The Scoby

NZ at the FIBA U19s, Warriors Wahine in NRLW, Flying Kiwis Transfer Tracker, Blackcaps & NZ-A Women, NBL Basketball, and more

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Scotty’s Word

NZ Warriors women started their NRLW season with a 6-30 loss vs Roosters. Roosters are defending champions and have a bunch of players who recently took part in State of Origin, so this was always going to be a tricky match up for a Warriors team that didn't have a trial game leading into the season.

Roosters are stacked with talent and there was a clear difference in performance levels, yet the scoby seen in two losses for the blokes was also on display for the wahine. Scoby is the culture that can become Kombucha and like the mother dough for bread. NZW have shown admirable grit, attitude and toughness in these three losses. No wins but the scoby is brewing.

That was how I finished my optimisitic mid-season perspective for the NZW men.

As the game against Roosters went along, I was more and more impressed about NZW women. They have all the tools to win NRLW games and even make finals footy, the major issue for them will be quickly climbing to that level without the preparation of other teams.

I've pondered how much footy NZW men didn't have in their losses vs Panthers and Broncos. This was the same for the wahine and this is not part of the scoby recipe, which gives both NZW teams low hanging fruit to pluck and spice up that brew...

• Men vs Panthers: 45% possession | 79% completions

• Men vs Broncos: 46% possession | 74% completions

• Women vs Roosters: 45% possession | 63% completions

When typing that out it hit me that Panthers, Broncos and Roosters are top notch Aussie teams. Panthers are a modern dynasty, Broncos and Roosters are high profile/power organisations (more on the Broncos x Aotearoa flavour below). No NZW team will win against those three teams when giving them so much footy.

My favourite NZW women's player was Patricia Maliepo. She was the best kicker for NZW and was always willing to run, which usually involved her running it straight. Maliepo scored the only try for NZW and led them for tackle breaks, as well as doing most of the kicking...

• 1 try, 12 runs - 122m @ 10.1m/run, 5 tackle breaks, 17 tackles @ 77.2%, 7 kicks - 179m

Tysha Ikenasio also stood out at right centre. She was the busiest NZW player and offered the most consistent attacking threat, as well as doing a solid job defensively. Ikenasio made the most tackles for NZW backs and had two intercepts to go with team-high runs, run metres and post contact metres (67)...

• 18 runs - 168m @ 9.3m/run, 1 offload, 21 tackles @ 87.5%

A few more things...

Despite being overpowered for most of the game, NZW were more active out of dummy half than the men's team. Six different players had a dummy half run vs Roosters with Ikenasio taking five and Michaela Brake taking six, as well as two for Maliepo and one for Emily Curtain. Add in the dummy halves Capri Paekau who had six and Lydia Turua-Quedley who had three.

NZW looked their best when Turua-Quedley played in the halves for the last 10 minutes though. Curtain came off and Paekau returned to play hooker, allowing Turua-Quedley to play on the right side where her speed and skill helped NZW finish strong. Curtain is more experienced and a better defender, probably a better kick but Turua-Quedley is far more dynamic as a runner and passer.

18-year-old Ashlee Matapo came off the bench and she was the most surprising selection. The Northcote junior had 1 run - 10m, 16 tackles @ 100% and she offers intriguing impact, especially if deployed when Harata Butler is off the field.

NRLWahine & Kiwi-NRL notes...

Bulldogs started with a win vs Knights. All five try-scorers for Bulldogs are NRLWahine and the had eight players from Aotearoa in their team including two 19-year-olds in Simina Lokotui (Mangere East) and Shaquaylah Mahakitau-Monschau (Waitakere).

Bulldogs tries: Moana Courtenay x2 (North Shore RU), Ash Quinlan x2 (Turangi), Angelina Teakaraanga-Katoa (Auckland.

Knights had some funky whanau stuff though. Tiana and Carlin Davison were playing at the same time on Friday night, while Tenika's strong start at centre was followed by cousin Xavier going crazy for Broncos...

