The Unmerciful Bossman
Welly Nix weekend, Wests Tigers x Kiwi-NRL, NBL Awards time, Auckland Tuatara, Krystal Leger-Walker's NBL breakout, Super Smash cricket & more
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Milly Clegg Is An Absolute Unicorn Of A Kiwi Centre-Forward Prospect (Football)
Kiwi-NRL Junior Siua Wong's Crazy Year Of Footy (Rugby League)
The Kiwi-NRL Juniors Who Helped Australian Teams Make Finals In 2022 (Rugby League)
Francis Manuleleua And The Kiwi-NRL Panthers (Rugby League)
2022 Kiwi-NRL Team Power Rankings (Rugby League)
2022/23 Women's Super Smash: Update #7 (Cricket)
2022/23 Super Smash: Update #6 (Cricket)
Joseph Parker vs Jack Massey: Easy Mahi, No Need To Panic (Boxing)
Scotty’s Word
After Friday's note about Oliver Lawry joining Wests Tigers via Balmain SG Ball, I was pondering the Tigers Kiwi-NRL group over the weekend. Tigers are now coach by Tim Sheens with Benji Marshall operating as an assistant coach while he gathers experience, before taking over from Sheens. Under Sheens, Tigers have been chatting up their system and I'm curious how Tigers balance talent from their local area with Kiwi-NRL juniors.
Marshall's presence is enough to lure any kiwi lad to Tigers and now Lawry will spend time with Aotearoa's best play-maker. Under Michael Maguire, Tigers signed lots of Kiwi-NRL lads from other clubs and some have already been shuffled along: Kelma Tuilagi (Sea Eagles), Fa'amanu Brown (Bulldogs), Zane Musgrove (Dragons).
Ken Maumalo, Starford To'a, Asu Kepaoa, Junior Tupou, Tukimihia Simpkins and Christian Ma'anaima were all signed to Tigers by Maguire over the past few years. Maumalo and To'a are the likeliest of this group to get plenty of game time under Sheens, while Kepaoa and Tupou offer outside back depth.
Simpkins played NRL soon after joining Tigers (from Cowboys) but didn't play any NRL games in 2022, instead dropping down to play 9 games of U21s and 15 games of NSW Cup. Ma'anaima joined from Knights and he played 13 games of U21s as well as 7 games of NSW Cup. Both are middle forwards, but Simpkins dropped down from NRL to the U21/NSW Cup bracket and Ma'anaima moved up into that bracket.
Isaiah Papali'i also signed with Tigers to bolster their forward pack, basically replacing Tuilagi. If Papali'i can maintain his form, this will be an upgrade.
During Maguire's tenure I noted that he used his status as Aotearoa Kiwis coach to sign Kiwi-NRL lads from other teams. Now that Sheens has his mits in all things Tigers, I'm interested to see how the Kiwi-NRL Tigers perform as well as how Tigers integrate Kiwi-NRL junior recruitment with their local juniors. Sheens loves his local juniors but also recruited Lawry to play SG Ball and perhaps the best Tigers juniors will be lads from Aotearoa, not their local area.
Dan Hooker and Israel Adesanya have sealed their next UFC fights, along with City Kickboxing comrade Shane Young. Young will fight early on the UFC 284 (Feb 12th) card which is in Perth, headlined by CKB homie Alexander Volkanovski. Hooker will then fight Jalin Turner at UFC 285 (March 5th) and Turner's last fight was a submission finish over Brad Riddell. In April, Adesanya has a rematch with Alex Pereira at UFC 287.
Kai Kara-France was meant to fight at UFC 284 but pulled out due to injury. Carlos Ulberg and Blood Diamond don't seem to have anything locked in yet.
Best players in Super Smash...
