The Salmon Flop
All Whites lose to Mexico, Warriors sign Erin Clark, Junior Tall Blacks at U18 Asia Cup, Kiwi Ferns Big Mixer, A-League signings & more
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NRLWahine Spotlight: Tatiana Finau & Sarina Masaga Debuts (Rugby League)
Updating The 2024 Aotearoa Kiwis Mixer (Rugby League)
Checking In With Auckland FC’s Inaugural Preseason Activities (Football)
Auckland United Are The 2024 Kate Sheppard Cup Champions (Football)
Wellington Olympic Are The 2024 Chatham Cup Champions (Football)
The All Whites in North America: Squad Yarns & Preview (Football)
A New Australian NBL Season Looms And Once Again It’s Chock-Full Of Kiwi Players (Basketball)
New Zealand vs Afghanistan Test Preview (Cricket)
Early Guide To The 2024/25 Women's Domestic Cricket Summer (Cricket)
Scotty’s Word
Two things from the weekend that strengthen my perspective about rugby league in Aotearoa...
Tatiana Finau (Raiders) and Sarina Masaga (Titans) made NRLW debuts. Five young wahine have now made NRLW debuts this season along with Maatuleio Fotu-Moala, Matekino Gray, Lavinia Tauhalaliku. All five played rugby league in New Zealand and moved to Australia where they earned NRLW opportunities. It's not just the Black Ferns Sevens ladies boosting the NRLWahine stocks.
Lavinia Tauhalaliku's first two NRLW games...
vs Broncos: 13 runs - 151m @ 11.6m/run, 3 tb, 3 tackles @ 100%
vs Tigers: 1 try, 10 runs - 187m @ 18.7m/run, 2 linebreaks, 4 tb, 6 tackles @ 85%
St Thomas of Canterbury College won the National Secondary Schools Tournament for the second year in a row. It's now undeniable that STOC is the best rugby league school in Aotearoa and that Canterbury rugby league is sizzling. STOC had eight players in the NZ Secondary Schools U18s team: Meihana Pauling (fullback), Xavier Lynch, Jackson Stewart (centres), Lautasi Etuale (wing), Isaiah Savea (hooker), Zeke Faga-Ieti (prop), Lennox Tuiloma (lock), Toby Gibson (bench).
STOC also had Christiano Elia (halfback) and Immanuel Neal (edge) in the NZ Secondary Schools U16 team. Elia was a starting half for the best team as an U16 and Neal won the tournament MVP as an U16.
There are NZ Warriors/Kiwi-NRL tentacles throughout that crop but it's best to wait and see where these lads pop up next season. Small examples: the NZ Warriors U17 Grand Final winning team had Tuiloma and Savea in it, while Elia was the only South Islander in this NZ Warriors Under 14 team last year.
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NZ Warriors announced that the signing of Erin Clark this morning for three years. I'm curious about Clark getting Aotearoa Kiwis selection in the next few weeks and he will add speed relative to his position with a splash of aggression.
There is also noise about Marcelo Montoya departing Mt Smart. NZW have ample outside back depth led by Roger Tuivasa-Sheck who may not be your favourite centre but he plays at an 8/10 level in all three outside back positions and that's equally as handy. Adam Pompey, Rocco Berry, Ali Leiataua, Moala Graham-Taufa, Edward Kosi, Setu Tu, Motu Pasikala and Sio Kali will be competing for a few wing/centre roles this summer as cheaper lads than Montyoa, so shuffling Montoya out is sensible.
In tune with my idea of a three-year NZW plan, here are players who have departed (not retired) during the two Andys era:
Bayley Sironen, Josh Curran, Ronald Volkman, Brayden Wiliame, Addin Fonua-Blake, Jazz Tevaga, Marcelo Montoya and maybe Bunty Afoa
Six of the eight listed are from Australia.
Two more useful NZ Warriors award nuggets...
Moala Graham-Taufa won the NSW Cup Player of the Year and Player's Player of the Year. That's as dominant as it gets and I still reckon Graham-Taufa has plenty of NRL potential. This involves a speed factor as NZW had no speed for most of this season, before injecting speed with Taine Tuaupiki and Luke Metcalf. If NZW have those two, Graham-Taufa, and Clark in the same team next season, that's a big change from no speed to four lads who are fast for their position.
Eddie Iereamia won NSW Cup Clubman of the Year after winning U19 SG Ball Clubman of the year in 2023. Seems notable for a player who is 19-years-old and played every NSW Cup game while playing prop, edge and centre.
Aotearoa Kiwi Ferns Big Mixer
Fullbacks: Apii Nicholls
Wingers: Stacey Waaka, Madison Bartlett, Leianne Tufuga, Tenika Willison
Centres: Mele Hufanga, Annessa Biddle, Abigail Roache, Shanice Parker, Rosie Kelly, Sarina Masaga
Halves: Raecene McGregor, Ash Quinlan, Gayle Broughton, Tyla King
Middles: Georgia Hale, Angelina Teakaraanga-Katoa, Mya Hill-Moana, Alexis Tauaneai, Harata Butler, Tafito Lafaele, Tiana Davison, Kerehitina Matua, Amelia Pasikala
Edges: Amber Hall, Laishon Albert-Jones, Otesa Pule, Matekino Gray
Hookers: Nita Maynard, Brooke Anderson
Brett Randell is named for Somerset in County Championship cricket and Michael Rae is in the Warwickshire squad. No Fraser Sheat for Glamorgan though.
