The Two Andys
The Two Andys
Pristine Warriors junior yarns, more NRLW wahine, All Whites & U20s footy buzz, Otago Nuggets finally lose,
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Reading Menu
Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Winning Footy Notebook (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: The Greg Marzhew Journey To A Knights Groove (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: The Demitric Sifakula Yarn (Rugby League)
Forecasting a Football Ferns FIFA World Cup Squad (Football)
Flying Kiwis – May 17 (Football)
The 2023 Wellington Phoenix Offseason Preview – Part 1: The Women (Football)
The 2023 Wellington Phoenix Offseason Preview – Part 2: The Men (Football)
Kiwi Steve in the NBA #8: At Season’s End (Basketball)
10 Of The Best Emerging Wahine Cricketers In Aotearoa After The 2022/23 Season (Cricket)
2023 Kiwi County Tour: Daryl Mitchell & Matt Henry Arrive (Cricket)
Scotty’s Word
NZ Warriors announced a few junior signings on Thursday, headlined by Tweed Heads' Tom Summer. This is a fascinating bit of recruitment by Warriors as Summer is Australian who went to Keebra Park High School and he will move to Auckland to play SG Ball footy for Warriors. I can't remember Warriors recruiting a junior from Australia… then again Warriors haven’t had two seasons of SG Ball footy or the junior system that will be rolled out next year.
Under the guidance of the two Andys (Webster and McFadden), Warriors probably had a specific style of player they wanted to bring over from Australia. Summer's highlights showcase his speed, passing, and a splash of mongrel. Passing may be the most important thing here as this is aligned with how the NRL team plays.
NZ Warriors have established an effective and efficient system. This would have been a factor in luring Summer across the ditch as Warriors want him and his skillset, while Summer and his whanau would have had his development path mapped out for them by Warriors.
In five months this year we have already seen Demitric Sifakula make his NRL debut. Leka Halasima, Jacob Laban and Tanner Stowers-Smith moved from Under 19 SG Ball to NSW Cup. Zyon Maiu'u starts at prop every game for NSW Cup as a youngster. The two Andys will promote young players and Summer will have similar opportunities.
This follows on from the salary cap stuff mentioned when covering Shaun Johnson's new contract. Young players rising through an NRL team's system are the cheapest lads and having free-flowing pipeline not only offers salary cap efficiency, there is always a younger cheaper lad hungry for his opportunity. In this specific example, it is cheaper for Warriors to develop Summer compared to signing an established NRL player with the same skillset in three years time.
Australian rugby do the opposite. They lose the best 1st 15 players to NRL when they leave school because NRL offers better contracts in that age-bracket. Then Aussie rugby pays far more to lure those players back to union and play for Wallabies. Warriors are investing in Summer right now, so they don't need to pay more in a few years.
Another angle is how NRL catchment areas and local nurseries are a myth. Aotearoa Warriors recruited an Australian from the Gold Coast region to play SG Ball. While this is new and intriguing, every NRL team recruits from other states and Aotearoa. Even the celebrated Panthers (Webster's got that experience) recruit players from other regions to enter that system.
This is easy to observe from the Kiwi-NRL perspective. Every NRL team recruits juniors from NZ. The same applies to states as Queensland teams recruit juniors from New South Wales, NSW teams recruit from Queensland. Storm offer a lovely example as they recruit from everywhere and that is the status-quo these days for all NRL teams.
This gets funkier when pondering Sydney and southeast Queensland (Brisbane/Gold Coast). The catchment area idea is rooted in old school NRL with Sydney teams split between suburbs as was the case years ago. None of that applies now. Panthers recruit Sharks juniors, Roosters recruit Tigers juniors. Broncos recruit Titans juniors.
Catchment areas are now a myth. Don't fall for the old school Australian media whipping up outdated ideas. Anyone following Kiwi-NRL stuff will know this and the latest round of Under 21 footy in Queensland/NSW offers more examples...
