The Right of Reply
Blackcaps vs West Indies, NZ National League, Auckland FC & Wellington Phoenix, NRL train/trial circuit, domestic cricket, Tauihi baskebtall and more
Scotty’s Word
Five Blackcaps things...
The Blackcaps win in Wellington was one of my favourite Test results in recent years. Not only do new players continue to chime in with winning mahi but the way the group dealt with another mid-Test injury, along kiwi fundamentals shining once again, showed me that there is still a hearty Blackcaps culture working through the wider squad. That’s relevant because coach Rob Walter has only recently started his job and there doesn’t seem to have been any drop off in those attributes that make Blackcaps stay solid in Test cricket.
20+ players have been used in each format this year and Blackcaps have winning records in all three. That shouldn’t be the case for a country as small as Aotearoa but this is why Blackcaps are a top-four cricket team in the world and it seems that many take this for granted, so embrace a bit more gratitude.
Test: 20 players (3-0)
ODI: 24 (17-3)
T20I: 21 (12-6)
In this silo, I have been pondering how Blair Tickner was 10th-ish in the seam stocks when he was called into the ODI squad and Michael Rae was 10th-ish for the Test mix. How would this look for other Aotearoa teams? Who are the 10th-best loose forwards for All Blacks? Who are the 10th-best centre backs for All Whites and Football Ferns? Who is the 10th-best seamer available to White Ferns?
The 10th-ish best middle forwards for Kiwis are guys like Griffin Neame and Leo Thompson, hence Aotearoa rugby league is in a glorious position. Otherwise, most Aotearoa teams would struggle for wins regardless of where they are playing and who they are playing against, when dipping that far into their depth. Blackcaps just cruised to victory doing so.
Much of that is thanks to Jacob Duffy. Here’s his updated legendary mahi...
Test: 17.4avg - lowest for kiwis with 10+ wickets
ODI: 24.2avg - 5th lowest for 30+ wickets
T20I: 17avg - 2nd lowest for 30+ wickets
Tom Blundell returns to the team for the third Test. Blundell has earned the right of reply to Mitch Hay's challenge and the beautiful thing for Blackcaps is that Blundell needs to reply with runs or else his Test career will soon come to an end. Even better, Hay needs to keep scoring runs because Otago’s Max Chu just hit 151 runs and he’s been doing just as well as Hay in Plunket Shield over the last two seasons.
Ajaz Patel also comes into the squad. Most North Island pitches welcome spinners and Bay Oval is the spinniest deck in Aotearoa, plus Blackcaps seamers have been busy this season. Patel wouldn’t be in the squad if Mitchell Santner was available -Santner has 11w @ 20.8avg at Bay Oval to reinforce this. Keep in mind that every domestic team has a specialist spinner, most have two spin options, and there are a bunch of spinners near the top of the Plunket Shield wicket-taking list.
2025 West Indies Tour Of New Zealand: Five Key ODI/Test Pockets For Blackcaps
2025 West Indies Tour Of New Zealand: Blackcaps Test Stats, Form & Legendary Mahi
2025 West Indies Tour Of New Zealand: A Monumental Blackcaps Win
Two Canterbury batters, two different form estuaries...
Henry Nicholls: 117*, 11, 138, 25, 15, 111, 109*, 2, 19, 226
Rhys Mariu: 0, 37, 67*, 44*, 5, 2, 14, 2, 0, 12, 147
Jess Kerr continues to be a dominant force in HBJ Shield...
2024/25: 305 runs @ 33.8avg/80sr | 16w @ 20.3avg/3.4rpo
2025/26: 166 runs @ 33.2avg/82sr | 14w @ 12avg/3.1rpo
Wellington’s Xara Jetly is also in a funky groove as she enjoys a promotion up the batting order. Jetly has 14w @ 16.2avg/4.4rpo and with Eden Carson out injured, there is an opening for Jetly to work her way into the White Ferns mix. Scoring 164 runs @ 41avg/52sr will help and Jetly has pounced on her opportunity with the bat.
There are more Blackcaps and HBJ shield notes beyond the paywall.
A Summer Of Transition For New Zealand Warriors In NSW Cup Ahead Of The 2026 Season
New Zealand Warriors NRL-ish Depth Chart For The 2025/26 Summer
Below are the basic details for Kiwi-NRL players who have train/trial contracts this summer...
