The Switch
Abby Erceg x Wellington Phoenix, Warriors vs Panthers preview, more kiwi footballer transfers, domestic cricket focus, and more
Scotty’s Word
New Zealand Warriors host Panthers on Friday night in the NRL and the NRLW team plays Knights on Saturday in Hamilton. Panthers are still really good at rugby league and they have five wins vs Warriors during the two Andys era, with just one loss which was in 2024. Most notably, Panthers have won the two games played at Mt Smart in this period and they were both last year.
Panthers won 28-18 in round 16 and then won 24-8 in the first round of finals footy. They obviously aren’t scared of Mt Smart, especially not big crowds at Mt Smart as the two games last season were in the top-four biggest crowds for Warriors at Mt Smart last year. Both were over 24,000 and they would be top-three for the biggest crowds this season, so don’t go assuming that Warriors will win because they are at home and against a slightly weaker Panthers team without Dylan Edwards or Casey McLean.
Panthers have players from Aotearoa in all four of their teams named this weekend. This includes their women’s team and they have been busy gathering players from New Zealand, even though they don’t have an NRLW team.
Haami Loza is a standout half who is named to play his third game of NSW Cup. He played junior footy for Mangere East, Otara and De La Salle College before moving to Knights. Last year he played U19, U21 and NSW Cup for Knights and then moved to Panthers where he has spent most of the season in U21s.
Loza has a try assist in both his NSW Cup games this season, as well as two tries in his first game. He has played six games of reserve grade in total while still eligible for U21s and he is the best half from Aotearoa in Australia, followed by Bronson Reuben (Kaiapoi) who is playing U21s for Bulldogs and Tokoaitua Owen (Ngongotaha) who is playing U21 NRLQ for Broncos.
Panthers Kiwi-NRL/NRLWahine named this week...
NRL
Moses Leota (Mt Albert), Isaiah Papali’i (Te Atatu), Scott Sorenson (Sydney)
NSW Cup
Haami Loza (Mangere East), Kalani Going (Mid-Northern), Toby Crosby (Greytown)
NSW Women’s Premiership
Jessica Patea (Wainuiomata), Olive Connolly (Linwood), Kahu Cassidy (Kaikohe), Harmony Covacich (Northern Wairoa)
Jersey Flegg Cup
Kaea Cribb (Te Iti Rearea)
Knights come to Aotearoa with five NRLWahine in their team...
Shanice Parker (Perth), Tenika Willison (Taharoa), Tiana Davison (Waitara), Fane Finau (Otara), Amelia Pasikala (Wairoa)
Knights are one of the most active organisations for recruiting from Aotearoa and this is most evident in Finau who has worked through the Knights system after leaving Auckland. Knights also have Bell Block junior Charly Lahmert who has played U19s and NSW Women’s Premiership at hooker this season.
There is lots of buzz about Francis Manuleleua for Knights at the moment. Knights also have a cluster of forwards from Aotearoa with Elijah Salesa-Leaumoana (Mangere East) churning out consistent mahi in NSW Cup, along with Tamakaimoana Whareaorere (Te Puke) who moved up from U21s to play most games of reserve grade this season.
Ben Peni (Papatoetoe) has also settled in NSW Cup for Knights after moving from Sharks and Te Kaio Cranwell (Linwood) has played two games of NSW Cup while still eligible for U21s. Tom Perkins is one of three former Nelson College 1st 15 players who is now in Jersey Flegg Cup, usually starting at edge forward for Knights U21s. Harry Inch is a consistent presence for Warriors U21s and Saumaki Saumaki made a mid-season switch from Rabbitohs to Eels.
One random thing I like for Warriors...
The NRL team has three young forwards from three different cities and the NSW Cup team this week matches that. Makaia Tafua (Linwood) is named as starting hooker, Jacob Auloa (Pt Chevalier) is named at 13 and Maui Winitana-Patelesio (Te Aroha) is on the bench. That’s the same Auckland (Eddie Ieremia-Toeava), Wellington (Jacob Laban) and Christchurch (Tanner Stowers-Smith) combo as the NRL team. There’s more notes about the three NSW Cup lads beyond the paywall.