Women's Most Runs (excluding White Ferns)
Natalie Dodd: 1st - 324 runs @ 40.5avg/106.93sr
Kate Anderson: 2nd - 308 runs @ 51.33avg/110sr
Amy Satterthwaite: 4th - 246 runs @ 61.5avg/114.95sr
Rebecca Burns: 6th - 228 runs @ 32.57avg/123.24sr
Kate Ebrahim: 7th - 227 runs @ 37.83avg/10.71sr
Saachi Shahri: 8th - 186 runs @ 23.25avg/101sr
Bella Armstrong: 9th - 165 runs @ 27.5avg/135.24sr
Natalie Cox: 10th - 148 runs @ 18.5avg/88.62sr
Women's Most Wickets (excluding White Ferns)
Gabby Sullivan: 1st - 13w @ 13.15avg/5.86rpo
Missy Banks: 2nd - 12w @ 18.75avg/7.5rpo
Leigh Kasperek: 3rd - 11w @ 13.63avg/6rpo
Nicole Baird: 4th - 10w @ 9avg/5rpo
Emma Black: 6th - 10w @ 16.4avg/6rpo
Kate Ebrahim: 7th - 10w @ 18.3avg/6.71rpo
Sarah Asmussen: 8th - 10w @ 18.8avg/6.71rpo
Amy Satterthwaite: 9th - 9w @ 8.77avg/5.63rpo
Claudia Green: 10th - 9w @ 20.33avg/7rpo
Men's Most Runs
Dean Foxcroft: 1st - 336 runs @ 56avg/124.44sr
Chad Bowes: 2nd - 282 runs @ 47avg/154sr
Leo Carter: 3rd - 237 runs @ 59.25avg/121.53sr
Tom Bruce: 4th - 216 runs @ 36avg/151sr
Josh Clarkson: 5th - 213 runs @ 35.5avg/174.59sr
Cole Briggs: 6th - 180 runs @ 25.71avg/127.65sr
Rob O'Donnell: 7th - 167 runs @ 23.85avg/128.46sr
Will O'Donnell: 8th - 164 runs @ 20.5avg/129.13sr
Dane Cleaver: 9th - 156 runs @ 39avg/128.92sr
Tim Seifert: 10th - 152 runs @ 25.33avg/153.53sr
Men's Most Wickets
Jayden Lennox: 1st - 15w @ 15.33avg/7.66rpo
Michael Rae: 2nd - 14w @ 10.42avg/7.36rpo
Ray Toole: 3rd - 11w @ 27.54avg/10.82rpo
Zak Foulkes: 4th - 10w @ 9.6avg/6rpo
Will O'Rourke: 5th - 10w @ 18.8avg/8rpo
Dean Foxcroft: 6th - 9w @ 16.55avg/6.77rpo
Nathan Smith: 7th - 9w @ 19.22avg/7.15rpo
Brett Hampton: 8th - 8w @ 9.12avg/7.55rpo
Ben Lister: 9th - 8w @ 16.25avg/7.64rpo
Ed Nuttall: 10th - 8w @ 22avg/11rpo
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
How about them Phoenix? Both the men and the women found themselves playing large chunks of their respective games down to ten players after Tim Payne and Kate Taylor were each marched for last-defender tackles. Payne’s was, let’s be honest, a ridiculous decision with two other defenders in range as well as an advancing goalie. Taylor’s was unlucky, a clip of the heels due to her being unable to match strides with a lighting quick Shea Connors... and it probably was a valid red, in fairness.
The blokes couldn’t hold their lead yet still came away with a commendable 2-2 draw under the circumstances. Could easily have lost that... probably would have lost it earlier in the season. The women were 2-0 down when the free kick from the red card foul was scored by Katrina Gorry and somehow some way they rallied to draw 3-3. Not only was that their first away point of the season but those were also their first away goals of the season.
The blokes are four games undefeated and churning along, nothing much to say, but I do wanna add a note about the SheNix for coach Natalie Lawrence. Taking over the team as she did, then losing seven of her first eight games, meant her record was looking pretty dicey. Lawrence had credit in the bank from people understanding the youthful state of her team but still that first win against Canberra had to come as a massive relief, especially as one of the major factors was NL’s decision to slide Betsy Hassett forward into a more influential creative role.
Well, Lawrence had a blinder in the Brisbane game. When Taylor was sent off, the obvious thing to do would have been to sub off a forward and bring on Claudia Cicco or Saskia Vosper to restore the back four. Except that back four had been getting sliced up by Connors on the run so what happened instead... was nothing. Lawrence left it as it was with the fullbacks tucking into a back three shape.
With that extra cover, they were now able to withstand those balls in behind by closing up the inside channels and from there they steadied the game after what had been a pretty rubbish first half hour. Sloppy passing and impatient possessions rearing their ugly head again. However once they got on the board thanks to a blinder of a free kick from Mickey Foster (don’t act like she wasn’t aiming for that), things changed.
The other thing Lawrence did was swap her wingers at half-time, with Milly Clegg going to the left and Paige Satchell (then Michey Robertson) to the right. Clegg’s work on the right has helped her settle into the line-up, getting more touches and linking up nicely in a facilitating role. But on the left she’s free to slice inside and shoot as she does so well. Next thing... it’s 2-2. Then Grace Wisnewski made it three bangers from three and were it not for a debatable offside decision then Robertson woulda had a winner at the end even after the Roar bagged a deserved equaliser (look, they hit the crossbar three times, it was bound to happen). Just wanted to throw up some credit where it’s due for Nat Lawrence there.