Cowboys
Wiremu Greig: Whangarei
Dolphins
Sangstar Figota: Marist
Adaquix Watts-Luke: Papatoetoe RU
Broncos
Preston Riki: Hokianga
Titans
Hawaiki Morrison: Kings College
Torino Jackson: Zingari Richmond RU
Sea Eagles - none
Roosters
Jackson Stewart: Hornby
Rabbitohs
Phillip Lavakeiaho: Wesley College
Charlie Poynton & Dean Tauaa born in Aotearoa
Bulldogs
Alekolasimi Jones: St Paul’s College
Sosaia Alatini: Hornby
Tigers
Patrick Herbert: Southern Cross Campus/St Kents College
Eels
Te Hurinui Twidle: Turangawaewae
Panthers
Toby Crosby: Greytown
Patrick Moimoi: Mangere East
Sharks - none
Dragons - none
Raiders - none
Warriors
Caelys Putoko: Forrestland
Bishop Neal: Hornby
Harry Inch: Nelson College
Nganatatafu Vake: Rotorua Boys High School
Geronimo Doyle: Otahuhu
Brandon Norris: Northern Sharks
Musical jam…
Nick’s Notebook
The Wellington Phoenix blokes were in a good place two weeks ago after a solid performance in the 2-1 win against Adelaide United. But that’s been followed by their usual derby defeat before getting dropped 3-1 at home by Newcastle Jets most recently. Not only have the Phoenix lost all five meetings with Auckland FC, but they’ve also now chased those defeats by losing again in their next fixture on the last four occasions. One loss brings two and they’re not exactly in a place where they can afford to take their time in bouncing back.
This Jets defeat was rough. They were down Manjrekar James and Isaac Hughes which left them with a very inexperienced back three of Matt Sheridan (21yo), Lukas Kelly-Heald (20y), and Jayden Smith (18yo). In some areas, those three were excellent. The defensive instincts of LKH and Smith were especially on display with some timely blocks and interceptions... but they were badly exposed in other ways as Newcastle made a point of getting the ball in behind the high line over and over again.
That led to lots of chances but there were lots of chances in the other direction too. Could have been 3-3 at half-time and nobody could have complained. Instead it was scoreless at that stage and the question became: which team would actually manage to convert something and take control of the match? The Jets did so not once but thrice, scoring three quickies to put the Nix in a deep hole. Even then, it kinda felt like if they scored one they might score three and escape with a point. They did get one through a superb Ifeanyi Eze header but ran out of time for any more. That horrific 10-15min spell to start the second half did all the damage and now the Nix have lost four of their last five matches and everything’s gone gloomy again. I still think this team is a lot better than their results... but at some stage you do have to start getting some better results.
Some quickfire notes...
With this match, the Wellington Phoenix men have now gone 20 consecutive A-League games without keeping a clean sheet. It was Alby Kelly-Heald who kept the two most recent of those. Josh Oluwayemi had three clean sheets in his first five appearances for the club and has 0 in 21 since.
In the Nix’s four non-defeats, Carlo Armiento has taken 16 shots (10 on target), scoring twice. In the four defeats that the Nix have had, Armiento has taken 11 shots (3 on target) without a goal. His rocket left boot is their easiest source of non-Eze scoring threat. When they get him firing, the team fires. When they don’t, they don’t.
I’m not really sure what Ramy Najjarine does for this team. He’s started 6/8 games (injured for the other two), all as an attacking midfielder, during which he has scored one goal in 431 minutes and it was a penalty. Zero assists. Only eight shots in total, with 0.5 non-penalty xG. He doesn’t get on the ball very often, isn’t a particularly good presser or defender... very decent technical player but I dunno if that’s enough to guarantee his spot in the team every week. Perhaps that’ll change now that Corban Piper is back available for ninety minutes and Fin Roa Conchie set up a goal off the bench (in place of Najjarine) on the weekend. Worth mentioning that Paolo Retre and Nikola Mileusnic are both still injured, yet to play any part this season, and would also be contenders in that spot.
And as much as I want all the kiwi dudes to get as many opportunities as possible... the fact that Matt Sheridan has started 30 of the last 33 games feels like a level of prominence that I’m not sure he’s earned - especially since the Nix have only won in seven of those 30 starts. He does some great things but then so do others who aren’t getting the same automatic selection status.
Somewhat surprisingly, Auckland FC have also had trouble getting wins straight after those highly strung derby meetings – with two draws and a loss in their subsequent fixtures after the past three Phoenix games. But they changed that on Friday night when they outlasted a pretty average Central Coast team to win 2-1 away in Gosford. Callan Elliot scored a humorous own goal against the run of play (33’) but AFC took the biscuits thanks to strikes from Jesse Randall (20’) and Sam Cosgrove (58’), one in each half.
Cosgrove missed two big chances in the first stanza but Francis De Vries and Lachlan Brook just kept putting that ball on his head and eventually he buried one. Best game for Brook thus far – he’s been miles better since moving to the middle. Great to see Jesse “Big Chances Missed” Randall doing something to shed that recent reputation, whist continuing to create at a high rate. Also Hiroki Sakai was able to get quarter of an hour off the bench. Always nice to have your best player available – although I will say I thought Callan Elliot, once again, was excellent aside from that silly own goal.