For paid subscribers
Morgan Gannon gets a game for Warriors
Stacey Waaka the centre
Warriors edge forward breakdown
Warriors deep cuts
Katene Clarke spotlight
Auckland’s seaming all-rounders (men and women)
Wellington Firebirds seamers under coach Shane Jurgensen
Cluster of high potential Otago Volts batters
Women’s domestic cricket movers...
Rishika Jaswal: Auckland - Northern Districts
Yasmeen Karem: Auckland - Central Districts
Isy Parry: Otago - Wellington
Olivia Gain: Otago - Canterbury
Jaswal is the funkiest mover so far. She is a 19-year-old leggy who made her debut for Auckland at 17yrs and her move to Northern Districts should lead to more game time. Fran Jonas leads the Auckland spin department and they have a bunch of all-round tweakers, to go with all their seaming all-rounders, which may have bumped Jaswal out of a regular 1st 11 role.
ND have Jess Watkin and Nensi Patel as their best spinners, but they are also two of the best batters for ND so Jaswal can slot into a lower order spot as the specialist spinner. Jaswal has been effective in each zone and was the leading wicket-taker for Aotearoa at the 2025 U19 T20 World Cup, so expect her to have an impact with ND.
Rishika Jaswal round up
List-A: 11w @ 27.3avg/4.4rpo
T20: 1w @ 16avg/4rpo
U19 T20 World Cup: 8w @ 8.6avg/5rpo
Olivia Gain’s move to Canterbury is also interesting as she showed plenty of promise for Otago, without dominating both formats at the same time. Gain is a powerful batter who should get a boost from moving to the Super Smash dynasty where she could add another strong hitting presence to go with Rebecca Burns.
Gain hasn’t averaged 20+ in any of her T20 seasons, but she does have two seasons of LA batting averaging over 30 and she has scored 100+ runs in four consecutive seasons in the one-day format. Unfortunately, Gain has been trending downwards in recent seasons so this move could be a nice freshen-up for her.
Yasmeen Kareem is a lefty batter who will be eager to find a consistent role with Central Districts in both formats, having grown into a solid one-day batter for ND over the last two seasons.
Issy Parry has only played four games of HBJ Shield for Otago so I don’t know much about her, but Wellington also have Neha Ramanathan in their squad and she flashed her talent last summer.
The NZ-A squad to play the Top End T20 series and some 50-over games vs South Australia, Tasmania, Nepal was named today. I’ll chat through this in the weekly cricket podcast for paid subscribers in the next few days and have plenty of notes so stay tuned…
Musical jam...
Nick’s Notebook
Abby Erceg will captain the AFC Invitational team against Chelsea on Saturday arvo... after which she might catch the same flight back to Wellington as Mackenzie Barry, because Erceg has signed with the Wellington Phoenix for next season. It’s Bev Priestman’s second year in charge of the team, the last year of her contract, and they made the grand final last time. This is the most Win Now season in the club’s history (men or women) and signing Abby Erceg is about the biggest championship move they could have made.
First off, she’s New Zealand’s best ever female footballer. Some subjectivity to that claim but there’s no doubt she’s the most successful, having won three NWSL titles and once been crowned Defender of the Year in that competition. When she linked up with AFC for the Chelsea friendly, they hyped her up as “the MOST CAPPED Football Fern” which is blatantly untrue. Her 146 caps rank fourth for NZ behind Ria Percival (166), Ali Riley (163), and Betsy Hassett (160). She was the first NZer to reach 100 caps though and she also captained NZ in many of those matches. A legend nonetheless. This signing is the equivalent of the Wellington Phoenix signing Chris Wood in two years.