I’ll save the big Flying Kiwis Transfer Tracker yarns for Friday by which time the window will have slammed shut (it never closes gently, it only ever slams). But I do wanna point out that Hannah Blake has signed with Perth Glory in the A-League Women’s for the remainder of the season.
Blake joins as an injury replacement player after Rylee Baisden, an American import, did her ACL earlier in the month. There she links up once more with compatriot Liz Anton who was a teammate of Blake’s domestically, was in the same U20 World Cup squad in 2018, and made her Football Ferns debut on the same tour of Thailand back when they were both still teenagers. Both were in the recent squad to face the USA though Blake didn’t get on the pitch in either game. She does have six caps to her name though.
Hannah Blake was a forward back in her Auckland club footy days but has developed into more of a midfielder while at the University of Michigan. Will be curious to see how they use her because all the announcements seem to be hailing her as a forward again. She’s definitely a versatile player. Declared for the NWSL Draft recently but predictably didn’t get picked, yet just like Daisy Cleverley and Jacqui Hand before her still had no dramas finding a professional contract elsewhere.
With HB involved, there are now nine New Zealanders at non-Phoenix clubs in the ALW: Liz Anton & Hannah Blake at Perth Glory, Hannah Wilkinson & Katie Bowen at Melbourne City, Indiah-Paige Riley at Brisbane Roar, Malia Steinmetz at Western Sydney Wanderers, Claudia Bunge at Melbourne Victory, Grace Jale at Canberra United, and Anna Green at Sydney FC.
Gotta hype up the Auckland Tuatara about now. They fell short in the ABL semis against the Adelaide Giants but they gave it a massive slog along the way. Especially after dropping game one at home, giving up unable to hold a late 3-2 lead and going down 5-3 with two away games on the cards to follow. Two away games that ended up being played on the same day as a double header thanks to typical weather shenanigans.
Facing elimination, starting pitcher Toru Murata served up an absolute blinder. Matt Feinstein and Greg Cullen hit home runs along the way to establish a lead (one in the top of the second, one in the top of the sixth). There were hints that the ‘Tara hadn’t quite put things to bed like they should have, wasting lead-off runners in several innings, but they did have the unmerciful Jason Blanchard in the bullpen ready to go.
Blanchard had given up one earned run in 21 innings pitched across the season and he was summoned for a two-innings save. Got through the eighth alright, the Tuatara leading 2-0. But in the final frame he had some dramas. The first jerry hit a soft fly ball that dropped in left field for a base hit. Then two pitches later the next jerry dropped one down the middle to get on base and the first runner advanced to third. And the third man up filled the count before taking a walk. Bases loaded. Zero outs. Potential winning run on first.
So what did the bossman Blanchard do? First there was a big conference at the mound to slow everything down and then JB got the next fella out with a pop up to the shortstop for an easy out with nobody advancing. Then he threw six strikes from his next seven pitches to strike out consecutive hitters and end the innings and complete the save and polish off the shutout and win the game. The first ever postseason victory for the Auckland Tuatara.
Sadly they couldn’t repeat the dose in the second game with a place in the finals on the line. The annoying thing was that they’d already used their finest starter and their finest closer so both ends of the pitching plan were limited. The gruelling playoff nature of the first game continued as there were no hits through the first two innings. But a hit-by-pitch followed by a triple and then a double gave Adelaide a 2-0 lead at the bottom of the third.
Two walks to start the fourth went awry as Keyber Rodriguez was picked off stealing second and then Clayton Campbell grounded into a double play. Adelaide were able to push it out to a 4-0 lead by the end of the fifth. Rodriguez drove a fella in to score in the top of the eighth but it didn’t lead to a rally and despite Matt Feinstein stealing home in the final innings it ended 4-2 and the Giants advanced instead. So it goes. Still gotta think they won plenty of fans thanks to that playoff series, definitely a bandwagon worth jumping upon before next season.
Quick shout for Krystal Leger-Walker. KLW’s first season in the WNBL with Townsville Fire (where she’s replaced kiwi legend Micaela Cocks) has been a tricky one at times. She’s had to work her way into the rotation with limited opportunities so far, hasn’t played every game and entering this past weekend she hadn’t played more than 13 mins in any single game. But on Sunday night she served up the breakout performance that was always only a matter of time away.
