The Shift Continues
Wellington Phoenix Women, Blackcaps & White Ferns on tour, Newcastle Knights kiwi pockets, Charlisse Leger-Walker, Auckland FC, and more
Scotty’s Word
Wellington is Aotearoa’s hub for women’s sport. The scenes at Porirua Park were amazing on Sunday and the Wellington Phoenix ladies put on a show, in a similar way that Wellington Blaze have during their Super Smash dynasty.
The Wellington community loves their Blaze and there is a different vibe at the Basin Reserve for Blaze games compared to Firebirds. The Phoenix women have their own home ground and it’s been buzzing all season, then it went next level for their win vs Brisbane Roar.
No other town/city can match what Wellington has done with Blaze and Phoenix. No other women’s sports, especially rugby union and netball, have that kinda fizz below the international level either. The shift in New Zealand’s sporting landscape continues.
Knights are one of my favourite NRL teams to watch right now and that’s led by their Aotearoa spine. Phoenix Crossland has blasted into my Kiwi-NRL vista now that he is aligned with NZ Kiwis, Kalyn Ponga’s always been interesting by now he has a NZ Kiwis tinge and Dylan Brown’s move to halfback makes me track him closer than before.
All three could line up for NZ Kiwis together. Jeremy Marshall-King’s excellent return to footy with Dolphins in their win vs Bulldogs adds a bit more depth to the hooking role, so he could start ahead of Crossland. Crossland can play in the halves and small forward though, plus he has performed well for Kiwis in recent years so he’s highly likely to feature in any best-17/19 combination.
Keano Kini has also been excellent for Kiwis but Ponga should be starting ahead of him and Kini would be a funky bench option. Now that we have seen Brown play well at halfback, it opens up different halves combos for Kiwis if Jahrome Hughes is out injured. Brown can play halfback with Kodi Nikorima alongside him for example, or even Ponga/Crossland sliding in there.
The win vs Dragons sums up how Brown and Ponga get busy, along with Fletcher Sharpe who is their other half...
Kalyn Ponga: 41 receipts, 23 runs, 21 passes, 7 kicks - 186m
Dylan Brown: 50 receipts, 14 runs, 33 passes, 8 kicks - 299m
Fletcher Sharpe: 50 receipts, 13 runs, 41 passes, 1 kick - 20m
Brown has never averaged over 130 kick metres per game in any other season and he’s averaging 350 kick metres this year. He entered the NRL at 18-years-old as an excellent running/tackling half and had Mitchell Moses do most of the kicking at Eels. Now Brown’s stepped into a halfback role where he does most of the kicking and while he’s maintained his running game, Brown moving the ball well to the many threats that Knights have.
I’m also closely following Knights because they love Aotearoa. Francis Manuleleua (Papatoetoe) didn’t play vs Dragons but he helped Knights win vs Rabbitohs the week before with a strong tackle forcing an error late in that game and he adds high quality depth to their edge forward stocks behind Dylan Lucas and Jermaine McEwen.
Knights lost vs Dragons in NSW Cup with Peter Hola (Marist), Asu Kepaoa (Sacred Heart College), Elijah Salesa-Leaumoana (Mangere East) and Ben Peni (Papatoetoe) in their team. Tamakaimoana Whareaorere (Te Puke) has played plenty of NSW Cup this season after moving up from U21s and the Knights U21 team that also lost to Dragons featured Sosaia Latu (Mangere East), Ryder Crosswell (Dannevirke), Te Kaio Cranwell (Linwood) and Devante Hurrell-Epati (Te Atatu).
The Knights NRLW squad has Amelia Pasikala (Wairoa), Cheyelle Robins-Reti (Taranaki) , Shanice Parker (Perth), Tenika Willison (Waikato) and Tiana Davison (Clifton/Waitara) locked in for this season. Their U19 women’s team had Charley Lahmert (Bell Block) and Shikynah Pearson (Raukawa Ki Runga - Otaki) all season as well.
Two Western Suburbs juniors from New Plymouth played on the wing and lost this weekend. Jensen Taumoepeau had a tough outing against Daniel Tupou in his debut and Titans aren’t going to well at the moment so their loss vs Roosters was expected. Mawene Hiroti had the most runs and most run metres for Sharks in their loss vs Rabbitohs as they continue to struggle for consistency.
Hiroti will move to Titans next season so hopefully he can join Taumoepeau in that squad. He can play centre and wing equally well, so it’s possible for Titans to have these two plus Siale Faeamni in the team assuming they all stick around at Titans.