• Tiana Davison (NRLW): 47mins, 9 runs, 26 tackles

• Carlin Davison (NBL): 31mins, 25 pts, 11 rebs

• Tenika Willison (NRLW): 80mins, 12 runs - 146m @ 12.1m/run

• Xavier Willison (NRLW): 68mins, 20 runs - 205m @ 10.2m/run, 43 tackles

Both Broncos teams had wins with a heavy duty Aotearoa presence...

• Men: Josiah Karapani (Otahuhu), Delouise Hoeter (Marist), Deine Mariner (Marist), Xavier Willison (Whatawhata), Jordan Riki (Horby)

• Women: Kerri Johnson (Kaikohe), Mele Hufanga (Marist RU), Gayle Broughton (Hawera), Brianna Clark (Sarina), Tafito Lafaele (Papatoetoe RU)

Abigail Roache (Richmond) and Rosie Kelly (Hokitika) were awesome for Cowboys in their win vs Titans. Roache had a linebreak and try assist at centre, while Kelly had two linebreaks and shared the kicking duties with Kirra Dibb evenly.

Kelly's move to Cowboys, where she joins Kiwi Ferns and Cowboys coach Ricky Henry, is funky because she has shifted from centre to the halves. Kiwi Ferns need halves depth and Kelly adds herself into this mix along with Broughton, Raecene McGregor and Tyla King (who didn't play round one).

Kiwi Fern centre depth: Annessa Biddle, Tenika Willison, Mele Hufanga, Leianne Tufuga, Mackenzie Wiki, Abigail Roache, Tysha Ikenasio.

Bulldogs centres Lokotui and Courtenay are both likely to represent Tonga.

Temple Kalepo (Ellerslie) made his debut for Cowboys. The Kiwi-NRL stocks are boosting depth at hooker with Kalepo likely to represent Tonga and Benaiah Ioelu likely to represent Samoa. Brandon Smith returned to NRL footy with Rabbitohs but left that game injured, yet NZ Kiwis still have Jeremy Marshall-King and Phoenix Crossland leading their dummy half depth.

Along with Xavier Willison there were some monster efforts from younger NZ Kiwis middle forwards...

Naufahu Whyte (Bay Roskill) in Roosters loss vs Tigers:

• 73mins, 22 runs - 250m @ 11.3m/run, 5 tackle breaks, 45 tackles @ 95.7%

Griffin Neame (Suburbs Greymouth) in Cowboys loss vs Storm:

• 58mins, 9 runs - 117m @ 13m/run, 1 linebreak, 1 tackle break, 44 tackles @ 91.6%

Sneaky Kiwi-NRL Storm players...

Joe Chan started at centre vs Cowboys having mainly been middle/edge forward before that win.

Alec MacDonald started his first game of the season with a season high for minutes, run metres and tackles - not his first game tackling at 100% though because he hasn't missed a tackle in seven of his 12 games this year.

Glenora junior Ativalu Lisati needs the Kiwi-NRL spotlight treament because he's so sneaky that I haven't covered his rise at Storm; he had 33mins off the bench in his third NRL game.

Joseph Tapine's 29mins for Raiders in their win vs Dragons was a season low and his first game below 40mins this year - clearly having his workload managed. Still had 11 runs - 114m @ 10.3m/run, 1 tackle break, 2 offloads, 16 tackles @ 100%.

Matthew Timoko went crazy vs Dragons: 21 runs - 237m @ 11.2m/run, 2 linebreaks, 7 tackle breaks, 1 offload, 13 tackles @ 76.4%.

NZ Warriors had a Jersey Flegg Cup win vs Silktails and I've got some junior pipeline notes as usual for paid subscribers and the Patreon whanau. I also zone in on Adam Milne's mahi now that he has made the Blackcaps tri-series squad, map out how Matt Henry has grown into an awesome T20 bowler and break down Rachin Ravindra's position as a T20 Blackcap (kinda underwhelming so far but full of potential).