Also, for our courageous, talented, clever paid subscribers, you can jump the paywall for a Sam Cosgrove vs Ifeanyi Eze direct comparison breakdown… as well as some National League coaching news and a few clues as to TNC’s Teams of the Season
As for the Welly Nix Women, they somehow managed to repeat last week’s efforts by playing well away from home, having the better of the chances including hitting the woodwork, only to end up losing 1-0 to a late-ish goal. Last week Melbourne City got them when Rebekah Stott bundled one in with a couple minutes remaining. This time Perth Glory got the better of them when Sarah O’Donoghue scored directly from a 75th min corner kick. Such a familiar story from the WahiNix.
Single Goal Away Defeats For Wellington Phoenix In The Past Three Seasons...
0-1 vs Central Coast on 18 November 2023
1-2 vs Adelaide on 16 December 2023
0-1 vs Sydney FC on 29 December 2023
1-2 vs Brisbane on 7 January 2024
1-2 vs Central Coast on 12 January 2024
1-2 vs Melbourne City on 20 January 2024
2-3 vs Newcastle on 4 February 2024
0-1 vs Canberra on 24 March 2024
0-1 vs Newcastle on 17 November 2024
1-2 vs Melbourne City on 28 December 2024
1-2 vs Adelaide on 12 January 2025
0-1 vs Central Coast on 26 January 2025
0-1 vs Brisbane on 2 February 2025
1-2 vs Perth on 16 February 2025
1-2 vs Sydney on 15 March 2025
0-1 vs Canberra on 13 April 2025
0-1 vs Melbourne City on 7 December 2025
0-1 vs Perth on 12 December 2025
The bolded matches are the ones where the Nix had the superior xG count, as was the case in 10/18 instances (including five of the last six). During that same span they have managed just three wins in Australia and one draw. Obviously, there have also been away games that they lost by more than one goal. They look very solid defensively under Bev Priestman and they are creating chances going the other way... but five games into the season they’ve only won once and already Priestman has run into the same wall that Paul Temple was never able to overcome: not grinding out points in Australian conditions.
The 2025 Tauihi season wrapped up on the weekend with the Tauranga Whai crowned champions after they thumped Mainland Pouākai 93-66 in the final down in Christchurch. Back to back titles for the Whai, who were led by 28 points from American import Mikayla Cowling with recent Tall Ferns debutant Emme Shearer the best of the kiwis with 16 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists. Jade Kirisome (6pts) and Tayla Dalton (7pts) also chipped in nicely off the bench. Kirisome was one of three players to get minutes in this final as well as last year’s final, the other two being imports Mikayla Cowling and Laina Snyder. Local youngster Sophie Rogers was in the squad for both games though didn’t get on the floor last year.
Mainland massively missed the presence of Esra McGoldrick who was unavailable for the late part of the season. McKenna Dale did score 12 points with a couple threes and Charlotte Whittaker was solid with 6p/5r/5a, they were the top performing NZers for the Pouākai. Wasn’t enough though. A funky element to this is that Alex Stojkovic coached Tauranga to the title in 2024 before taking up the Mainland job... where he was beaten in the final by his old team. A few players also followed him so the same was true of McKenna Dale and Emma Rogers.
Kiwi Leaders in Tauihi 2025
Minutes Per Game
Penina Davidson (Tokomanawa) - 33.7
Tahlia Tupaea (Northern) – 32.8
McKenna Dale (Mainland) – 31.0
Stella Beck (Tokomanawa) – 30.8
Rebecca Pizzey (Southern) – 30.4
Points Per Game
Penina Davidson (Tokomanawa) – 15.9
Emme Shearer (Tauranga) – 15.5
Rebecca Pizzey (Southern) – 13.5
McKenna Dale (Mainland) – 12.4
Esra McGoldrick (Mainland) – 11.3
Assists Per Game
McKenna Dale (Mainland) – 4.1
Tahlia Tupaea (Northern) – 3.8
Emma Rogers (Mainland) – 3.1
Stella Beck (Tokomanawa) – 2.8
Rebecca Pizzey (Southern) – 2.6
Rebounds Per Game
Penina Davidson (Tokomanawa) – 10.2 (League Leader)
Rebecca Pizzey (Southern) – 7.7
McKenna Dale (Mainland) – 7.3
Esra McGoldrick (Mainland) – 6.1
Charlotte Whittaker (Mainland) – 5.7
Made Three Pointers
Emme Shearer (Tauranga) – 28 at 38.4%
McKenna Dale (Mainland) – 15 at 20.5%
Tahlia Tupaea (Northern) – 14 at 28.0%
Esra McGoldrick (Mainland) – 12 at 40.0%
Rebecca Pizzey (Southern) – 12 at 40.0%
Musical Jam...