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
The All Whites played Mexico on Sunday arvo and if you didn’t watch it then you didn’t miss anything. They conceded early when Max Crocombe missed one he should have saved. Crocs made up for that somewhat with a few other good stops but New Zealand struggled to build anything of their own going forward. They were able to win the ball in midfield quite well but then it always just ended up going right back (either back to the defence or back to the other team). The closest they came to a goal in the first half was a salmon flop from Tommy Smith where he couldn’t quite get his head on a loose one back post.
The second half was a bit better, particularly whenever Libby Cacace was able to get forwards... however none of the crosses from either side were hitting their targets. By that time, Mexico had scored twice more in the space of five minutes (53’ and 57’). They’d also hit the post a couple of times. The third goal was a big deflection off Cacace but that’s what happens when you get numbers around the attacking area: more pressure equals more chance of that happening. The All Whites only really mustered anything consistent after both teams had made a heap of subs. Chris Wood touched the ball 14 times in 70 minutes. That would be rough if that happened in the Premier League but he’s supposed to be the star man for the All Whites and they can’t even get him involved.
Mexico are a very good team, no doubt about it. They’re top-20 ranked and we’ve only just cracked the top-100 again (and that might not even last after this window). We were always likely to lose this, even if the Mexicans were blooding in a new head coach (albeit a head coach who is in his third stint with the team). Not gonna lie though, it’s pretty deflating to see them losing in the exact same way once again. It’s a pattern at this point. Pick a random All Whites game against a non-OFC team and you can usually tick these boxes:
Hardly any shots or notable chances
Libby Cacace a rare bright spark
Chris Wood not involved enough or not getting good enough service
A defensive error leading to a goal conceded (or two)
A few tidy spells of play near the end with the result already gone
And usually that’s followed by talk about being disappointed with the result but positive about the style of football the team is playing and the progress that they’re making. I wrote in my tour preview about how at some stage soon this extremely talented team is going to have to start getting results to show for it all. That time is not yet and this tour is one of the tougher ones they’ve had for a long time. We are on the clock though. I also wrote there about how Darren Bazeley isn’t necessarily the problem... while at the same time kinda throwing up that question. We’ll let things simmer.
Say, how about a statistic? Here’s three of them...
Over the past five years, only 7/32 All Whites games have featured both Chris Wood and Sarpreet Singh
With both in the lineup, the AWs average 1.14 goals per game (8 in 7)
With one/neither in the lineup, the AWs average 0.29 goals/game (4 in 14)
Those numbers don’t include Oceania games which is why the total matches don’t add up. Those aren’t the fixtures we’re building towards so no point in adding them. The All Whites’ non-OFC games under Bazeley are:
D 0-0 vs China (H)
W 2-1 vs China (H)
L 4-1 vs Sweden (A)
D 1-1 vs Congo (N)
L 2-0 vs Australia (N)
L 2-0 vs Greece (A)
D 1-1 vs Ireland (A)
L 1-0 vs Egypt (A)
D 0-0 vs Tunisia (N)
L 3-0 vs Mexico (N)
One win, four draws, five defeats. Five goals scored and 15 conceded. To be fair, the only two big losses were against Sweden and Mexico who are clearly a few tiers beyond us. The AWs are still learning to walk against sides like Congo and Tunisia, let alone trying to run with Sweden or Mexico.
By the way, most of these issues are identical to the ones that the Football Ferns have. Questions over the calibre of coaching, lots of losses to higher ranked opponents, a lack of creativity, constant chat about progress that doesn’t lead to results, being unable to overcome the regular absences of key players. Frankly, there are probably unrealistic expectations upon both teams as well. The Ferns seem to get ripped for all this whereas the All Whites don’t... but it feels like the blokes are catching up in the bad reputation stakes. Not sure how to feel about that, to be honest. Accountability is good. Permanent negativity around our national teams is bad. Somewhere in between is the zone of productivity.
Or perhaps we just need Joseph Parker to do the pre-game team talk the way that Canelo Alvarez did for Mexico?
Much more encouraging has been the FIBA U18 Asia Cup where the Junior Tall Blacks are poised to face Australia in the grand final. That game will happen overnight. This follows the NZers going a perfect 3/3 in their group stage with wins against hosts Jordan (71-62), Indonesia (89-43), and the Philippines (75-58). They then beat Iran 87-61 in the quarters before defeating China 86-71 in the semis. Australia have been even more dominant than we have so gold medals are probably unlikely... but no worries there. They only needed top four to qualify for next year’s U19 World Cup and they’ve done that with ease.
