The Upper Echelon
The Upper Echelon
White Ferns intrigue, NBL funkiness, U19s women's footy champs, Chatham Cup/Kate Sheppard Cup, Dan Hooker victory & more
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Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Alignment and Depth (Rugby League)
After All That... Darren Bazeley Is The New All Whites Head Coach (Football)
The Football Ferns Have Named Their Squad For The 2023 FIFA World Cup (Football)
Recapping Tall Ferns Exploits at the 2023 Asia Cup (Basketball)
The Quotable Steven Adams: 2022-23 Edition (Basketball)
10 NZNBL Players Who Deserve A Crack In The Aussie NBL (Basketball)
White Ferns Stumble In ODI Series Loss vs Sri Lanka (Cricket)
Winter Notes & Nuggs For Each Domestic Cricket Team (Cricket)
27fm Album Jukebox – June 2023 (Music)
27fm Weekly Playlist: July 10 (Music)
Scotty’s Word
White Ferns play their second T20I game against Sri Lanka tonight after winning the first encounter. Three T20I wins in a row for Aotearoa after they finished the T20 World Cup with wins over Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Leigh Kasperek returned to the NZ line up and took 2w @ 5.25rpo as part of a spin group that took all the wickets apart from a couple run-outs.
Eden Carson took 2w @ 5rpo, Amelia Kerr took 2w @ 4.5rpo and Suzie Bates took 1w @ 6.5rpo. Bates led the batting with 44 runs @ 93sr and Kerr flashed her class with 34 runs @ 121sr. Georgia Plimmer continues to chime in with nifty knocks, hitting 16* @ 88sr after scores of 23 and 10* in the ODIs.
Two pockets of intrigue...
Kerr had her first T20I 50+ score in the last T20WC game against Sri Lanka and backed it up with her knock of 34. Kerr has 10 consecutive games scoring double-digits and she has scored 20+ runs in eight of these games. Averaging 29.4 this year, Kerr is a smidge below averaging 30+ with a strike-rate over 110 for the second year in a row.
Kasperek is the best White Ferns spinner ever, perhaps NZ's best T20I bowler. Kasperek is second for T20I wickets of all NZ bowlers (77w @ 14avg) and of the 15 bowlers with 20+ T20I wickets, Kasperek is the only one averaging below 15. Carson is giving this a nudge though with 19w @ 11.4avg which is the lowest average of all White Ferns bowlers with 15+ T20I wickets.
Kasperek also has 65w @ 19.4avg in ODIs. Here are how the current ODI bowlers compare...
Lea Tahuhu: 99w @ 29.7avg
Sophie Devine: 92w @ 36.7avg
Amelia Kerr: 78w @ 29.5avg
Suzie Bates: 75w @ 33.8avg
Leigh Kasperek: 65w @ 19.4avg
Hannah Rowe: 46w @ 28.5avg
All of which makes it bonkers that Kasperek was overlooked for White Ferns selection for two years. Kasperek last played for White Ferns in a 2021 tour of England where she was the best bowler in the T20I leg with 6w @ 16.5avg. Kasperek was the only NZ bowler to take more than 3w and average below 20 in that series, while also being solid in the ODIs with 5w @ 27.4avg as the main spinner used.
Kasperek has the best/most efficient White Ferns bowling stats of the current crop in both formats and delivered this mahi in the tour of England. Then she was dropped and continued to dominate domestic cricket while other White Ferns barely took wickets. None of it makes sense, but at least Kasperek is back in the mix and she snared some wickets in her return.
Will Young joins the Kiwi County Tour to play a few games for Nottinghamshire. Young has already stacked up County Championship runs with two other teams in the last two winters...
2021 - Durham: 278 runs @ 39.71avg, 2 x 100
2022 - Northamptonshire: 672 runs @ 37.33avg, 1 x 100, 4 x 50
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Dan Hooker had a win in the UFC, defeating Jalin Turner in a typically brutal Hooker performance. Hooker is still in the upper echelon of the lightweight division and this win over Turner keeps him on track to fight the best of the best, perhaps making another push for a championship bout. Hooker has back to back wins after two losses in a row, joining Israel Adesanya and Carlos Ulberg as CKB fighters coming off wins.
Stay tuned for a weird/diabolical pre-fight period for a possible Israel Adesanya vs Dricus du Plessis fight. Du Plessis defeated Robert Whittaker after niggling Adesanya about being from Africa (du Plessis is from South Africa) and this obviously sparked some shenanigans between the two. Adesanya kinda seemed drunk when he came face to face with du Plessis after his win, regardless he dropped the 'N' word multiple times in a polarizing exchange.
Two fighters from Africa. One is white, one is black. This is already in chaotic territory and if Adesanya defends his title against du Plessis this will escalate even further. There is another option available for Adesanya's next title defence though and that is Sean Strickland who has history as a former neo-Nazi. That's about as lovely as a fight to determine who is really from Africa.