Redcliffe: Sebastyan Jack (Marist), John Fineanganofo (AGS), Elijah Rasmussen (Westlake Boys High School)
Souths Logan: Taniela Mapusua-Lotaki (Manurewa)
Burleigh: Jeremaiah Tamepo (Manurewa), Cruz Lasike (Kaitaia), Jericho Yorke (Pikiao/RBHS), TJ Devery (Te Atatu)
Ipswich: Corey Casidy-Natano (Waitemata/KBHS)
Western: Hopoate Finau (OBHS)
Townsville: Henry Teutau (Marist), Jeremiah Matautua (Otara)
Sharks: Salesi Ata'ata (Otahuhu)
Knights: Jarome Falemoe (Manurewa/SCC), Chris Veaila (Waitemata), Elijah Leaumoana (SCC)
Tigers: Tray Lolesio (Otara)
Roosters: Tavita Henare-Schuster (Kia Toa/PNBHS), Lafi Tuinauvai (Waitemata/KBHS)
Bulldogs: Sione Moala (Manurewa), Fahmy Toilalo (Otahuhu), Alekolasimi Jones (Mt Albert)
Parramatta: Apa Twidle (Turangawaewae)
Lots of young lads listed there and there are lots of wahine from Aotearoa signed to play NRLW. This week Cowboys signed Autumn-Rain Stephens-Daly and Raiders signed Cheyelle Robins-Reti, who both played in the latest Super Rugby Aupiki. I've got 31 wahine signed so far and given that I'm researching a new NRLWahine player every week, there will probably be a few more surprises coming.
Queensland and NSW State of Origin squads were announced during the week and Destiny Brill was the only wahine named with strong NZ links. Zahara Temara is also from Aotearoa but she has been representing Queensland and Australia since the start of NRLW, while Brill left Taranaki and has played both codes in Australia.
Kiwi Ferns players from Australia like Brianna Clark and Shanice Parker weren't named in Origin squads. Nor was April Ngatupuna from Porirua who had represented Queensland U19 and while these wahine may not have warranted Origin selection, there appears to be a shift in clarity around wahine representative footy.
Meanwhile the Ahi Ka Aotearoa team is over in Australia for the Women's National Championship held in Gold Coast. Their first game was a 8-14 loss to First Nations where Kyla Lynch-Brown (Canterbury) and Monica Samita (Auckland) scored tries. They play Queensland Rubys prior to writing today, then they play NSW Country on Saturday before finals on Sunday. Dragons NRLW signing Alexis Tauaneai (Wellington) is in the NSW City squad along with Tatiana Finau (Auckland) and Noaria Kapua (Taupo).
NRLWahine signings tracker...
Cowboys: April Ngatupuna, Autumn-Rain Stephens-Daly,
Broncos: Gayle Broughton, Mele Hufanga, Annetta Nu'uausala, Brianna Clark
Titans: Niall Williams, Georgia Hale, Hailey-Jay Ormond-Maunsell
Knights: Abigail Roache, Laishon Albert-Jones, Shanice Parker
Roosters: Amber Hall, Mya Hill-Moana, Teuila Fotu-Moala, Alexandrea Kiriwi, Otesa Pule
Eels: Shannon Muru, Capri Paekau
Sharks: Kiana Takairangi
Tigers: Leianne Tufuga
Dragons: Raecene McGregor, Page McGregor, Roxy Murdoch-Masila, Cortez Te Pou, Alexis Tauaneai
Raiders: Apii Nicholls, Madison Bartlett, Mackenzie Wiki, Kerehitina Matua, Cheyelle Robins-Reti
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
The U20 World Cup begins this weekend, with the New Zealanders taking on Guatemala at 6am on Sunday. Sky Sports did that thing where they wait until the last minute to confirm they’ve got the rights to show these games (the NZ games at least, we’ll see about the rest) but that doesn’t matter because it’s free to watch on FIFA’s website anyway. Sweet as.
The kiwis warmed up for that match with a friendly against Ecuador earlier in the week... which they won 1-0. Ben Wallace with the decisive goal in the 71st minute – on debut for the U20s team having been the surprise pick in the squad after not being part of either qualifying or the quad-series in Indonesia. The Welly Nix forward could be a surprise package. With only 21 players in the squad, everyone’s gotta be ready to go. Luckily this game allowed coach Darren Bazeley to get minutes for all of his outfield players and two of his three goalies. Only Alby Kelly-Heald (third-choice keeper) had to sit back and watch the whole thing.