Matt Lacey is doing a superb job coaching the team. Prior to the game against Aussie, Tama Isaac (19.8pts/6.2ast) and Carter Hopoi (18.6pts/11.0rebs) are leading the way, with Kahu Treacher also chipping in nicely. They’re doing this without the services of Georgetown commit Julius Halaifonua too, who was named in the squad but doesn’t actually appear to be there. Steven Adams posted a pic with Halaifonua on his IG two days ago which was tagged at Georgetown Uni so that’s a bit of a giveaway. It was worth it to get a glimpse of them standing side by side though, check this out...
Julius is an absolute unit. If all goes to plan, that image is going to become famous in the years to come.
Little bit of A-League news today with Elizabeth Anton signing for Canberra United. Anton had previously spent her whole ALW career at Perth Glory – making 62 appearances for the westerners, the second-most by any New Zealander in the competition (Rebekah Stott is way ahead with 122 matches). Anton’s last year in Perth wasn’t her best though, and she was often used out of position. It feels like a telling recalibration that Canberra’s coach specifically mentioned her as a centre-back in the announcement. That and Perth changing coaches, plus a desire for a change in scenery, probably account for this move.
Anton hasn’t made the past few Footy Ferns squads so I had wondered if maybe she’d have a crack at Europe or America – which is increasingly what players need to do in order to hold down Football Ferns selection. Grace Jale was in a similar position only to end up re-joining the Wellington Phoenix instead. However, it does seem like the ALW players who make that jump best are the ones who are going deep in the competition and Anton (4 seasons) and Jale (3 seasons) have never even played a finals game yet. Neither has Michaela Foster… although rumour is that she’s headed for Europe. With Ali Riley’s injury status, Foz seems to be making a lunge for that left-back spot which is exactly the type of ambition we want to see. That’s no shade on Anton or Jale though, as the opportunity still has to be there - a bad move overseas and you could disappear down the Ferns pecking order.
Liz Anton will join Ruby Nathan at Canberra United, with the NZ U20s striker returning for her second season in green. Last year Devon Jackson was also with Canberra but we’re still waiting for news about her after an impressive NPL Victoria season with Box Hill where she scored six goals in 13 matches. Her old Eastern Suburbs teammate Nicole Jackson scored 13 goals in 22 games for Brunswick Juventus in the same division... wonder if she might be a sneaky ALW possibility. A glance across the stats from the Victoria NPL also throws up Tayla Christensen with seven goals for South Melbourne and Helena Errington with three goals for Bentleigh Greens. Meanwhile, Vibha Godha played ninety minutes for Heidelberg in the final as they won 3-2 against Preston Lions to lift the trophy.
That was cool but not as cool as the New South Wales NPL Women’s where Kelli Brown and Charlotte Lancaster traded goals inside the opening ten minutes of a wild grand final (Brown’s goal went in after only 64 seconds). Lancaster also assisted another goal as it ended 2-2 between Macarthur Rams (Brown) and APIA Leichhardt (Lancaster) with the Rams winning it via penalty shootout – Lancaster and Brown both scoring their attempts. Mona Walker also played for Leichhardt... so there were three ex-Phoenix players in that final. Brown scored 15 goals in 19 games all up this season after 23 goals in 28 games last year. Nikola Dominikovic also scored 14 times for Northern Tigers while Lancaster had 9 goals for the season in total.
Anton’s signing brings us up to six Kiwis with Australian ALW clubs. Anton and Nathan with Canberra. Brown with Perth. Brianna Edwards at Sydney FC. Rebekah Stott at Melbourne City. Claudia Bunge at Melbourne Victory. There were 10 at Aussie clubs last year so hopefully we’re not done yet – though admittedly that includes Georgia Candy who didn’t play as a backup keeper for Victory, and Milly Clegg who only made one appearance for Western Sydney. The Wellington Phoenix also have 13 NZers under contract with a few spots still open to be filled (they gave minutes to 21 last year but that includes a few injury replacements so doubtful they reach that high again). All in all, we’re tracking nicely.
The Wellington Phoenix blokes also snuck an announcement in today. Matt Sheridan and Alby Kelly-Heald have been upgraded from scholarship contracts to full professional deals. Sheridan only had one year to run on his initial schol deal. AKH still had three more seasons but with him looking like being the backup to Josh Oluwayemi this year it made sense to give him a contract that reflected that fact (as well as protecting both for future possible transfer fees). Sheridan’s also in a similar spot having emerged as Tim Payne’s right-back deputy.
Curiously, the press release claims they now have four scholarship players in their 22-man squad. They don’t... they have Dublin Boon, Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues, and Luke Brooke-Smith. So perhaps there’s another announcement in the works for the next one? Fergus Gillion, Tze Xuan Loke, Lachlan Candy, Dylan Gardiner, and Nathan Walker would surely be the frontrunners since they were all in the squad for that Aussie Cup match a month ago.
Two kiwi cup final factoids...
Auckland United women have played Western Springs four times this season and have won 1-0 on every single occasion, including the Kate Sheppard Cup final. Charlotte Roche has scored the only goal in three of those four games.
Paul Ifill (and assistant Ekow Quainoo) has won the Chatham Cup as a manager in consecutive years with a different team each time. First with Christchurch United, now with Wellington Olympic. On both occasions his team conceded a stoppage time goal to force extra time and then rallied to win on penalties.
Musical Jam...