The Secret Stash
Warriors NRL halves solutions, All Whites squad depth, A-League finals, Blackcaps & White Ferns on tour, Breakers & NBL basketball, and more
Scotty’s Word
Here’s a quick timeline of the mess NZ Warriors found themselves in since re-signing Luke Metcalf last year - something they had to do at the time...
Tanah Boyd didn’t play well to finish last season and made major improvements to start this season.
Chanel Harris-Tavita also responded well to Boyd’s improvements. He dipped after Metcalf’s injury last year but is in a career-best groove alongside Boyd this year.
Metcalf returned from injury and went straight into NRL team with no NSW Cup ramp up. Metcalf played poorly in the only losses for NZW this year and got injured again.
Boyd/Harris-Tavita kept winning. They are the best halves combo right now and the team is playing better now than they were early last season.
That left the most expensive player in this mix outside the best combo while Boyd and Harris-Tavita were/are chasing new contracts.
That made me curious how NZW would solve this riddle. One of the three had to leave and, as is the case with NRL contracts, the one bloke who was under contract asked for a release. Metcalf solved the riddle for NZW with that request and while NZW will be grateful for that, their abrupt announcement of this request didn’t feature any cute/lovely vibes. This suggests that NZW weren’t too fussed by Metcalf’s antics.
Having Boyd/Harris-Tavita playing well is a major factor here. Another factor is that NZW have a reliable NRL half in Te Maire Martin who has recently returned from injury. Martin has also shown that he is willing to do whatever the team requires of him (playing multiple positions in NRL and NSW Cup) which would be viewed more favourably than Metcalf’s demands.
Since re-signing Metcalf, NZW also had Luke Hanson make his NRL debut in the halves and the 22-year-old has won more NRL games than Metcalf this season.
21-year-old Jett Cleary became the halfback in NSW Cup. Last season he played 13 games at this level and much of that was coming off the bench. Now he’s the halfback every week.
20-year-old Jack Thompson made his NSW Cup debut earlier in the season after impressing in NRL preseason. He has played five games of NSW Cup and five games of U21s having won an U17 championship and not playing any U19 footy since leaving Knights.
20-year-old Jye Linnane still hasn’t played for NZW since moving from Knights last summer. He had a hefty injury history while at Knights but has just been cleared to return to footy and he’s not named in NSW Cup, while U21s don’t have a game this weekend.
Harry Inch has played five games of U21s since moving from rugby union. Already looks just as talented as the others above and will be given lots of space to learn rugby league nuance.
NZW are not desperate for halves and have ample options to move through 2026 without Metcalf. They have a NRL back up and three high quality young Aussies at various levels of the emerging ladder. Linnane will play NSW Cup at some stage soon based on his contract status and pedigree (if he stays healthy) and Inch is one of the best secret stash players that NZW have.
I reckon this influenced how NZW view the Metcalf situation. It’s also something that the Aussie media haven’t chatted much about this week which is weird given their fetish for all things Cleary. Jett is awesome and he is on track for a full year of reserve grade which is the ideal platform to progress into NRL footy. However, Hanson’s already done that and Thompson looks just as good as Cleary.
Which flows into some NRLW signing news for NZW. They have picked up Natalia Hickling who is a 19-year-old Aussie half from Lismore with winning mana in QRL junior footy while playing for Tweed Heads. NZW currently have four young Aussie halves who are 22yrs and younger in the men’s pipeline and now they have added Hickling to the theme of young halves moving from Australia to Mt Smart.
This always requires a note that Aotearoa has lots of exciting halves talent on the rise. NZW have a few themselves and there are plenty of young men and women in Aussie systems. The point here is that NZW don’t have any problems recruiting young halves from Australia and they all have indicators of elite talent.
Requesting a release from Mt Smart doesn’t seem to be the best career move. Dylan Walker’s the only one who is playing at a similar level but Eels aren’t as good as NZW right now so he has still slipped backwards.
Josh Curran, Marcelo Montoya and Zyon Maiu’u were released to join Bulldogs. Curran and Montoya were solid before notable dips coinciding with the Bulldogs slide into dramas. Maiu’u hasn’t played NRL since leaving NZW and has been overtaken by forwards like Alekolasimi Jones (St Paul’s College). These three have all gone backwards since leaving Mt Smart.
Addin Fonua-Blake was released to join Sharks and maintained his high level last year before falling further this season. His individual mahi has dropped and Sharks have slipped from their usual finals spot.