The Fire’s star Aussie point guard Steph Reid had missed time with injury lately, with KLW still not getting much love in her absence. Reid made her return to the line-up against the Sydney Flames but suffered a set-back which meant she only lasted 14 minutes. Also fellow guard Lauren Nicholson was missing for this one. That meant that Leger-Walker all of a sudden got boost-ups and went on to get the most court-time of any player on her team. 34:30 mins - more than twenty minutes more than she’s played in any game to that point.
And she delivered with a very busy stat line in another slick Townsville victory. They made it five wins on the trot beating the Sydney Flames 82-78 with KLW contributing 10 points (4/11 FG), 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and a block. She was especially influential in a strong third quarter for the Fire, plus knocked down a couple clutch free throws with 15 seconds remaining to take it beyond a one possession game and help clinch this dub for her team.
Townsville are up to third on the ladder with a couple games in hand on most teams around them. Right in that playoff mix with seven more regular season fixtures to follow and fingers crossed that KLW will be right amongst it after finally showing what she can do.
Meanwhile they announced the Men’s NBL awards shortlist and there’s a healthy dose of Breakers/Tall Blacks representation. In fact the only one of the main categories without a Kiwi or a Breaker in the top three is the MVP Awards. No surprises there, the Breakers have done their mahi in a very balanced team-orientated style and there hasn’t been a kiwi at a rival club doing absolutely elite things across the board.
But other than that, lots to like. Coach of the Year sees Mody Maor nominated and you’d have to think a decent bet to win the whole thing too. Chase Buford of Sydney seems to be the top pick having taken the Kings all the way to the top of the league from the humble starting place of… checking notes… defending champions. Yeah okay, but to be fair they did lose a few imports and have had to cope with some pesky injuries. Also they’re clear out ahead of all challengers. But Maor has taken the Breakers from an absolute shambles bottom feeder team to having the best defence in the league and about to snap a long playoff drought. He’s done more. His is the tougher coaching achievement. We’ll see if the judging panel sees it the same way.
Barry Brown Jr looks like a lock for Sixth Man of the Year having played just enough bench games to qualify. Brown’s a 20+ scorer most nights, regardless of whether he starts or comes off the bench, and his sizzling ability to get to the rim and finish makes him a killer in any line-up. Lots of defensive-minded job-doers in this Breakers team so Brown’s unpredictability is huge. You saw that much when they hit the skids while he was out injured recently.
Will McDowell-White is deservedly up for Most Improved Player. He won’t win it, that’ll go to Keanu Pinder, but WMW is a worthy inclusion on the wider list. Could be more luck for Dererk Pardon up for the Defensive Player nod though. The Breakers defence has been the key to their turnaround and Pardon sets the tone. Probably unlucky not to see Jarrell Brantley on the shortlist as well, while NZers Tom Abercrombie and Izayah Mauriohooho-Le’afa have been super on the defensive end as well (though not quite to awards level candidacy).
Pardon could definitely win that thing. He probably should win that thing. He’s up against Antonius Cleveland who is a great defender in a not-so-great defensive team in Adelaide, which could count against him, while as glorious as it is to see Shea Ili recognised on the shortlist despite only playing 14 games... he’s not gonna win it with only half a season under his belt. Still that does show you what a superstar the kiwi guard is that he did enough to crack the top three in only half the available games. Not expecting to see Ili again this season after another concussion, by the way. Doesn’t look like Melbourne United will make the play-in tournament so no need to risk him in the last game.
And then there’s the Next Generation Award. This is where we ought to get a bit annoyed because the NBL recently adapted this from the Rookie of the Year nod, the criteria changing from first year pros to anyone under the age of 25 at the end of the current season which could potentially cost Sam Waardenburg the trophy.
That’s because this one seems to be coming down to kiwi Waardenburg and Aussie Sam Froling. Waardenburg is actually a year older than Froling but Froling has played NBL before meaning that SW is the only true rookie in the mix. Before they changed the criteria, Waardenburg would have been a shoe-in. Now all these other jerries are invited into contention and it’s a three-man scrap (with Luke Travers also in there) for the recalibrated award.
Waardenburg puts up smaller stat lines but does a valuable job for a championship contending Cairns team. Froling puts up much bigger numbers for a losing Illawara side. We’ll soon see what the experts value more. The fact that these things have been voted upon before the season is even finished is another dumb aspect of it all... but no need to fight every battle.