The starting line-up was:
Kees Sims, Isaac Hughes, Finn Surman (c), Lukas Kelly-Heald, Jackson Jarvie, Adam Supyk, Fin Conchie, Jackson Manuel, Jay Herdman, Noah Karunaratne, Oliver Colloty
That suggests a back three of Hughes, Surman, and LKH. Jarvie and Supyk are wide defenders. Conchie and Manuel through the middle with Herdman ahead of them. Then Karunaratne and Colloty up front. Or perhaps LKH played out wide and either Jarvie or Supyk were wingers? Might also be the case that Herdman and Karunaratne were wide players in a 3-4-3. All the substitutions appeared to be straight swaps with the possible exception of Norman Garbett having to play wing-back (if indeed that was the case).
There’s no public film of the game so it’s all guess work... but that should at least offer some context about what we’ll see on Sunday morning in what should be a very winnable game for this team. They did lose 3-1 to Guatemala in that quad-series a few months back but that was because they didn’t have their full squad available after accepting a very late invite to participate.
Bit of fresh All Whites news with confirmation of a second game in the June international window. The match against Sweden on 16 June was already announced, that one’s in Stockholm. Then three days later they’ll take on Qatar in Austria. The rumour was that Jordan were gonna be the opponents there but nah it’s Qatar instead. Should be a fun one against the previous World Cup hosts... who lost all three games scoring only one goal despite having more than a decade and all that sovereign wealth to prepare.
Sneaky comparison there to the Football Ferns who had three years to prepare for hosting the upcoming World Cup and a tiny fraction of the resources. Obviously the lead-in to the Qatar World Cup was a shambles and a disgrace but compartmentalising the football along... that tournament was awesome. Nobody cared that Qatar stunk it up. Nobody will care with the Ferns do the same – although The Niche Cache is on record multiple times saying that we reckon the Fernies will go alright when push comes to shove. And if they do then the preparation stuff means nothing.
Remember when NZ Football were hoping to have a new All Whites coach announced by the end of last year? Yeah so this update also confirms that Darren Bazeley will remain the interim boss for these two games as well. Unless they’re waiting for someone to become available, this is some baffling inaction. Then again, The Baze is undefeated in two games in charge – keeping it true to All Whites legacies.
Chris Wood will still be out injured in June. There is a chance that Sarpreet Singh and Ryan Thomas could return to the national team though. We’ll see how that goes. There isn’t really anyone other than The Woodsman out injured at the moment. Niko Kirwan is back available again. Francis De Vries is playing for Eastern Suburbs. Bound to be a few unavailabilities given it’s the European offseason but other than their best player the AWs should be close to top strength. Still, it’s a pity we won’t get the Chris Wood vs Alexander Isak revenge game after Isak came in and hastened Woodsy’s Newcastle United departure.
Damn, the Otago Nuggets finally lost a game. Went down 93-84 to the Auckland Tuatara to end their unbeaten start to the NBL season at the eighth attempt. They’re now 7-1. Although as defending champs the unbeaten streak actually stretched back to 12 games in total if you’re willing to span the campaigns.
How did they lose? First off the Tuatara are very good, absolutely a title contender, and although they were missing Cam Gliddon here they didn’t lose a step. Jarrad Weeks and Rob Loe did some killer work as per although it was a couple of youngsters who really stepped up, probably due to Gliddon’s absence clearing some room, with Charlie Dalton supplying 12 points and 5 rebounds while Tom Beattie scored 15 off the bench. Charlie’s one of the iconic Dalton clan, son of Tania, brother of Tayla and Matt. He’s 18 years old. Tom Beattie is also 18 years old - in fact they were teammates at Rosmini High School.