NZ Warriors vs Broncos points scored | conceded this season...
Warriors: 30.88 | 18.88
Broncos: 21.4 | 24.1
For paid subscribers
NZ Warriors vs Broncos match up
Broncos Kiwi-NRL flavour
Blackcaps Test 1st 11 & depth
White Ferns stats
NZ-A bowler stats
Glenn Phillips is one of my most intriguing Blackcaps ahead of the Test tour of Ireland and England. I have him locked in at seven and he is likely to be the leading spinner for Blackcaps, while also leading the way as the best fielder in these upcoming games. Phillips is more than capable of being the lead spinner as he’s already done it for Aotearoa and his average of 31 as a Test bowler is better than many others.
He’s not as slick as Mitchell Santner and Ajaz Patel is a better specialist right now. Phillips is a 1st 11 talent though and offers more all-round juice than Patel, while it’s possible for Blackcaps to have Santner and Phillips in different Test teams. Santner’s injured for now so Phillips is the best bloke for this job.
Phillips has taken over from Michael Bracewell who averaged 47.9 as a Test bowler. England could roll out Shoaib Bashier as their spinner and he averages 39, while Rehan Ahmed is a leggy all-rounder averaging 31.2 in Tests. Bracewell averaged 21 with the bat, while Bashir and Ahmed are both below 15avg.
Phillips averages 32.2 in Test batting. He’s the best Test batter of these players and one could make the case that he is the best spinner selected in this series. One key wrinkle about Phillips’ Test batting is how he has a career strike-rate of 71.8 that improves to 75.1 since the start of 2023.
No other Blackcaps batter has 500+ runs and a 75+ strike-rate in that time. All the other batters for Aotearoa with 75+ strike-rates are bowlers (Rae, Henry, Southee, Wagner, Duffy) and Phillips is averaging 32.8 in this period. All of which is similar to his First-Class mahi of 39.8avg/66.9sr in 116 innings.
Phillips will be packaged with Nathan Smith and/or Zak Foulkes. Smith has a Test batting average of 25 and 27.4 in FC while Foulkes averages 19.5 in Tests and 18.1 in FC. This pocket will be crucial for Blackcaps as they are important bowlers who are also capable of scoring runs. Not only will Phillips be the lead spinner but he will also probably be the quickest run-scorer for Blackcaps in this tour.
Spinners in England since start of 2020
Shoaib Bashir: 34w @ 36avg/3.7rpo
Jack Leach: 20w @ 35.2avg/3rpo
Ravindra Jadeja: 18w @ 55.7avg/2.9rpo
Moeen Ali: 15w @ 50.8avg/3.5rpo
Nathan Lyon: 14w @ 28.7avg/3.3rpo
No play for White Ferns in their second ODI vs England.
Barely half a game for NZ-A in their first one-dayer vs Sri Lanka A. Here’s some basics...
1st 11
Kate Anderson, Bella James, Prue Catton, Natasha Wakelin, Jess Watkin (c), PJ Watkins, Kate Gaging (wk), Hannah Rowe, Xara Jetly, Emma Black, Kayley Knight
Somehow PJ Watkins is listed as JA Watkins by Cricinfo. She’s still PJ in the NZC system and the JA profile is brand new, so not sure where that came from.
Bowling round up
Emma Black: 7ov, 2w @ 6.4rpo
Hannah Rowe: 8ov @ 5.7rpo
Xara Jetly: 7ov, 1w @ 4.2rpo
Kayley Knight: 8ov, 2w @ 4.3rpo
Jess Watkin: 8ov, 2w @ 3.6rpo
PJ Watkins: 4ov @ 7.5rpo
Musical jam...
Nick’s Notebook
Happy All Whites World Cup squad announcement day. The names were unveiled this morning at Eden Park with Darren Bazeley springing zero surprises in his squad – particularly not after the inclusion of Tommy Smith was teased ahead of time with a few media yarns.
It’s not entirely the squad I would have picked. I’d rather they went younger in that GK3 spot with Kees Sims or Henry Gray. I’d rather they found room for Owen Parker-Price in there. But these are guys at the low end of the squad who are highly unlikely to play within a very settled overall group. Anyone who follows the All Whites relatively closely could have picked at least 20 players right off the bat for that squad, even accounting for these increasingly loud Auckland vs Wellington biases that I’m starting to see a lot of. We won’t lose games because Tommy Smith is there instead of Bill Tuiloma.