As I've thrown out in our podcasts - for all the anxiety about T20 cricket, NZC contracts are still the best way for kiwi cricketers to get paid. This is evident in how the minority who pursue full-time mercenary status are mainly lads who specialise in T20 cricket. It's also evident in how a few players cling to Blackcaps casual contracts as well as others like Tim Seifert (casual ND contract) or the Doug Bracewell/Scott Kuggeleijn group who had a taste of the T20 circuit but have returned to domestic NZC contracts.

Logan van Beek is the funkiest example though. He is a Dutch international who basically has a full-time County Championship gig across all formats for Leicestershire as well as various T20 opportunities, yet he's always contracted to Wellington.

NZC contracts provide guaranteed income. Very few kiwi cricketers can brush that aside and it's far less volatile than T20 'riches'.

Along the same lines we have two young cricketers telling us about their love for Aotearoa and their desire to play Test cricket ... despite all the anxiety about T20 cricket.

Bevon Jacobs via Cricinfo and NZ Herald...

"IPL feels like such a slim chance but Black Caps is something that I've dreamed about since a kid. "Black Caps has always been the dream so I think that's probably the one that hit me the hardest."

“In the long run, I want to be a three-format player. I want that for New Zealand as well. I want to play test cricket. It’s something that everyone can see is happening, and the thought pops into your head. But for me, my dream was always to play for New Zealand. That T20 circuit is interesting, and it’s an enticing route. But the people who always perform the best in those tournaments are people that perform in international cricket. For me, that’s my goal. I want to play for New Zealand for as long as I can. If those opportunities present themselves in that time, that’s awesome."

Adithya Ashok via Cricinfo

"I think the Bangladesh tour was amazing," he says. "Any chance you get to contribute towards a red-ball win is something that's very close to my heart. I really enjoy playing red-ball cricket. Ever since I moved to New Zealand, Auckland and New Zealand has been my home and I'd love to play for New Zealand as much as I can and win trophies for them. But I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a part of me that wants to connect with my heritage and local side that aligns with Chennai. That's something that excites me, but the foremost thing is to represent New Zealand."

NZ-A are 1-1 in their T20s vs England A with the last game played tomorrow morning.

Batters with 10+ runs and strike-rates over 100

• Georgia Plimmer: 65 runs @ 101.5sr

• Izzy Gaze: 54 runs @ 168.7sr

• Jess Watkin: 53 runs @ 139.4sr

• Izzy Sharp: 38 runs @ 165.2sr

• Bella James: 32 runs @ 123sr

Bowlers with a wicket and less than 8rpo

• Jess Watkin: 7w @ 5.3rpo

• Emma Black: 2w @ 6.6rpo

• Hannah Rowe: 1w @ 7.2rpo

Jess Watkin leads NZ-A with three sixes on this tour.

Izzy Gaze had a one-day strike-rate of 137 to go with her 165sr in the T20s.

Molly Penfold has not taken a wicket in 14 overs of this tour.

Emma McLeod had a one-day strike-rate of 69.3 and has a T20 strike-rate of 67 on this tour.

Musical jam…

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Wildcard’s Notebook

The National Basketball League regular season is over and the playoffs are set. The Wellington Saints finished first after winning seven in a row to close, including a crucial 90-84 victory against the Canterbury Rams. The Rams didn’t have Taylor Britt for any of their final four fixtures and they nearly lost them all... but a fantastic comeback in the last game of the regular season saw them pip the Franklin Bulls to eliminate the Bulls and allow the Tauranga Whai to sneak into the top six with the best points differential of the three teams on nine wins.

The Manawatu Jets were sitting third not so long ago but with Corey Webster out with an Achilles injury and Dontae Russo-Nance joining him on the injury list for the last game, they lost their last four games and six of their last seven (the lone win being against the Rams when Webster returned and got injured again). Commiserations to the Nelson Giants who started 0-8 and then went 8-4 the rest of the way but narrowly missed out as they lost to the Southland Sharks in the final round.