Veteran Kiwi Fern Georgia Hale is still with the Titans NRLW squad along with Howick’s Sarina Masaga. They will be joined by middle forward Te Ngaroahiahi Fanua Awhina Rimoni (Wainuiomata) who played for Norths Devils in the Queensland Women’s Premiership last year.
One other NRLW wrinkle is how NZ Warriors only have two Aussies in their squad at the moment. Emmanita Paki and Felilia Kia have stayed at Mt Smart, while Jasmin Huriwai played rugby union for Australia but she’s from Aotearoa and was signed a few weeks ago. 24 players are listed on the NRL.com signing tracker for the 2026 season and the vast majority are from Aotearoa.
Add in all the NRLWahine playing for other NRLW teams and the abundance of players in lower grades in Australia for a fabulous summary of women’s rugby league in New Zealand right now. Here is an NZ Warriors women team excluding the Aussies and it’s a realistic group...
Fullback: Apii Nicholls
Wing: Stacey Waaka, Payton Takimoana
Centre: Mele Hufanga, Tysha Ikenasio
Halves: Patricia Maliepo, Gayle Broughton
Hooker: Capri Paekau
Middle: Harata Butler, Annetta Nu’uausala, Laishon Albert-Jones
Edge: Shakira Baker, Kaiyah Atai
Bench: Jasmin Huriwai, Ivana Lauitiiti, Matekino Gray, Maarire Puketapu
Depth
Backs: Tyra Wetere, Lavinia Tauhalaliku
Forwards: Mya Hill-Moana, Ashlee Matapo, Metanoia Fotu-Moala
For paid subscribers
NZ Kiwis depth chart
NRLWahine squad lists
Spotlights on Tom Blundell, Henry Nicholls, Will Young
Dean Foxcroft round up
Lots of Blackcaps Test stats
White Ferns lost the a tight battle vs England in the first ODI. A few themes continued such as Melie Kerr (55 runs @ 67sr) and Maddy Green (88 runs @ 82sr) dominating the run-scoring, while Suzie Bates does the opposite.
Bates averaged 14 in ODIs last year and is trucking along at 8.5avg this year. Her last nine ODI scores are 0, 0, 29, 1, 10, 20, 8, 0, 6.
All five bowlers took a wicket. Rosemary Mair was the best with 3w @ 4.2rpo and she is in her best year of ODI bowling. This is her first year with 5+ wickets and an average below 30, already on 12w @ 21.5avg.
The lower order didn’t add many runs to the A-Kerr/Green combo. I think this is a strength for White Ferns but unfortunately the batters below Brooke Halliday (Izzy Gaze, Izzy Sharp, Jess Kerr, Nensi Patel) all scored under 15 runs.
Halliday didn’t score many either and she is the White Ferns best ODI batter along with Green right now. Hopefully the lower order can bounce back because they form my favourite White Ferns pocket, especially with their ability to score quickly.
Since the Blackcaps Test squad was announced I’ve been pondering the Tom Blundell situation and other related zones. Blundell has been out of form at the Test level for over a year and that’s what many highlight as reason to drop him, yet Blundell fought for his career at the domestic level in an excellent season for Wellington.
Blundell averaged over 40 in all three competitions with strike-rates that match the format (72, 96, 155). He finished the Plunket Shield campaign with scores of 6, 98*, 96, 35, 25 and 62. Blundell also had his best Super Smash season and one of his best seasons of List-A batting last summer. All of which smells like Blundell battling to keep his Blackcaps Test career alive.
Prior to his dip, Blundell was also awesome in England and against England. That’s the only team Blundell has multiple centuries against and he averages 59.8 against England, as well as averaging 69.5 in England. If there was one country for Blundell to pick as he fights for his Test career, it would probably be England and preferably against the Poms.
Henry Nicholls didn’t average 40+ in all three formats last season. He did however do all he could to keep his Test career alive as with with dominant mahi in Plunket Shield and Ford Trophy. Will Young on the other hand struggled to dominate the domestic level like Blundell and Nicholls, which has seen him overtaken by Nicholls and frames the desperation of Blundell shown for Wellington last season.
This informs me about the depth of Blackcaps and how important it is to have players of various ages in the mix. All of these dudes, plus other mature players like Michael Bracewell, are under pressure for their spots across the formats and it’s up to them to fight for their spots by piling up runs/wickets.