I’m working on an article about the squad so I’m not gonna talk about that here. Instead I’m interested in the leftovers. This is a stacked All Whites group and that means some very good players have been overlooked. Bill Tuiloma. Cam Howieson. Nik Tzanev. Storm Roux. Okay sure but here’s a team of guys who are all younger than those four (29yo Andre De Jong is the oldest guy there), whose best form is yet to come, and who will all remain in contention through the next World Cup cycle...
You like that? Here’s another eleven that skews even younger and has equally as much potential...
Henry Gray; Matt Sheridan, Luka Vicelich, Alby Kelly-Heald, Sam Sutton; Marley Leuluai, Jago Godden; Stipe Ukich, Corban Piper, Van Fitzharris; Moses Dyer
The way that All Whites squads are picked under Darren Bazeley feels a lot like the way that Blackcaps squads have been selected for the last decade where there are steps you’ve gotta go through (Multiple years of good domestic form -> NZ-A tours -> T20 away tours -> Home limited overs -> Test cricket & tournament squads) and it can feel like it takes a long time to get settled in the squad but when you finally get there you’ll have earned a level of trust and a few second chances. Ben Waine and Matt Garbett have benefitted from that trust in recent times and have gone on to reward that faith. There’s also a focus on picking for certain roles as well as just cramming in the best and most in-form talent. Bazeley has leaned upon experience as the tie-breaker in most of these case and while that’s not the exciting route it rarely leads you astray, particularly at tournament time.
Looking from a wider perspective, here’s a shadow squad of players outside the World Cup group...
GK – Kees Sims, Henry Gray, Nik Tzanev
DEF – Bill Tuiloma, George Stanger, Isaac Hughes, Storm Roux, Niko Kirwan, Lukas Kelly-Heald, Matt Sheridan, Sam Sutton, James McGarry, Dalton Wilkins
MID – Owen Parker-Price, Cam Howieson, Fin Roa Conchie, Matt Dibley-Dias
FWD – Andre de Jong, Max Mata, Moses Dyer, Luke Brooke-Smith, Corban Piper, Liam Gillion, Stipe Ukich
And that in turn got me wondering what a Football Ferns squad would look like 12 months out from their World Cup. We’re going to get a squad very soon for the games against Haiti and Morocco but that doesn’t mean it’ll be full strength. Assuming that everybody currently active is available I’m guessing a major tournament selection would resemble something like this...
GK – Anna Leat, Vic Esson, Alina Santos
DEF – Kate Taylor, Rebekah Stott, Claudia Bunge, Mickey Foster, Liz Anton, Meikayla Moore, Katie Bowen
MID – Malia Steinmetz, Maya Hahn, Grace Jale, Emma Pijnenburg, Grace Wisnewski, Macey Fraser
FWD – Katie Kitching, Indi Riley, Jacqui Hand, Kelli Brown, Milly Clegg, Manaia Elliott, Gabi Rennie, Pia Vlok, Charlotte Lancaster, Hannah Blake
We’re getting pretty close to where Mack Barry should be picked ahead of Meikayla Moore, might see that in a few weeks’ time (if she isn’t given a rest after winning a championship, fingers crossed, with the Welly Nix). Might be a case for Grace Neville or Ally Green as more defensive-minded wing-backs as well. Deven Jackson vs Hannah Blake was a toss-up. And this is assuming they let them have 26 players which was not the case at the last World Cup. If we have to scratch three then Moore, Wisnewski, and Blake are probably on the chopping board. Still a whole other season to go for things to change, of course. One year ago there was little thought of Michael Woud, Jesse Randall or Lachie Bayliss making the All Whites WC squad now look where we are.
Get amongst the paid subscription whanau for some bonus A-League chat in the great untethered realms beyond the paywall, including Auckland FC kiwi depth and a Drone Derby ALW final
The Breakers have been busy putting together a squad for NBL27. They didn’t have much of anything leftover from last time, with coach Petteri Koponen and the club mutually deciding to go in other directions while assistant coach Judd Flavell’s taken a job overseason. They did have Parker Jackson-Cartwright, Reuben Te Rangi, and Izayah Le’Afa under contract but that was it. Taylor Britt’s second year option was declined, laving them with no coach and just three returning players... until the massive coup of re-signing Sam Mennenga. They were slow out of the gates in other ways (or cautious and diligent if you prefer that framing) but they got their top priority sorted in a hurry.
