Iro to be rated equal or above is very encouraging). But she was hesitant to come off her line which left space for the crafty Japanese forwards to exploit over and over, especially with our defence spending much of the first half in shell-shock mode – giving possession back so easily after winning it. The midfield barely had a look. Not good. But Japan are amazing, one of the tournament contenders as always, and the NZ U20s will take some valuable lessons from that hefty defeat.
Lessons that they didn’t put to use in game two against Austria this afternoon. In a much more winnable game, they kinda threw it away early by conceding off two set pieces inside of fifteen minutes. Both curling free kick crosses that they couldn’t deal with. Austria will feel they deserved that, and they did seem to have the more technical and athletic outfit, but from open play it was fairly even with neither team really creating much else. Hence why throwing two goals away like that was so decisive. There was a chance to get back into the game late in the first half when Emma Pijnenburg bravely charged onto a loose ball and got smashed by the keeper. She took the penalty herself with grass still on her face from the landing... but her effort was saved and Kiara Bercelli’s follow-up didn’t count because she’d encroached.
Eventually Austria grabbed a third after 67 mins, this time an open play goal (after sub defender Rebekah Trewhitt had overcommitted and left space for an overlap, which nobody else covered – the defensive cohesion has been pretty nasty at times, with preventable errors... surprising since coach Leon Birnie’s legendary U17s bronze team was entirely built upon being tough to break down). However, Milly Clegg did power in a great header from a Helena Errington corner kick in the 90th minute for some consolation. This is the third age grade World Cup that Clegg’s now scored at. Thumping headers are a new trick in the bag for her. 3-1 the final score. Disappointing but they could still do something against Ghana on Monday at 11am.
Unfortunately, it only took one day of UEFA Champions League Women’s qualifiers to remove the only kiwi presences for another year. Barring some kind of miracle transfer it looks like we’ll again have zero NZers in the group stage – with Indi Riley the only one to have played there since the format was altered a few years ago (and back then she was still aligned with Australia).
Vic Esson had a crack with Rangers but they were drawn up against Arsenal and were dutifully beaten 6-0. They actually kept it at 1-0 for quite awhile before Arsenal’s superior depth and fitness and experience saw them score five times in the last 31 minutes. Alas, the first goal was kinda Esson’s fault, getting her angles wrong from a deep cross and being beaten by a header at her near post. She got a hand on almost all of those efforts but the rest of them were mostly emphatic thumping shots that she’d have needed steel wrists to stop.
Rangers have been bossing it on the domestic front, scoring 43 goals with 0 conceded in five games. But it’s a huge step up to have to face a team of Arsenal’s pedigree. Esson had kept three clean sheets in the SWPL without even having to make a save. Here she made fives saves but conceded six goals. This is what it feels like to be on the other side of what they’ve been doing to teams in Scotland. This was only RFC’s second-ever UCLW attempt though, with Esson having also kept goal two years ago when they first made it to qualifiers. They’ll face Atletico Madrid in a consolation game on the weekend.
Meanwhile, FC Nordsjælland also had themselves a game against Benfica. Another rotten draw left them as underdogs too. This one was a bit confusing because Malia Steinmetz actually hadn’t played for FCN in the early rounds of the league season. That probably just meant she was being eased in after the Olympics but it could also have precluded a transfer or it might have meant she’d been released... you never quite know with these things. Fortunately she popped up for twenty minutes off the bench in a 3-1 defeat to Benfica. Back in the swing of things for her first taste of continental footy. FCN will meet KÍ (Iceland) in their consolation game which they should probably win and hopefully that’ll happen with Steinmetz back in the starting role she bossed last season.
So that’s that for kiwis in the UCLW for another year. They are going to bring in a secondary UEFA women’s competition next year which is long overdue. They’ve already got three comps for the blokes... although between transfers and qualification it’s just going to be Marko Stamenic with Olympiacos playing league phase footy this season (in the Europa league). Callum McCowatt’s Silkeborg failed in qualifying while he was out injured. All on you, Marko.
By the way, I spent a bit of time earlier in the week researching kiwis to have played in the German Women’s Bundesliga in light of Maya Hahn and Suya Haering’s season with Turbine Potsdam getting underway last weekend. Haering hasn’t played first team there yet so she’s still awaiting a debut and it won’t happen while she’s away at the U20 World Cup. But Hahn has featured before, albeit sparingly, at this level. Hahn who may or may not be eligible to play for NZ since she flipped allegiances to Germany a few years back only to have covid prevent her from actually playing for their U20s. Maybe there’s a way back, maybe not. But I’m counting her anyway.