We have never seen such competition for selection before. For Blundell, Nicholls and Young this means that they are under pressure not only to perform for Blackcaps but also to dominate the levels below. For someone like Bracewell, he can’t assume that he’ll be in every Blackcaps ODI/T20I squad moving forward because another mature player in Cole McConchie might be playing better, let alone the talented youngsters who have skills to cover that role.
Dean Foxcroft now has that opportunity yet he’s still ranked behind Mitchell Santner, Glenn Phillips and Rachin Ravindra as spinny all-rounders. Santner’s out injured, Phillips and Ravindra will probably offer the spin overs. Foxcroft is selected ahead of McConchie and this signals a salute to the future as he has more potential for Aotearoa that the older lads in Bracewell and McConchie.
I am curious about Foxcroft though. He didn’t take many wickets last season and was solid, not dominant, with the bat for Central Districts. Foxcroft does have a few previous seasons eating up wickets in Plunket Shield and is a very steady batter, hovering around 30-35avg in a bunch of different pockets (formats, career, seasons).
He seems reliable, adds value in the field and at 28-years-old he is in the stage of his career where most kiwi cricketers start to find their groove. Foxcroft usually bats in the middle order where he can grind out good bowling and as seen in Bangladesh, he’s also equipped to counter with aggressive strokes. I don’t think he’ll play in England but he is someone who could grow into a Glenn Phillips type of Test role for Aotearoa.
Competitive depth is also evident for Jacob Duffy who chose not to be part of the Test tour of England. Duffy has been awesome and now he dips out of the mix to give opportunities to Kyle Jamieson, Will O’Rourke, Blair Tickner and all-rounders Zak Foulkes and Nathan Smith. Jamieson and O’Rourke gave Duffy his opportunity due to their injuries, now Duffy is presenting opportunities to seamers who some would view as better than him.
Blackcaps need 25-30 players in each format to cover T20 jobs, injuries, baby duties and all the other factors that bump the depth around. Duffy gave great service to Blackcaps across all three formats and that set him up for other jobs, now he drops back to the shadows and I don’t feel any major impact on how I feel about the quality of seamers available to Aotearoa.
Musical jam...
Nick’s Notebook
The Wellington Phoenix are going to the A-League Women’s grand final. A chance to win the club’s first proper bit of silverware... although they’ll be up against a Melbourne City team that they’ve never even drawn with previously: 0 wins, 0 draws, 8 losses... with 4 goals scored and 17 conceded. The goal difference is blown out by their first two seasons though – the last six meetings between these two teams have all been one-goal winning margins for Melbourne City. It’s been close. This will mean the two best teams of the season contesting the final and history is being made no matter what.
Makala Woods gave us the full Makala Woods Experience in the second leg vs Brisbane, scoring two lovely goals from running in behind onto superb passes from Pia Vlok and Brooke Nunn (especially the Vlok pass, jeepers). She also missed several big chances including a double-effort with basically the last kick of second half stoppages, albeit later making amends in extra time. In her first eight games, Woods got 5 goals and 5 assists. She then went through a five-game drought that she snapped with this semi-final-winning brace. It’s always the case with Woods that she’s a prolific scorer but not an efficient scorer... she misses a lot of chances but her boundless energy means she’s always there for the next one. You just have to keep teeing her up. (If they do manage to get Samba fit to play alongside Woods next term it’ll be interesting how that balance works with two players who each do best with maximum involvement).
Woods did next to nothing in the first leg and there’s an obvious reason why that was the case. When asked after the win what the difference was having Pia Vlok in the line-up, MW said it was like night and day. It was only the 20-ish mins that Vlok played off the bench in Brisbane when the Nix looked in any way coherent (aside from the initial 5-10 min burst at the start of the game), giving them someone who can hold the ball in the attacking half. Then she started and played 105 minutes in the home leg and was probably the team’s best forward, if not best player. The assist for Woods’ first goal was immaculate. She scraps away with great physicality and she’s got a very good first touch (although it got away from her a few times once fatigue set in), that’s what allows her to keep the ball in tough spots – and to win it back, as she also did in the move that led to her assist. She’s also got that triple-threat once she gets on the ball in the attacking third: she can shoot, she can dribble, she can pass. You don’t know how to defend her. This is someone still four months away from her 18th birthday, shimmering in the biggest game this team has ever been involved in (a record to be beaten on Saturday night in Melbourne). What an incredible talent.