But also the Otago Nuggets just kinda weren’t all there for this one. Sloppy shooting in the first quarter. Foul trouble for a few key players (including Sam Timmins). They trailed early and they never overcame that... although import JaQuori McLaughlin did his best with some thrilling baskets on his way to 39 points – the highest scoring individual game of the season so far. They’d just dug the hole a little too deep to begin with. No dramas. Every team now has at least one defeat and at least two wins.
Taranaki vs Franklin tonight should see the pro debut of Tobias Cameron for the Airs, who also made the surprising move this week to cut the veteran Marcel Jones. Didn’t see that coming... but the struggles of the Airs have been matched by Jones who was only scoring 6.4 points per game on 35% shooting. Bro just wasn’t doing it... gonna assume they’ve got someone lined up to replace him if they’re moving on now. Meanwhile the Bulls are also doing things, with Jared Wilson-Frame replacing KC Nwafor on their roster, dragging him over from the Canterbury Rams who themselves are reshuffling with the loss of Tai Wynyard. Did see a rumour that Tom Webley’s back for the Cantabs in his college offseason.
Suffice to say there’s a lot of this mid-season shuffling going on right now and there could even be some big names involved as possible Tall Blacks seek to tune up (or make a late case for selection) leading into the World Cup in August. Keep ‘em peeled.
Here’s a bit from the Wellington Phoenix offseason pieces that I wrote this week…
No major surprises with that but it does show how deeply the bad finishing ran across both teams… with the exceptions of Oskar Zawada and Milly Clegg as well as Marisa van der Meer’s set piece targetting. Bozhidar Kraev did most of his work at the start then tailed off. Grace Wisnewski did score a couple of nice strikes.
The women were actually above their overall xG expectation. Lots of players hitting unders there but not by so much to override Clegg and MVDM’s efficiency. They missed lots of chances but the bigger issues was that they didn’t create good enough ones.
The men were different. All the chances were there and they kept on wasting them… largely due to the trio of David Ball, Yan Sasse, and Kosta Barbarouses. Six combined goals despite each of them playing 23-24 games. Not like they got many goals from midfield either (one of the reasons to keep Nico Pennington around for that potential). Sam Sutton and Callan Elliot scored the only two HeNix goals from defenders. And that defence wasn’t strong enough to get away with one Zawada goal per game.
Hey but word on the street is that Roy Krishna is considering an A-League return…
Marko Stamenic won a trophy this morning. His FC København team beat Aalborg 1-0 in the Danish Cup final with Stam getting twenty mins off the bench as they closed it out expertly with that narrow lead. They’ve now got three more league games to see if they can turn that into a double – sitting one point clear at the top of the ladder. Take care of business and Stamenic will be flying to Serbia with a bit of extra gold hanging around his neck.
It’s been a funky season for that guy. Out on loan last year, returned to compete for a first team spot and pretty quickly earned exactly that. An injury to usual CDM (and Stamenic mentor) Carlos Zeca opened up a spot and next thing you knew he was playing Champions League against Manchester City – who just nudged their way into the final by thrashing Real Madrid, by the way. Then he got injured and some poor domestic team form led to tactical changes... long story short he played roughly seven total minutes from the start of November until this month. There was a long winter break in there so it wasn’t strictly six months of unused sub duty but basically once he announced he was leaving for Red Star Belgrade at the end of the term his opportunities shrunk.
Yet he stayed ready. He kept training hard and when they needed an emergency central defender against Brøndby, so as to match their back three formation, up stepped Stamenic for his first start since October and he was superb in a win that sent them back top of the ladder. He’d gotten a late cameo off the bench in the game before that too. As things have reached the clutch time, Stamenic has come back into the mix... and been really good for them too. Bro’s not even gonna be there next season and he was celebrating the cup win as hard as anyone. The same passion was clear in the Brøndby game. Elite mentality.
By the way, Red Star have already qualified for the next UCL group stage (potentially the last group stage of its kind going by rumoured competition changes) as the Serbian champs. Cruised to yet another title with weeks to spare, their sixth championship in a row. They’re good at winning the domestic stuff. One of the main reasons they signed Stamenic is to bolster their stocks for a more competitive Champions League run.