The German Football website keeps fantastic statistical records so I’ve been working through those to compile the Aotearoa achievements therein. And it seems rude not to share that information in case anyone’s curious. As far as I can tell, here’s the list of kiwis to have played games in the Bundesliga Frauen...
That’s 22 players who’ve appeared in the division. There are only 15 NZers who have played in the English Women’s Super League, with Indi Riley soon to make that 16. Granted, that competition is newer than the German one and there were others to play in comparable English levels. Like Maureen Jacobson who won the FA Cup with Millwall in 1991 – the first non-UK/Irish player to win the women’s FA Cup.
I haven’t got the numbers on the other major leagues but pretty sure Erin Nayler is the only NZer to play in the French one, with Kate Taylor soon to join. Katie Bowen and Katie Rood have played in Italy’s top tier. Kiara Bercelli has the chance to join them this season. Not sure there’s ever been a kiwi in the top Spanish women’s comp. Or the top Spanish men’s comp, for that matter. Ben Old and Bill Tuiloma are the only NZers in France’s Ligue 1. Sarpreet Singh and Wynton Rufer are the only German Bundesliga reps. There have been six NZers in the English Premier League. Liberato Cacace is the only Italian Serie A bloke, though Matt Garbett got close (as an unused substitute, who did play in a cup game for Torino’s senior team).
According to a Dominion Post news report, Breakers NBL games will no longer be broadcast on Sky Sports as the pay-tv folks throw out the usual line about cutting costs and blah blah blah. The other NBL games had already been migrated to ESPN so it seems likely it’ll migrate there instead with that coverage... potentially spoiling the best part about Breakers games which is the Andrew Mulligan x Casey Frank commentary duo. This isn’t about us not being able to see the games, that’s not going to be a problem, it seems more about Sky Sports not wanting to pay production costs when they can just show the Aussie broadcast instead. This only a couple years removed from Sky Sports being the major naming rights sponsor of the team. Bloody hell.
And to make matters worse, Sky Sports are also considering dropping the A-League (right as a second New Zealand team comes into the mix) which could mean no Jason Pine as well... although surely the Aussie broadcasters would bring him in on their own contract and it could be the same with Mulls & Casey, potentially. That’d be the best case scenario. TVNZ are really the only domestic alternative. Just another week in the confusing world of sports broadcasting. For what it’s worth, basically all of the media struggles you hear about were caused by Facebook/Google/etc inserting themselves as middle men and undercutting everybody’s profits. In unrelated news... support please The Niche Cache on Patreon or with a Paid Substack or even just on Buy Me A Coffee.
Finally, on Monday evening will begin the first ever cricketing Test match between New Zealand and Afghanistan. Lots of different angles therein, including stuff we’ve been talking about on our podcasts and which my comrade has been detailing on the website. Senior players in form slumps. Casual contracts opening up opportunities for emerging Blackcaps. A huge slate of Tests over the next few months, including World Test Championship contingencies (although this match is outside of the WTC).
Here’s another one for you: There are 14 men in cricket history who have scored Test centuries against nine different nations. Marvin Attapattu, Rahul Dravid, Adam Gilchrist, Mahela Jayawardene, Jacques Kallis, Gary Kirsten, Brian Lara, Angelo Mathews, Ricky Ponting, Kumar Sangakkara, Sachin Tendulkar, Steve Waugh, Younis Khan... and Kane Williamson.
In the case of Kane Williamson, he’s tonned up against Australia (2), Bangladesh (4), England (4), India (2), Pakistan (5), South Africa (6), Sri Lanka (5), West Indies (3), and Zimbabwe (1). He has never played against Afghanistan on account of New Zealand has never played against Afghanistan... therefore if he manages to score a hundred in this match then he’ll become the only man in history with a ton against ten different countries. That alone should be worthy of our attention (this match actually is going to be shown of Sky Sports). Also, his Test batting average is sitting at 54.98 and there are some tough matches to follow in India so a big score early in this run of Tests should keep that from copping too much damage.
Musical Jam...