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NRL/NRLW Grand Finals, Breakers season opener, White Ferns in RSA, MNL Team of the Week & more
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All Whites vs Congo DR/Australia: Squad Yarns & Preview (Football)
Football Ferns in Chile: Stay The Course, Don’t Panic (Football)
Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Ready For Summer (Rugby League)
Meet Michael Wilson, The Closest Thing To A Kiwi In The NFL Right Now (NFL)
The NZ Breakers Are Ready To Repeat The Dose in NBL24 (Basketball)
The Rise Of William O'Rourke & Canterbury's Funky Seamers (Cricket)
Three Key Blackcaps ODI Storylines Prior to Bangladesh Series (Cricket)
Scotty’s Word
Penrith Panthers and Newcastle Knights are NRL/W champions. As discussed in today's Niche Cast, both teams showcased their winning mana by coming from behind to grab consecutive championships. Panthers win their third in a row with Moses Leota and James Fisher-Harris starting together in all three Grand Final wins, Knights win their second NRLW championship in a row with Kiwi Ferns centre Shanice Parker starting both Grand Finals.
White Ferns don't have that winning mana but they did snare a win over South Africa in the third ODI. Amelia Kerr hit 100* which was lovely. Unfortunately for A-Kerr she didn't have much support from Sophie Devine or Suzie Bates who, along with Maddy Green and Georgia Plimmer, have all averaged below 20 in this series as top-five batters.
A-Kerr now averages 43.47 in ODIs and, as one of 17 White Ferns to score 1,000+ ODI runs, A-Kerr has the highest average. Debbie Hockley (4,064 runs @ 41.89avg) and Bates (5,383 runs @ 40.78avg) are the only other White Ferns with 1,000+ ODI runs and averages over 40.
A deeper dive is coming in the next few days ahead of the T20I series vs South Africa which starts this weekend. A-Kerr's 2w in the third ODI are her only wickets of the series and she finished with 59.5avg/4.4rpo, which came alongside Eden Carson's 1w @ 94avg/5.2rpo. Fran Jonas was only used for the third ODI and was tidy with 1w @ 2.8rpo, although a really good trio of White Ferns spinners have struggled in their last two ODI series...
in Sri Lanka
Amelia Kerr: 1w @ 114avg/5.4rpo
Fran Jonas: 1w @ 86avg/6.2rpo
Eden Carson: 2w @ 57avg/5.1rpo
in South Africa
Amelia Kerr: 2w @ 59.5avg/4.4rpo
Fran Jonas: 1w @ 26avg/2.8rpo
Eden Carson: 1w @ 94avg/5.2rpo
This comes after Craig Howard was celebrated as the White Ferns spin coach last year with headlines such as "New spin guru has White Ferns in a whirl". Carson hasn't kicked on from a strong start to her White Ferns career and Jonas didn't get a crack in the first two games against South Africa which was strange. Plus we have documented the decline in wickets for A-Kerr consistently throughout these newsletters (now with 3w @ 77.6avg/4.9rpo this year).
Since spin guru Howard started his gig with White Ferns, their spinners have become less effective. This also applies for Bates, who Sawyer and Howard suggested should join their spin group. Bates had 3ov @ 6.6rpo vs South Africa and has 11ov @ 6.2rpo in the Women’s Championship, with no wickets across 12ov of ODI bowling in the last two years.
Regular White Ferns storylines such as the best domestic player from last season Kate Anderson not playing in South Africa are also present. Add the lack of runs/wickets from the best players and coach Ben Sawyer is doing a great impression of Bob Carter.
White Ferns were in strong positions to win throughout this ODI series but they tend to find ways to lose at the moment. Whether big World Cup moments or series like this where they work hard to gain momentum only to let it slip like clockwork, White Ferns are the opposite of the Panthers/Knights winning vibe. Hard to expect otherwise when White Ferns players lack confidence - they haven't dominated domestic cricket let alone scoring enough runs/taking enough wickets to foster confidence.