When they asked Bev Priestman in the post-game coverage if she ever thought this team could accomplish this, probably expecting a typical post-game answer along the lines of “ohmygodnoneveritsadreamcometrue”, Coach Bev very calmly said Yes, she always thought it possible. There have been plenty of smart, perceptive coaching elements to this WahiNix run but the most valuable thing that Priestman has brought to the table is that she’s convinced these players that they are Winners.
Macey Fraser must have had one of the highest ratios ever witness of commentary mentions to game involvement. Dunno why it’s the case given that she’s a proven A-League player who can cover a couple different positions but Fraser’s just not one of Bev’s Players for whatever reason. She was only subbed on in the dying embers of both legs of the semi and we probably won’t see that much more of her in the final. Maybe if the Nix are chasing the game her window opens a crack further.
There were good signs when Fraser initially returned and made a few extended subs appearances but despite talking up the strength of her bench, Priestman barely used them. A little more in the first leg because Vlok was on the bench plus she made a few defensive subs to keep the tie tight heading into the home leg (including Mikaela Bangalan’s [wo]man-marking job on Momo Hayashi – Bangalan wasn’t even in the squad for the return leg so clearly that was just an away leg tactic). Lucia Leon always gets subbed around the hour mark, she hasn’t played ninety minutes in any game for the Nix and only twice has she made it past 70 mins. But that was the only sub made in the second leg until half-time of extra time when they’d finally taken the aggregate lead and a cramping Woods and only-recently-fit-again Vlok had reached their absolute capacities.
Minutes Played Across The Semi-Finals vs Brisbane
Vic Esson – 210
Ellie Walker – 210
Mackenzie Barry – 210
Marisa van der Meer – 210
Brooke Nunn - 189
Grace Jale – 210
Emma Pijnenburg - 209
Manaia Elliott – 210
Lucia Leon - 124
Pia Vlok - 126
Makala Woods - 205
Mackenzie Anthony – 123
Mikaela Bangalan - 32
Lara Wall – 21
Zoe Benson - 15
Daisy Brazendale - 15
Macey Fraser - 1
Tiana Jaber – 0
Aimee Danieli - 0
To put that in other basketball terms, there’s a 12-woman rotation there. Ten players who are going to play the overwhelming majority of the final as long as they stay fit with the imports Leon and Anthony alternating in the other spot. That could be an issue with a six-day turnaround before the final, including a travel day, coming after a very intense semi-final second leg. Tired bodies vs grand final enthusiasm, which will win out? But that’s how Priestman operates. She’s built a unit that she trusts and she’s not going to make subs for the sake of it like she might have done during the regular season.
UCLA Graduates in their WNBA Debuts
Lauren Betts (#4 to Washington) – 12 min | 0 pts | 2 reb
Gabriela Jaquez (#5 to Chicago) – 32 min | 10 pts | 7 reb | 2 ast
Kiki Rice (#6 to Toronto) – 18 min | 0 pts | 3 reb | 1 ast
Angela Dugalic (#9 to Washington) – 12 min | 2 pts | 2 reb
Gianna Kneepkens (#15 to Connecticut) – 13 min | 7 pts | 5 reb | 1 ast
Charlisse Leger-Walker (#18 to Connecticut) – 21 min | 4 pts | 2 reb | 1 ast
Fair play to Gabriela Jaquez who was the last of these players to make her debut (since her team didn’t play until day two of the season) and was easily the best of them. She’d shone out in the NCAA tournament final and took that momentum into being drafted higher than expected, leading to claims during a slow preseason that she’d been an over-reach. Then she was awesome on debut and now that noise has gone down. Her game was a win. Betts and Dugalic played against Rice with a very narrow victory for Washington there against expansion side Toronto. So credit to that pair for at least being part of a winning effort.
But beyond Jaquez, it was Charlisse Leger-Walker who had the most immediate impact despite being the sixth outta six to get drafted, despite falling into the second round, despite not getting an official invite to the draft (shout out Angela Dugalic for saving her a seat at her table). She played more than the rest of them. She found ways to contribute while she was out there. And off the back of that solid beginning she was elevated to the starting line-up in game two – the first NZer to ever start a WNBA game (in about a week’s time, she’ll have all of Megan Compain’s NZ records for WNBA players… she’s almost there already).
They lost again... but 69-63 against the Seattle Storm was much more promising, especially defensively (aside from committing way too many fouls). Couldn’t get it done with their young roster in the fourth but at least they were competitive in their home opener. The game was basically over after one quarter in the previous game. Again, CLW got around 20 minutes, this time with 6 points (2/6 FG), 2 rebounds, and 2 assists. She’d have played more if it weren’t for the three first half fouls she collected which limited her.