Fantastic basketballing areas. Another great season... Indian Panthers excluded. The Wellington Saints will host one semi-final. The Canterbury Rams will host the other. Who each of them plays depends on which teams win the eliminators during the midweek with Taranaki Airs vs Tauranga Whai on Wednesday at 7pm and Southland Sharks vs Auckland Tuatara on Thursday at 7pm. The major semis will then be on Saturday and Sunday. Grand final is next Sunday (20 July).

Mojave King had the highest individual score of the season, bagging 43 points for the Whai in defeat against Southland last week. He shot 8/14 from threes in that game and 12/24 overall. The top kiwi scores beyond that:

• Carlin Davison – 36 points for Taranaki vs Wellington

• Jackson Ball – 36 points for Hawke’s Bay vs Indian Panthers

• Dontae Russo-Nance – 35 points for Manawatu vs Southland

• Jackson Ball – 33 points for Hawke’s Bay vs Tauranga

• Jonathan Janssen – 33 points for Otago vs Hawke’s Bay

• Izayah Le’Afa – 32 points for Wellington vs Canterbury

• Corey Webster – 32 points for Manawatu vs Hawke’s Bay

• Shea Ili – 31 points for Wellington vs Otago

• Sam Timmins – 30 points for Southland vs Hawke’s Bay

• Corey Webster – 30 points for Manawatu vs Taranaki

• Jordan Ngatai – 30 points for Wellington vs Auckland

NZ Leaders for Points Per Game

1. Corey Webster (Manawatu) – 23.7 pts

2. Jackson Ball (Hawke’s Bay) – 19.9 pts

3. Carlin Davison (Taranaki) – 18.8 pts

4. Jonathan Janssen (Otago) – 18.5 pts

5. Dontae Russo-Nance (Manawatu) – 18.3 pts

6. Izayah Le’Afa (Wellington) – 16.6 pts

7. Taylor Britt (Canterbury) – 15.8 pts

8. Sam Timmins (Southland) – 14.6 pts

9. Kruz Perrott-Hunt (Tauranga) – 14.6 pts

10. Jack Andrew (Taranaki) – 14.4 pts

NZ Leaders for Rebounds Per Game

1. Hyrum Harris (Wellington) – 10.6 reb

2. Jack Andrew (Taranaki) – 9.3 reb

3. Sam Timmins (Southland) – 8.4 reb

4. Rob Loe (Auckland) – 8.1 reb

5. Jonathan Janssen (Otago) – 7.8 reb

NZ Leaders for Assists Per Game

1. Corey Webster (Manawatu) – 7.3 ast

2. Carlin Davison (Taranaki) – 5.9 ast

3. Taylor Britt (Canterbury) – 5.9 ast

4. Izayah Le’Afa (Wellington) – 5.8 ast

5. Hyrum Harris (Wellington) – 4.9 ast

NZ Leaders for Steals Per Game

1. Dontae Russo-Nance (Manawatu) – 2.5 stl

2. Carlin Davison (Taranaki) – 2.0 stl

3. Izayah Le’Afa (Wellington) – 2.0 stl

4. Hyrum Harris (Wellington) – 1.8 stl

5. Tobias Cameron (Franklin) – 1.8 stl

Overall Stats From The Junior Tall Blacks At The FIBA U19 World Cup…

I’ll write about this more later in the week and we’re talking about it on the podcast tomorrow so plenty where this came from. This top four finish was one of the most significant kiwi sporting achievements of the year so far and this squad of players is going to be looked back upon as iconic over the coming decade so learn as many names as you can.

To help you do so, here are some notes for each of the players. Starting five first, then the rest you’ll have to hit up the paid part of the newsletter because we can’t be giving it all away for free otherwise the bills don’t get paid. So if you reckon we’re doing something useful for kiwi sports, and can afford it, then give it a ponder. There’s also Buy Me A Coffee if a one-off donation is more your style.

Tama Isaac was selected to the tournament All-Second Team for his efforts running the point for NZ, leading the team in assists and also regularly knocking down tough shots. Already looks like a classy operator and he’s only going to get better.