I have whipped up an Aotearoa Kiwis Depth Guide. The main takeaway is how established the upper echelon is and it is not easy to crack an Aotearoa Kiwis squad. This is very different to previous years as Aotearoa Kiwis were thirsty for any talent and either lured in players with dubious eligibility, or a lack of depth in specific positions saw less talented players selected. There is more than enough talent to absorb players opting to represent Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Cook Islands. All players with open eligibility named in the depth guide played for Aotearoa Kiwis at the World Cup apart from Braden Hamlin-Uele.
Aotearoa Kiwis now has a more prestigious flavour. There are numerous veterans flush with mana who maintain the culture and the only youngster I have promoted to the Aotearoa Kiwis Depth Guide is Matthew Timoko who is one of the best centres in the NRL right now. That's the standard in 2023.
Outside Backs
Joseph Manu, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Sebastian Kris
Jamayne Isaako, Jordan Rapana, Ronaldo Mulitalo, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak
Matthew Timoko, Bailey Simonsson, Reimis Smith, Peta Hiku
Halves
Kieran Foran, Shaun Johnson, Jahrome Hughes, Kodi Nikorima - Dylan Brown (slipped due to off-field issues)
Middle Forwards
Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Jesse Bromwich, James Fisher-Harris, Moses Leota, Joseph Tapine, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Isaac Liu, Braden Hamlin-Uele (Samoa)
Edge Forwards
Briton Nikora, Kenny Bromwich, Isaiah Papali'i, Marata Niukore, Scott Sorenson, Jordan Riki
Hookers
Brandon Smith, Jeremy Marshall-King
Let's an the Emerging Players to this, many of who are available for Pacific Island nations…
Emerging Players
Will Warbrick, Valynce Te Whare, Adam Pompey, Rocco Berry, Starford To'a (Tonga), Greg Marzhew (Samoa), Daejarn Asi (Samoa)
Leo Thompson, Connelly Lemuelu (Samoa), Griffin Neame, Naufahu Whyte (Tonga), Kelma Tuilagi (Samoa), Xavier Willison (Cook Islands), Alec MacDonald, Tom Ale (Tonga)
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
The streak is over for the Auckland Tuatara, beaten 95-83 away to the Hawke’s Bay Hawks. It snaps 10-game run of wins for the ‘Tara. It had begun by beating the Hawks by 31 points and now it’s been ended by the Hawks who gave their own top six hopes a massive boost with this dub. Derone Raukawa scored 28 points to lead the way for the victors with some lovely clutch shooting in there. Raukawa had been benched for disciplinary reasons or something or other last game so this was the ideal way to respond.
The Wellington Saints also did what they needed to do against Manawatu Jets, absolutely blitzing them on offence to the tune of 123-92. The Saints scored at least 26 points in every frame including a disgusting 39-point second to blow it open. New signing Elijah Thomas scored 22 on 10/11 shooting. Isaiah Le’Afa was brilliant with 19 points (inc 5/8 from deep) with 6 rebounds and 5 assists.
Two typically excellent teams who’ve had seasons that are anything but... and they brought the goods when they needed them most. The Saints are all but assured of a top six spot now. The Hawks will still have to hold off the Nelson Giants who can go level on points with them if they win away to Taranaki on Thursday night. Southland, Manawatu, and Taranaki are mathematically out of the race for playoffs after this penultimate round.
With one week to go it’s basically only seedings and sixth place up for grabs. The Tuatara will finish first regardless. They’ve got even head to head splits against both Otago and Franklin but edge them both on H2H points differential (pretty sure that’s how it works). However there’s a big diffo between Otago/Franklin finishing second and getting the first round bye versus finishing third and having to play against probably Hawke’s Bay or Nelson.
Should be a banger last week of round robin... and don’t forget that the Tauihi women’s league tips off on Wednesday night (Tokomanawa Queens vs Southern Hoiho). And once the Men’s NBL wraps up the top players will be off for Tall Blacks camp in preparation for the World Cup. Good yarns.
Didn’t have room for this on Friday so here we go now instead: The Wellington Phoenix have signed youth team CB/LB and current U20s international Lukas Kelly-Heald on a four year contract.
This is a wild one. We’ve been told there’s a good chance that they bag a midfielder from the academy team on a full contract though I didn’t expect this. On that midfielder thing, the most likely candidate is Fin Conchie who was excellent at the U20 World Cup recently but he’s currently stood down from the club for saying something he shouldn’t have to an opponent. He’s a young bloke and he’ll learn from that, no (further) dramas. I still think there’s a good shout he ends up with a senior contract soon.