Erceg does turn 37 years old in November but she famously has Michael Boxall levels of physical fitness so don’t worry about that. She’s been playing very well in Mexico for the last 18 months. Dunno if they’ll make her captain but she brings immense leadership mana to a group that already has the likes of CJ Bott, Vic Esson, Brooke Nunn, and Mack Barry on board. Would imagine this means that Marisa van der Meer drops to the bench with some arrangement of Walker-Barry-Erceg across the back three – might even get to see a return to MVDM’s wing-back days seeing as Lara Wall hasn’t been re-signed (Wall played for Cashmere Technical last weekend). Add to that the multiple goals that Erceg pops up with every season as a target from set pieces and this is a perfect signing.
It’s also brilliant for another reason because check out these quotes...
“I want to give back to the game in New Zealand. It’s been a goal of mine to come back and play and have my family and friends see me playing professionally week-in, week-out. I want to drive the awareness around women’s football here and push that in the last couple of years of my career. And I want to get as many girls as we possibly can up to a higher level and just expose them to what’s required if they do want to go overseas, or if we can help the A-League grow that’s even better. I’m quite keen to get my hands dirty and do as much as I can while I’m still relevant and can have that influence.”
Those are words that shimmer well beyond Wellington Phoenix contexts. Erceg had a few run-ins with the Football Ferns establishment during her last few years of international footy, mostly around what she viewed (from her perspective as an NWSL player at the time) as a lack of investment and professionalism. This is an extremely dedicated pro we’re talking about who knows what it takes to make it at the highest level (and doesn’t stand for any nonsense). And the highest level happens to be where we need more of our players (men and women) to get to if our national teams are to reach the ambitious targets they keep aiming for.
Things are brewing nicely, albeit slowly, for the All Whites with a conglomeration of players in the English Championship and hopefully that’ll lead to a few EPL promotions between now and the next World Cup. But for the Football Ferns, we currently have one player at a mid-table team in Spain (Kate Taylor) and one youngster hoping for similar things in France (Suya Haering). There will be nobody in the English WSL or American NWSL for another season – we used to have four or five every year across those two leagues. Lots of reasons why that’s the case but we have the talent to get back there. It’s just that talent alone isn’t enough. There’s nobody more equipped to teach those lessons than Abby Erceg.
Wellington Phoenix ALW Squad for 2026-27
Vic Esson, Brooke Nunn (I), CJ Bott, Mackenzie Barry, Sabitra Bhandari (I), Grace Jale, Ellie Walker (I), Emma Main, Marisa van der Meer, Manaia Elliott, Kamila Pickett (I), Makala Woods (I), Aimee Danieli, Macey Fraser, Pia Vlok (S), Zoe Benson (S), Abby Erceg
[I = Import, S = Scholarship]
Current U20s With ALW Experience: Brooke Neary, Lily Brazendale, Mikaela Bangalan
Confirmed Departures: Olivia Ingham (Auckland United), Grace Bartlett (Auckland United), Tessel Middag (TBD), Mackenzie Anthony (TBD), Ela Jerez (Wellington United), Ella McMillan (Waterside Karori), Emma Pijnenburg (Hera United, NED), Tiana Jaber (Western Sydney Wanderers), Lucia Leon (TBD)
Unsigned Free Agents: Alyssa Whinham, Daisy Brazendale, Ella McCann, Lara Wall
That Erceg signing is such a big deal that it’s pushed the Maggie Jenkins to Perth Glory signing this far down the newsletter. Yup, it took long enough but Maggie Jenkins finally has an A-League contract. Should have happened as soon as she returned from Turkey prior to last season but then if it had then we wouldn’t have been gifted with all this across the previous twelve months:
15 goals (and 8 assists) in 9 games for Wellington United
16 goals in 7 games for Auckland United
9 goals in 7 games for Essendon Royals
NZ National League MVP & Golden Boot
Victoria State Cup champion & grand final POTD
Could yet win an NPL Victoria league championship as well
Recalled to the Football Ferns in June, earning her second and third caps after debuting way back in 2017 ahead of her U17 World Cup
Selected for the Auckland FC Invitational squad to face Chelsea this weekend
Also, somehow, despite leaving for Australia back in May, Jenkins still leads the NRFL Premiership Golden Boot race by four goals with a month left in the season. Maddi Ollington of Eastern Suburbs scored four in her last game so she’s closing the gap but for now it’s Jenkins holding onto that lead.