Jackson Ball is the youngest dude in the squad and to be honest he faded as the tournament went on, losing his shooting touch and probably feeling some fatigue. But he was magnificent in the early games and never stopped battling later on. Sweet shooting motion and an even sweeter spin move.

Hayden Jones was probably NZ’s most consistent performer and arguably the best. Those hesitation drives are majestic, plus he had a knack for popping up when his team most needed him here. Really good defender too. He does everything.

Oscar Goodman was rusty to begin with, same as Halaifonua, and also had some issues with how gently the refs were calling things at times. Unlike Halaifonua, we never really got to see a statement game from Goodman at this tourney (though his 13 points against Switzerland came close). He was injured early in the third-place game otherwise that might have been the one – he’d have matched up well against Slovenia. Nevertheless, his combination of strength and smarts was still there to see in many thrilling moments.

Julius Halaifonua came into the U19 World Cup looking rusty after ankle surgery limited him to seven games in his first season with Georgetown and the fouls probably stemmed from that. But by the end you could see why he’s such a star prospect as his dominant and varied paint play came to the fore. He’s got post moves, he’s got a jump shot, he’s got power and size and rebounding. When the screens and pick and roll stuff follows he’ll be a complete menace. Considering his skill set, he’s got the best shot of making the NBA from this crew.

Flying Kiwis Transfer Tracker

So much to get through over here after a huge weekend at the marketplace. The main Flying Kiwis article will offer up greater detail on these but in the meantime let it be known that Sarpreet Singh has a new home. UD Leiria had the option to keep him in Portugal but that obviously didn’t happen, perhaps at his own request, dunno, because he’s popped up with Serbian top flight club TSC Bačka Topola. Easily the most exciting move he’s made post-Bayern. In fact, it’s the first time he’s played top flight footy since his two Bundesliga appearances for the German titans.

And how, pray tell, did such a move come about for a bloke whose injuries and bad luck have prevented him from establishing much of a reputation in Europe? Sometimes its all about who you know. A few days before announcing Singh, TSC unveiled their new manager: Darije Kalezic. Former bossman of the Wellington Phoenix in those ill-fated times.

Funnily enough, Kalezic actually copped a bit of pressure for not playing Singh enough during that tenure, although he did eventually give the teenaged playmaker his starting debut (he’d come off the bench under interim Des Buckingham in the previous season) and he scored pretty much straight away and the rest was history (although it was too late to save DK’s job). Very funky transfer... look for the Flying Kiwis yarn in a day or two for some deeper context.

Tyler Bindon will spend next season on loan with Sheffield United. This move also reunites him with an old coach, in this case its Ruben Selles who gave him his Reading FC debut. There was definitely a case to keep Bindon around the first team with Nottingham Forest but after they re-signed Willy Boly that started to seem unlikely. Probably better to keep the strides steady with a year playing for a team that fully expects promotion from the Championship rather than jumping straight from League One to Premier League.

Bindon’s already training with Sheffield United so no preseason stuff for him at Forest just yet. That all begins tonight NZT so we’ll see what footage emerges and whether Marko Stamenic is involved. There was chat about Swansea City and we already know that Coventry tried to sign him before Nottm Forest swooped in so he could easily get a Champo gig, although there’s arguably more of a path to first team stuff in midfield than central defence so fingers crossed. The same is true of Alex Paulsen trying to break in with Bournemouth. A loan is likely but preseason testing has already begun for the Cherries and AP’s been pictured in amongst.

Happy to see Emma Main sign a two-year contract to remain with the Wellington Phoenix. She’s one of the few players who has brought a consistent goal-scoring threat to the table over multiple seasons with the Nix – her eight goals put her second-equal in the club’s record books behind the ten of Mariana Speckmaier. She’s also the first re-signing for next season. They’ve added four exciting new additions and already had a handful of returning players, mostly academy grads. NZers from last season’s squad currently unsigned: Rebecca Lake, Zoe McMeeken, Amelia Abbott, Grace Jale, and Mackenzie Barry. Also, to the surprise of exactly nobody, Logan Rogerson has signed a two-year extension with Auckland FC. The fact that he’d already been photographed training with the squad was a bit of a giveaway.