Best White Ferns in ICC Women’s Championship…
Batting
Amelia Kerr: 499 runs @ 62.37avg/77.3sr
Suzie Bates: 338 run @ 37.55avg/ 69.8sr
Sophie Devine: 344 runs @ 31.27avg/95sr
Maddy Green: 235 runs @ 33.57avg/73.2sr
Brooke Halliday: 154 runs @ 30.8avg/72.3sr
Bowling
Jess Kerr: 12w @ 15.25avg/3.6rpo
Lea Tahuhu: 11w @ 21.54avg/4.8rpo
Sophie Devine: 9w @ 28.22avg/4.6rpo
Fran Jonas: 8w @ 32.37avg/4rpo
Hannah Rowe: 7w @ 26.57avg/4.8rpo
White Ferns in ICC Women’s Championship
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Back to Panthers and their three consecutive championships. As you can see below, Leota's involvement has increased with each GF appearance and Fisher-Harris is maintaining his excellent plateau...
2021 Grand Final vs Rabbitohs
Moses Leota: 31mins, 8 runs - 73m @ 9.1m/run, 26 tackles @ 89%
James Fisher-Harris: 36mins, 13 runs - 117m @ 9m/run, 22 tackles @ 84%
2022 Grand Final vs Eels
Moses Leota: 35mins, 8 runs - 90m @ 11.2m/run, 20 tackles @ 74%
James Fisher-Harris: 59mins, 20 runs - 201m @ 10m/run, 32 tackles @ 86%
2023 Grand Final vs Broncos
Moses Leota: 47mins, 16 runs - 163m @ 10m/run, 19 tackles @ 82%
James Fisher-Harris: 58mins, 20 runs - 170m @ 8.5m/run, 27 tackles @ 79%
Another wrinkle is play-the-ball speed for these two in each GF...
Moses Leota: 2.83sec | 3.46sec | 2.73sec
James Fisher-Harris: 3.62sec | 3.04sec | 3.11sec
Leota had his quickest PTB against Broncos, Fisher-Harris wasn't far off his quickest. Broncos had better forward packs than Rabbitohs and Eels, amplifying the excellence of these two Aotearoa Kiwis props.
Scott Sorenson has also progressed through each GF. Sorenson played 30-ish minutes off the bench vs Rabbitohs and Eels, then he was starting edge forward with 61mins vs Broncos.
Parker and Kiana Takairangi were the NRLWahine who played for Knights in their 2022 GF. Parker kept her spot at centre and Knights recruited Abigail Roache, Laishon Albert-Jones and Nita Maynard for this championship. The funkiest thing here is how Roache and Albert-Jones went from local footy in Auckland last winter to a World Cup with Kiwi Ferns, then an NRLW championship.
Roache came to Knights via Super Rugby Aupiki and Albert-Jones started this year with a NSW Women's Premiership championship for Mounties. Both Kiwi-NRL and NRLWahine have multiple examples of players leaving grassroots footy to have a winning impact in Australia. Kiwi Ferns had various players in their World Cup squad who didn't play NRLW prior and now there is a long list of NRLWahine who had fabulous debut seasons.
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
The Breakers got their new season underway with a solid 98-87 win over an understrength Cairns Taipans on Saturday night. Lots to like about how they did it, with import guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright leading the way with 25 points on 10/17 shooting as well as dishing up 8 assists and grabbing 6 steals. Massive debut from a fella who is very much not massive (standing at less than six foot... aka normal size, which is weird for a basketballer). PJC’s size is probably what makes a guy of his skills available to an NBL team. Because if you ignore the height then this guy has an NBA array of talents.
It was Tom Abercrombie’s 400th game for the club, an incredible achievement, and PJC got things started with an alley-oop to Abercrombie for opening bucket. If that was a designed play then Coach Mody Maor is more sentimental than he lets on. A perfect way to start. Then after a close first half which the Taipans held a narrow lead in for much of it, the Breakers pulled away in the third quarter towards victory.
Zylan Cheatham started at centre but the much-hyped Mangok Mathiang still had a big impact off the bench with his physical defence and some tidy close-range finishes. Izayah Le’afa had a few classy moments. Finn Delany did everything you expect Finn Delany to do for 18 points – although he did have his hands full defensively against the kiwi tall timber of Sam Mennenga and Sam Waardenburg, both of whom were amongst the Taipans’ best on the night. Mennenga scored 17 points on 7/11 shooting with 4 rebounds on his pro debut. Waardenburg looked fit after his injury struggles at NBA Summer League and he scored 12 points on 5/8 shooting with 3 rebounds and 2 assists.