Lukas Kelly-Heald’s four year deal is the longest ever given to a Welly Nix player. The bloke only turned 18 a few months ago so this is a real investment in his potential. LKH is a couple centimetres under two metres tall, he’s a massive bloke (his twin brother Alby is a goalkeeper – also with the WeeNix and also at the U20 World Cup), a left-footed defender who can play centrally or out wide and is particularly decent with his distribution. Clearly he’s got the frame to be a dominant defender too.
The most important aspect of this deal isn’t about LKH though, it’s about Giancarlo Italiano. He’s said all along that he’s a manager who wants to give young players room to thrive and he could hardly put his money anywhere closer to his mouth than giving a long-term deal to an 18yo who’s never played first team footy. Frankly, there are a couple guys in the WeeNix that probably ought to have been closer to a pro deal than him but it’s not about where he’s at now so much as where they see him by the end of this contract. Chief’s seen the secret ingredients in LKH and based on how he’s spoken about the signing that means the mental side of the game every bit as much as his obvious physical gifts.
Italiano has mentioned how the Central Coast Mariners have shown the league how it’s done by promoting youngsters and still producing championship form. There’ll be an Australia Cup tie sooner rather than later where we’ll surely see several new academy debutants for the Nix. It’s also increasingly looking like Finn Surman could be quite a prominent figure this season – as it stands he’ll be the backup CB, albeit they still have an import spot to spare (and room for a couple more locals). The LHK deal takes the Nix up to 16 players for the upcoming term so yeah plenty more to come.
Welly Nix 2023-24 Squad As It Stands
GK – Alex Paulsen | Jack Duncan
RB - ???
CB – Scott Wootton | Finn Surman
CB – Tim Payne | Lukas Kelly-Heald
LB – Sam Sutton
CM – Mo Al-Taay
CM – Alex Rufer
CM – Nico Pennington
FW – Bozhidar Kraev | Oskar van Hattum
FW – Oskar Zawada | David Ball
FW – Kosta Barbarouses | Ben Old
We don’t know the formation they’ll play yet. Chief’s told us it’ll be different to the 4-2-2-2 shape of the Talay days and that it won’t be a back four so this is just a loose guess. Clearly gonna still need that academy midfielder and they’re short a couple fullbacks amongst general depth elsewhere. They had a 21-man squad last term so expect five more signings from this point onwards.
No dramas for the Women’s U19s in their Oceania Championship final. They beat Fiji 7-0 to lift the trophy, a significant improvement on the scrappy 3-0 win they’d opened their tournament with against the same opponents (Fiji were also hosts btw). Manaia Elliott, who captained the team, got them started with a couple of first half goals and they rocked it from there onwards. Hardly looked troubled in defence. Kept most of the ball. Created several good chances with several more spoiled by quickdraw offside flags and scored seven goals in the process.
Add it all together and this team scored 45 goals and conceded zero across their five games. Even by NZ youth teams in Oceania standards that was emphatic... and a little odd to see because the usual formula was flipped here by a squad that seemed to be overflowing with attacking talent but was slim on the defenders. Which, frankly, ain’t a bad thing to see. This final was the only time when coach Leon Birnie picked his absolute top side – having rotated things smoothly throughout.
This was a seventh consecutive title for New Zealand in this event. Helena Errington was awarded the tournament Golden Ball while Ruby Nathan’s double in the final took her past teammate Zoe Benson for the Golden Boot. Nathan scored eight times. Benson seven. Bercelli got five. Then finally you get to a couple players from another team as Arianna Skeers (Samoa) and Elina Aruvuha (Vanuatu) joined NZers Cook, McCann & Pijnenburg on four tournament goals. With that win, Aotearoa will be back at the U20 World Cup next year.
New Zealand 7-0 Fiji (OFC U19s Women’s Championship Grand Final)
Starting XI (4-2-3-1): Aimee Feinberg-Danieli | Rebekah Trewhitt, Marie Green, Ella McMillan, Zoe McMeeken | Helena Errington, Emma Pijnenburg | Manaia Elliott (c), Ruby Nathan, Kiara Bercelli | Ella McCann
Subs Used: Zoe Benson (Bercelli 63’), Charlotte Mortlock (McCann 63’), Lara Colpi (Elliott 63’), Suya Haering (Trewhitt 71’), Danielle Canham (Errington 71’)
Goals: Elliott (13’, 30’), McCann (41’), Nathan (52’, 66’), Mortlock (75’), Pijnenburg (78’)
Domestic Football Roundup...
It was all about this cup stuff this weekend and mate we had ourselves a doozy of a result in the Chatham Cup with Western Springs beating defending champs Auckland City in extra time. There will be a new champion in 2023 and there will be no repeat of the ACFC quadruple. Ryan De Vries pounced on a dwelling keeper in the 14th min to make it 11 games in a row with a goal (20 goals in his past 11 games to be specific, incredible form for RDV) but Keegan Kelly quickly equalised. Cam Howieson had City in front on the hour only for Kelly to do it again with ten to play. Springs held on for extras where Kenta Nakashima scored early (94’) and then they withstood it all the rest of the way. Magnificent mahi.