That Matt Dibley Dias loan to Chesterfield has been confirmed and he’s already played some preseason minutes for them. That feels like a good move for MDD as he tries to establish himself in senior footy following an aborted stint with Northampton last season. That’s in League Two.

Down a couple more divisions we find Zac Jones signing with AFC Fylde and Josh Redfearn with Maidstone United. Jones recently left Haverfordwest County in Wales and the chat was that he’d join The New Saints in that same division but then they signed someone else instead. The announcement from Fylde made it sound like it may have been Jones who rejected TNS. This is sixth tier in England but it’s full-time football in a league where every game is competitive - he wasn’t getting the former with Hwest and he wouldn’t have gotten the latter with TNS. Interesting stuff. Jones is fully capable of playing higher but note that Max Crocombe was in this very same division at the very same age. As for Redfearn, he was in this division last season with Welling Utd who got relegated so he’s moved sideways to try and keep his goals flowing. AFC Fylde (Jones) is the more likely club to be pushing promotion.

Niko Kiwan will be playing for Trapani 1905 in Italy’s Serie C. Sideways move for him too. Italian media made it sound like NK might search outside of Italy for his next gig in order to get into All Whites contention again... realistically, that probably needed to be the A-League and both NZ clubs already have right-backs while the Aussie clubs would need to register him as an import. So that didn’t happen and instead he’s swapped the northern conference for the southern conference of Serie C. Kirwan will now be living in coastal Sicily so... yeah he’ll be alright.

The Moses Dyer to Phnom Penh Crown move still hasn’t been confirmed but that’s only a matter of time. The club’s announced three other foreign additions over recent days (Rick Ketting of Netherlands, Raul Feher of Romania, and Maksym Pryadun of Ukraine) so Dyer’s bound to be next. He’s already over there, as evidenced by this now-deleted photo from a preseason friendly posted by unwitting opponents ISI Dangkor Senchey...

You want to hear a weird Libby Cacace rumour? Apparently Wrexham are interested in both he and his Scottish teammate from Empoli, Liam Henderson. Hendo’s a free agent but Cacace would need a transfer fee. Add them to the long list of reported suitors. Most of that news is aggregated stuff but we do strike a source with Corriere dello Sport who very recently had this to say:

“From next week, updates are also expected on Liberato Cacace (24). The full-back is liked by Cagliari, Pisa and Cremonese, while abroad some Turkish clubs and Anderlecht have shown interest.”

Cagliari seems to be the keenest of the various clubs but as they say we should find out more next week. Empoli have supposedly set their asking price at 4 million euros. If they were to get a fee in that range, it’d eclipse the estimated €3m that they paid for him from Sint-Truiden. Three strong years of performances and a profit is some fine business, to be fair.

Finally, Ole Academy old boy Ryan Feutz is on trial with the Newcastle Jets, who continue to raise their kiwi football friendship stakes following the hiring of Stephen Hoyle as women’s head coach (and Deven Jackson’s success in that same team last season). Feutz went over to play for the Edgeworth Eagles in the NPL and was absolutely astonishing, scoring 27 goals in 17 games to win the Golden Boot by streets. One of his teammates there was Canterbury playmaker Seth Clark who won the Northern NSW Player of the Year award, scoring 11 times that season. Sadly, Feutz did miss the decisive penalty in the grand final shootout so there was that bummer element.

But he picked up again with Edgeworth this season (with Jaylen Rodwell and Jackson Brady for kiwi company) and scored another 18 goals in 13 matches... and that’s just in the league. He also scored four times in the Aussie Cup. These numbers sound fake but they’re not. Feutz recently left Edgeworth to move to Sydney Olympic in the higher quality NSW division of the NPL, reuniting with Clark (and also Zac Zoricich) and promptly scored on debut for them over the weekend. Now the Newcastle Jets ready are bringing him in on trial. No less than he deserves.

Musical Jam...