MJ has signed with Perth Glory for the upcoming season. The Glory are coached by Stephen Peters who coaxed some breakthrough footy out of Kelli Brown in his previous job with Macarthur Rams in the NSW NPL. He then took her to Perth two seasons ago although she left for Newcastle Jets last campaign. Jenkins is the fifth and final import signing for the Glory with Megan Wynne (Wales), Onyinyechi Zogg (Nigeria), Emma Tovar (Philippines), and Rola Badawiya (USA) all returning from the squad that finished four points outside the top six last time. The Glory and the Phoenix are the two teams who’ve finished their import signings already – way ahead of the rest of the league. A CBA dispute and some ownership issues have slowed down much of the offseason movement, with most of last year’s NZers currently unsigned as a result. But that should begin to clear up in the coming weeks.
Should Jenkins have been signed by the Nix? She should have been signed by someone, that’s for sure. She is from Wellington and scored a couple goals in a friendly against the Nix late last season for Auckland United and recently got back into the Footy Ferns so they can’t plead ignorance. Bev Priestman has very specific ideas about the players she likes though and while MJ’s tenacity would definitely fit, there may not have been a starting spot for her with Makala Woods and Sabitra Bhandari in the squad. Probably for the best to go somewhere else then.
For the Paid Subscribers…
The latest on the Callum McCowatt situation
All Whites amassing in the English Championship
What’s Tommy Smith up to?
At the other end of the excitability scale, there’s been a wholesale clear-out at Newcastle Jets who are still coached by NZ National League legend Stephen Hoyle... but have dumped about half of last year’s squad including all four New Zealanders: Anna Leat, Kelli Brown, Charlotte Lancaster, and Olivia Page. Gotta wait before making judgements on that because the Jets clearly don’t have a lot of money. That quartet were their only four imports last term and Hoyle is a rookie coach on the professional scene… all very cheap alternatives compared to the signings/hirings at other clubs. Former Nix defender and Aussie youth international Claudia Cicco has already swapped from Newcastle to Adelaide United. It’s very possible that those departures were player decisions to get into better environments, though we won’t know until we see where they sign.
Anna Leat walks into any ALW team as a starting goalkeeper as long as she can convince them she’s healthy and locked in. Currently back playing regularly for APIA Leichhardt in the NPL so good signs there. Kelli Brown and Charlotte Lancaster are semi-regular internationals who now have proven A-League goal-scoring records so they should be alright too, give or take the foreign player aspect. Liv Page is less established so we might see her back in the NZ National League instead, who knows. All four of them are capable of playing overseas too – Leat and Page have already spent spells in England.
Worth mentioning the other players released at the same time were Melina Ayres, Josie Wilson, Haley Johnson, and India Breier. Ayres was their top-scorer and is about to face Chelsea with the A-League All Stars while Breier is 19yo and one of the better young talents in the league. These don’t sound like ‘you’re not good enough’ type releases. They sound like ‘no thanks, see ya later’ type releases.
Lancaster would make the most sense for the Phoenix if you’re that way inclined, as a left-sided specialist who can play wing-back or attacking midfield. Strong with both passing and shooting range... the hiccup is that she hasn’t played in a team with the fitness/intensity required of a Priestman wing-back before. The other hiccup is that they already have Brooke Nunn, Manaia Elliott, and Kam Pickett in those positions and what they really need is midfielders. But we’ll see... they do have a few spots still open. And we do wanna see kiwis at the Aussie clubs too, might as well spread the love around - we want as many pros as we can get.
Musical Jam...