The Breakers seemed to want to add extra offensive versatility with how they went about putting this roster together – hence two import guards this year. Even without the injured Will McDowell-White (and Next Star Mantas Rubstavicius) they seemed to offer plenty of that in this win. Good shooters. Lots of possible ball handlers. Their passing seems crisper than last year. Just a bit worried about their rebounding moving forwards... but all in all that was a promising opener which was definitely no guarantee for a team that’s changed quite a bit since we last saw them. Exactly what we needed to see in what the experts all expect to be a very competitive season.
Also, Alex McNaught turned up dressed as a jedi knight for some reason…
This NBL season is shaping to be the best we’ve ever seen for kiwi players, and at a time when the NBL’s stature within global basketball has probably never been greater. The record is 20 New Zealanders taking the floor in a single season. We’ve got enough contracted dudes to beat that record but some of them are injury replacements and development players so it’s not necessarily that simple. But round one was a belter. Round one has gotten us most of the way there already.
Minutes Played By NZers in NBL24 Round One...
55.1 – Shea Ili (Melbourne United)*
49.6 - Corey Webster (Perth Wildcats)*
42.1 – Reuben Te Rangi (SEM Phoenix)*
37.6 – Rob Loe (Melbourne United)*
29.1 – Finn Delany (NZ Breakers)
29.1 – Sam Mennenga (Cairns Taipans)
28.8 – Sam Waardenburg (Cairns Taipans)
28.3 – Flynn Cameron (Melbourne United)*
26.7 – Izayah Le’afa (NZ Breakers)
21.5 – Tom Abercrombie (NZ Breakers)
18.5 – Tyrell Harrison (Brisbane Bullets)
That’s eleven guys there all getting at least 14 minutes per game (the asterisks are the teams that played twice this gameweek). On top of that there were also shorter cameos for Anzac Rissetto (SEM), Tohi Smith-Milner (ADL), Tai Webster (PER), Hyrum Harris (PER), Dan Fotu (NZB), Alex McNaught (NZB), and Dontae Russo-Nance (PER). Tai Webster got injured or he’d have played more. Dom Kelman-Poto was kitted up for the Breakers since McDowell-White was absent but he didn’t see the floor. Count ‘em up and that’s already 18 New Zealanders involved in that first round alone.
Strange fact: Shea Ili has shot 2/20 to begin the season, yet Melbourne United won both games. He’s yet to miss a free throw though (9/9 so far)
Blackcaps World Cup Squad – ODI Stats In India
Tom Latham – 475 runs @ 52.77 ave (1x100/3x50)
Devon Conway – 155 runs @ 51.66 ave (1x100)
Kane Williamson – 398 runs @ 33.16 ave (1x100/1x50)
Mitchell Santner – 193 runs @ 24.12 ave (1x50)
Jimmy Neesham – 76 runs @ 19.00 ave (1x50)
Tim Southee – 122 runs @ 17.42 (1x50)
Glenn Phillips – 52 runs @ 17.33 ave
Daryl Mitchell – 34 runs @ 11.33 ave
Henry, Boult, Ferguson, and Sodhi have all played a few games but have only scored scraps at the end of innings so no point counting them. That leaves three lads who’ve never played an ODI in India: Rachin Ravindra, Mark Chapman, and Will Young. Ravindra and Young have played Tests in India though, in fact Young’s top score in Tests came in India. While Chapman has at least played nine T20Is in India (not to any great success, mind you). But, yes, there is definitely going to be a need for Latham and Conway to excel if the ‘Caps are going to do what they usually do and go deep in this event.
Now for the bowlers...
Tim Southee – 25 wickets @ 29.68 ave
Trent Boult – 10 wickets @ 36.80 ave (1x4)
Mitchell Santner – 9 wickets @ 51.44 ave
Ish Sodhi – 4 wickets @ 38.00 ave
Jimmy Neesham – 4 wickets @ 42.00 ave
Matt Henry – 3 wickets @ 35.66 ave
Lockie Ferguson – 1 wickets at 151.00 ave
So... yeah not the best across the board in those conditions (aside from some very nice Tim Southee numbers). But the thing about that is usually when the Blackcaps are playing in India it means they’re playing against India, who are really remarkably magnificently good with their home crowds cheering them on. In the last decade, NZ has played 11 ODIs against India in India and have a 2-9 record.