This is what her coach had to say afterwards, with regards CLW as the starting point guard and Aneesa Morrow switching from makeshift PG to a bench scorer role...
Rachid Meziane: “I think offensively we played with a more organised offence. I think for Aneesa it was better too, not having to overthink about what to call for who and when. So yeah it was a little better offensively but defensively we still have to figure out how we can start at a higher level... but I mean it’s normal for [Charlisse] because she’s a rookie up against a player who was bigger with more experience so we have to give her credit and to be a little bit patient with her.”
The coach also joked during that same press conference that he’s already texted Leila Lacan, the team’s starting point guard who is still wrapping up her finals run in the French league, to say “we need you”. That’s gotten a bit of focus as a pull quote but he didn’t say it as a criticism of CLW or Hailey van Lith or whoever else. He meant it in that Lacan is a playmaker who brings scoring and sets the tone of the offence. It was more about the style of play, saying that without Lacan they need to adapt to more of a passing/ball-movement approach which they didn’t fully succeed with in the narrow loss to Seattle.
But it was clearly an improvement having CLW starting compared to New York in game one (admittedly that was against a better opponent too). Nor is that lack of ball movement a CLW issue at all... it was their wings who had sticky hands when the ball came their way. Just find more ways to feed Britney Griner down low. As for the defensive adjustments, you get a great indication of what that entails from watching Charlisse’s latest YouTube offering where she scouted her own footage from her first preseason outing...
For the Paid Subscribers:
A full breakdown of the latest NZ U20 Women’s football squad
Wellington Phoenix Club Vibes
For the Wellington Phoenix women to emerge from the away leg vs Brisbane with a 2-1 deficit, it still felt like an evenly balanced contest knowing that they were going to get a rowdy home crowd for the return. For Auckland FC to head to Adelaide with only a 1-1 draw in their pockets after their home match... not so confident that one’s going to go their way. It was a strange game where they were very good for most of the first half but a couple of freak injuries knocked them off balance in the second half. Injuries have been such a burden for them this season, it’s a wee bit mental that they’re where they are considering.
But they did get Francis de Vries back and the revival of Liam Gillion is a timely one (was genuinely wondering if Gills might get subbed on instead of Logan Rogerson after the May injury, despite every other indicator pointing towards Rogerson... that says a little bit about the recent performances of each of those guys). They’ve also never lost to Adelaide after five meetings, though that includes one win and four draws (including this one).
One thing’s for certain: Sam Cosgrove may need police protection during that trip after basically every Adelaide defender at some point in that game stood over him and gave him a serve. He winds everybody up but I can’t recall a game where he seemed to visibly hated by his opponents as this one. Step on a few toes early in the way leg and AFC might find themselves up against ten men.
Auckland FC at Home in 2025-26:
WWDLWLDWWDLDL(DD)
The crowd of 16,093 that turned up to Mt Smart for the 1-1 draw vs Adelaide on Saturday was much better than the 11,351 they got to the elimination final. At least this finals crowd was above their season average. Lots of reasons why the crowds have dwindled, ranging from community football having started to ticket prices being ramped up by the league office to the ongoing fuel/cost of living price hikes to the weather and whatever else. Another factor might be that the faithful haven’t witnessed an A-League victory at Mt Smart since the Black Knights won 3-0 against Melbourne City on 28 February. Crowds are naturally going to shrink if people keep going home disappointed - they did witness a penalty shootout victory which makes up for a lot of that but still.
Coincidentally, that last home win for AFC was the week before the NRL season began. Even since the Warriors won 42-18 against the Sydney Roosters in week one, the Warriors have gone 3-1 at the stadium (including the Roosters win) while AFC have gone 0-4-2 at the same venue. It may be that there’s only enough juice for one heroic team at a time. There was some chat at one stage about AFC being annoyed that the grass was being kept longer for the rugby league season, although not sure Auckland FC with their barrage of aerials are the type of team that would upset all that much. It’s a weird one.
Should mention that despite AFC crowds dropping from an average of 18,890 last season to an average of 13,318 this season (a 29% slide), they do still have the highest attendance figures in the entire A-League. Sydney FC got the biggest individual crowd this season to their derby vs Western Sydney but AFC are the only ALM team never to drop below 10k for any home crowds in 2025-26. The same thing was true last season as well.
Musical Jam...