Keegan Kelly moved to Springs this year after the Rosmini College student had won Golden Boot in the second tier with East Coast Bays, scoring 16 goals as a 17yo. He’s been at the forefront of an impressive youth selection at WSAFC under new coach Scotty Hales which seems now to be paying off as Springs have overcome a bit of a slow start to sit only two points out of the top four and they’re into the last eight of the cup. In fact it’s been good news all around as their Women’s team also advanced, continuing their impressive run of results (apart from that league defeat to Eastern Suburbs). Western Springs and Eastern Suburbs are the only two clubs left in both the Chatham and Kate Sheppard Cups.
Joining Western Springs in the final eight of the Men’s cup, where the draw stops being regionalised by the way, are:
Wellington Olympic after a convincing 5-0 win against Petone with Gianni Bouzoukis and Ben Mata both getting doubles. Joel Stevens got the other for Olympic who were 3-0 up after 25 minutes.
Melville United who headed up state highway to take care of Fencibles 2-0. Taking care of business against one of the remaining teams from below the top tier of winter football.
Hamilton Wanderers who also drew a team from below the Northern League but had a lot more trouble against Ngaruawahia. Wanderers were down 2-1 with ten to go before Xavier Pratt scored to force extra time. Couldn’t find a winner there so it went to penalties... where HW eventually claimed it 8-7 in the shootout.
Roslyn Wakari edged out Wanaka by a 4-3 scoreline. Wanaka pulled one back in the last minute so it may not have been quiiite as close as that sounds. Still, this was a meeting of two clubs from outside the Southern League, meaning that Roslyn Wakari are the only team outside the top tier still alive in the cup.
Eastern Suburbs advanced with a 2-1 win over Northern League rivals Birkenhead. Close game between two very good teams but a double for All Whites fullback Francis De Vries was the difference – the first from the penalty spot.
Waterside Karori beat Napier City Rovers 3-0 away. Tomas Alvarado scored just before the break then Stefan Cordwell and he added further goals in the second spell.
Christchurch United were able to get past close rivals Cashmere Technical 3-0 thanks to a trio of second half goals. Joel Peterson (56’), Dan MacLennan (77’), and Aaron O’Driscoll (87’) were the suppliers.
And there’s your Chatham Cup final eight. The previous four clubs to win this trophy were all eliminated this round: Auckland City (2022), Cashmere Tech (2021), Napier City (2019) & Birkenhead (2018)... no comp in 2020 for obvious reasons. Of the remaining teams, Eastern Suburbs won in 2015. Wellington Olympic in 2009. Christchurch United most recently in 1991. Waterside Karori (then just Waterside) way back in 1947. The other four would each be first time champions... although one of Melville’s foundation clubs, Hamilton Technical Old Boys, did lift the trophy back in 1962 if you wanna count that.
Over in the Kate Shepp, already mentioned that Western Springs were too good for Fencibles with a 3-1 victory sending them into the semi-finals (we’re one round deeper in over here). Shout out to Fencies for making it to at least the third round of both cups though. This game was tied up until a Sofia Garcia double in the last twenty minutes.
Eastern Suburbs were too good for Ellerslie in another all-NRFL Prem clash. Deven Jackson put them up in the third minute before Nicole Cooper added another ten mins afterwards. Jackson went on to score a second while Aimee Atkins also got amongst it in a 4-2 result on Thursday night. Suburbs still looking like the best team in the lands.
Wellington United dropped Petone by a 2-1 scoreline. Two strong teams with plenty of National League players amidst... decided by an 87th minute winner for Hope Gilchrist.
Coastal Spirit will be the other team in the final four. They edged Dunedin City Royals 1-0 courtesy of an early goal on 12 minutes for Alyssa Whinham. Helps to have those Wellington Phoenix players popping up in their offseasons. A couple are also at Auckland United (Marisa van der Meer & Chloe Knott). Plenty of ALW player feature for NPL clubs in Australia during the winter so this is no different than that. Of course, a handful of Nixers are also with the Football Ferns right now. DCR vs Coastal was, like, 75% of Southern United vs Canterbury Pride over the last couple years as well. Two stacked teams with only that single goal to separate them.
The Kate Sheppard Cup only dates back to 1994 and was originally dominated by Three Kings United and Lynn-Avon United. However all four of these semi-finalists are past winners. Wellington United in 2021. Eastern Suburbs in 2019. Coastal Spirit in 2013. Western Springs in 2007. Welly Utd are the only ones there not to have made at least one other final. None of the quartet have won a second KSC yet but that’ll all change in a couple months.