Granted, that ain’t the best home field advantage going around in One Day International cricket. In the past five years, India has gone 25-11 at home with one tie, giving them a 2.272 wins to loss ratio. That’s a piece of piss compared to the Blackcaps who are 19-4 in home ODIs across the same time span. Yes, we play more of the minnow teams than they do. Yes, we don’t play nearly as many games. But a 4.750 wins to loss record in home ODIs over the past five years is the best in the world by a big margin (Pakistan are 16-4 for 4.000 for second place).
Point is, these will be neutral games for the Blackcaps rather than away games with one exception... and we all know that the Blackcaps have the wool over India when it comes to ICC tournaments. Not so much outside of them but very much within them. Not too many of these guys have excelled in India in the past but enough of them have experience there, including all of them in some form or another, that it won’t be unfamiliar. I dunno man, I feel like people are underestimating the Blackcaps heading into a major tournament again...
Men’s National League Team of the Week #2
GK – Alby Kelly-Heald (Wellington Phoenix) – Tricky week to pick a goalie, as the two clean sheets kept were relatively uneventful ones and a couple other teams got thrashed. So AKH can have the nod for a few quality stops against Christchurch Utd despite a 2-0 defeat. Maybe it’s because he’s seen his brother advance into the first team but Alby is really starting to look the goods with the gloves on.
CB – Adam Thomas (Eastern Suburbs) – Massive from the Suburbs man, anchoring a reshuffled back three with several precision slide tackles and a bunch of strong interventions. He kept his team in range right up until they scored a freaky equaliser.
CB – Adam Mitchell (Auckland City) – The stream for the City vs Rewa game capitulated and it doesn’t seem like they had a backup for the replay so we’re just taking the Auckland City website’s word for it here that Adam Mitchell was man of the match in that 1-0 win. To be fair, that sounds about right. Mitchell is always top quality for the Navy Blues.
CB – Aaron O’Driscoll (Christchurch United) – Last week it was Cam Lindsay who got the nod, this week it’s his Irish mate O’Driscoll who had another commanding performance for a CU team that has not conceded in either game so far... plus he nodded in their second goal, a header off a corner like a little good centre-back.
RWB - Jack-Henry Sinclair (Wellington Olympic) – There’s no stopping him on days like that. Olympic won 7-1 against Napier City and it could have been more. Sinclair was lightning down that right wing, scoring three crunching goals and setting up two others. JHS has seven goal contributions through two rounds. Nobody else has more than three.
CM – Campbell Strong (Eastern Suburbs) – There wasn’t a lot of attacking enterprise to fall back upon in the Auckland United vs Eastern Suburbs game (although it did spark up as it got deeper). But there was plenty to enjoy in a good old fashioned midfield battle full of brave tackles and slick passing and huge workrates. Campbell Strong was right in amongst that, the NZ U23s rep.
CM – Yousif Al-Kalisy (Auckland United) – Also right in amongst it was YAK on the opposite side. Another standout performance from the Kiwi-Iraqi, who seems to appear wherever the ball is and unlike many great defensive mids he also knows how to instigate in the attacking third as well. The only player to go back to back in the first two MNL Team of the Weeks.
CM – Yuya Taguchi (Cashmere Technical) – He scored two, including one directly from a corner kick, and set up another as Cashmere Tech won 5-1 against Petone. All from midfield. You can’t deny that kinda output. Chuck in an impressive amount of running and his smooth interplay and that’s the one aye.
LWB – Aidan Barbour-Ryan (Cashmere Technical) – Not a wingback but we’ll pretend for the sake of the formation of this imaginary team. ABR scored the opener for Cashy Tech and was a handful all afternoon (playing as a number ten). You can tell he’s paid close attention to teammate Garbhan Coughlan because many of GC’s traits of wriggling out of tackles or drawing fouls were on full display from the protegee.
FW – Garbhan Coughlan (Cashmere Technical) – And now for the man himself. If CT scored five then you already know that Coughlan was amongst it. The Irishman scored a clinical double whilst providing his usual gravitational pull. He’s a master of the arts.
FW – Gianni Bouzoukis (Wellington Olympic) – Another hat-trick for Bouz, who continues to apply the finishing touches that take Olympic into destructive spaces. His first in the National League but his ninth for this club overall. He just knows where to be and when to be there. Coughlan and Bouzoukis were tied golden boots last year with nine goals each – and both are steadily on course to match that again.