Since then they’ve signed Dejan Vasiljevic as a veteran Aussie shooter who has won championships and can drive some standards... as well as knocking down threes which was such a massive issue for them last season and would have remained so given that neither PJC nor Mennenga are very good range shooters.
They’ve also added Preston Le Gassick as another sharpshooter coming straight out of college with some NBL1 experience as well. He’s an Australian fella but he is eligible for NZ through his mother which the Breakers were quick to emphasise. 23 years old. Two year contract including a club option for the second year – effectively he’s going to take that Taylor Britt role off the bench. It’s great that Britt got a crack, he deserved it after some stunning performances for Canterbury and the Tall Blacks. He didn’t nail it down and now he’s been replaced... but that’s how it goes sometimes. The key thing is that the Breakers are willing to give guys like that a chance. Whatever happens next is uncontrollable/unpredictable.
Then they defied a few pesky rumours linking Carlin Davison to rival NBL clubs – the Perth Wildcats being mentioned a few times – by getting him back on a one-year deal. Gotta keep excitement machines with breakthrough potential like that around if you can. Davison has been a dominant guy in the NZ NBL for a couple years now. He’s already made big strides with the Breakers and has heaps more room to grow.
Breakers Depth Chart For Now...
PG – Parker Jackson-Cartwright | Preston Le Gassick
SG – Dejan Vasiljevic | Izayah Le’Afa
SF – Reuben Te Rangi
PF – Carlin Davison
C – Sam Mennenga
They need two more locals and two more imports to take them up to 11 players. Then they have the option of adding a Next Star on top of that, along with their Development Players (who’ll probably be mostly the same as they had last year: Alex McNaught, Liam Judd, Jack Andrew, Tukaha Cooper).
I’ve sorta been framing the NBL coverage (NZ version) lately by picking a stat and looking at the New Zealanders who rank highest so let’s keep that going with a peek at the assists because we’ve got a whole bunch of Breakers free agents up the top of this list...
Kiwi Assist Leaders in the NZ NBL
Carlin Davison (Wellington) – 8.5 assists per game
Taylor Britt (Canterbury) – 8.3
Alex McNaught (Nelson) – 6.5
Rob Loe (Auckland) – 5.5
Zach Riley (Auckland) – 4.8
Sam Timmins (Southland) – 4.6
Kruz Perrott-Hunt (Nelson) – 4.3
Kazlo Evans (Manawatu) – 4.3
Walter Brown (Canterbury) – 4.0
Keanu Rasmussen (Hawke’s Bay) – 3.8
The top four guys on that list were all with the Breakers last year... Davison having just re-signed. Britt’s been released and replaced and it sounds like Rob Loe may be ready to focus on his teaching career (same as Britt) rather than another gruelling Aussie NBL season. He’s already retired a couple times and this may be the last but we’ll see how it goes. McNaught’s been a DP for several years without cracking on so he may also be on the brink although a stat line of 10.0 ppg and 6.5 apg through six games for Nelson, shooting 46% from the field, sure goes alright for his case. He’s doing what he can.
Zach Riley and Kruz Perrott-Hunt got mentions as super three-point shooters a few editions ago. Turns out they’re whipping the ball around as passers too. Keanu Rasmussen is in a similar basket. Credit to 22yo Kazlo Evans who won a title with Wellington last year but has moved to Manawatu for a more prominent role and has had that role amplified further by the injuries to Dontae Russo-Nance and Corey Webster. Tai Webster has also joined the Jets so we may see that 31 mins per game number shrink soon... though not by too much if he keeps producing the goods. At this rate Evans is one game away from this season’s total minutes surpassing his previous three years combined. We do love a breakthrough player. On that note...
Walter Brown by NZ NBL season...
2023 – 30.1 MIN | 9.5 PTS | 46.9 FG% | 5.2 REB | 2.3 AST
2024 – 27.6 MIN | 9.4 PTS | 51.7 FG% | 5.5 REB | 2.0 AST
2025 – 28.2 MIN | 13.5 PTS | 48.1 FG% | 5.8 REB | 1.9 AST
2026 – 32.4 MIN | 21.7 PTS | 53.6 FG% | 9.3 REB | 4.0 AST
Musical Jam...
