Too Many Dicks On The Dancefloor
Too many blokes in Wahine sport, Warriors vs Roosters reaction, Steven Adams vs KAT, Welly Nix homecoming blues & more
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Podcast
The Niche Cast: Chop Wood, Carry Water
Reading Menu
Recapping The Junior Football Ferns Series In Australia (Football)
Football Ferns vs the ‘Tildas: Game One, Shell-Shocked (Football)
Football Ferns vs the ‘Tildas: Game Two, Lots To Ponder (Football)
2021/22 Plunket Shield All Stars (Cricket)
27fm Weekly Playlist: April 18 (Music)
Scotty’s Word
Too Many Blokes…
What is one common thread between White Ferns and Black Ferns woes? Too many blokes.
What was the issue when Football Ferns had their dramas? Blokes.
The only female coach in women’s domestic cricket is an Aussie and all the folks who whipped up White Ferns game plans were blokes. I know less about the Aotearoa wahine rugby landscape but my general perception is that the folks who have led Black Ferns into a similar pre-World Cup (in Aotearoa) hole are blokes. Of course, blokes don’t want to talk about this because blokes think they have everything sussed - especially when it comes to sport.
There is a strong and growing female presence in these sports. This presence is mainly restricted to boardrooms though and has little influence on performance. Wahine sport needs wahine coaches, wahine support staff and blokes plugging holes. This scenario in men’s sport where coaches and support staff are mainly blokes, with various females on the staff.
Given this stretch of female World Cups revolving around Aotearoa, this presents a chance to learn the most. This isn’t about dicks and a dancefloor, but the same idea applies…
I’ve planted seeds in these emails about an interesting time for Aotearoa rugby. This recent Black Ferns kerfuffle falls into alignment with my rugby intrigue as I believe wahine rugby has another issue that could be of far greater importance. In covering wahine rugby league, I am observing more wahine move from rugby union to rugby league - far more than the opposite journey from league to union.
All of which ties into the wider idea that The Niche Cache celebrates with Aotearoa’s sporting palate expanding rapidly. NZ media still focus on rugby and netball, hence this Black Ferns situation has exploded in mainstream media. Cricket is massive in Aotearoa right now, yet the same energy directed towards Black Ferns was absent when digesting White Ferns matters. They share the same ‘too many blokes’ issue though.
The best professional path for wahine athletes is currently NRLW. Super Rugby’s wahine competition is years behind NRLW, while other sports are building their professional pathways out in Aotearoa. This is evident in recent mahi as I have listed NRLWahine players who I know have backgrounds in domestic rugby union before heading towards NRLW…
Ngatokotoru Arakua (2021 Chiefs), Charlotte Scanlan (Auckland/Sevens), Autumn-Rain Stephens-Daly (BOP), Leianne Tufuga (Auckland), Charntay Poko (Canterbury), Kararaina Wira-Kohu (Northland).
Kanyon Paul played for Akarana wahine this year, after leaving Waikato rugby to pursue NRLW opportunities. I did a quick search of the players named in the NZRL Wahine Premiership Tournament Team and the following players have rugby union backgrounds…
1 - Lavinia Tauhalaliku, 4 - Makayla Eli, 6 - Cassie Siataga, 12 - Sui Pauaraisa.
All of which is fairly similar to Kiwi-NRL where plenty of lads play both codes at school, while some are recruited from 1st 15 rugby. The footy factory of Aotearoa churns out talent and I don’t see a situation where the Kiwi-NRL rise impacts union talent pipelines, yet the women’s side is far more competitive. Not just with the footy codes as all women’s sports are competing for similar talent pools, hence netball will slowly slide.
NZRU has a lot on their plate and they are the ones who stuffed all that kai on their plate. While the Black Ferns kerfuffle has been happening, greater wahine competition is emerging and this is most evident in union players moving to league where they can see a professional pathway. If I’m NZRL, I’d be eager to push harder into union talent pools. If I’m any other sporting body apart from NZRU, I’d view NZRU as food.
Lesson tahi: best performance comes via wahine leading wahine.
Lesson rua: invest in wahine and enjoy the growth.
NZ Warriors loss vs Roosters…
No other NRL club has grounds to complain like NZ Warriors. I’ve watched various NRL games with teams playing in front of packed home crowds and folks outlining how important their home crowd is, while Warriors have none of that advantage. Other NRL clubs and fans love to complain about referees, yet they don’t endure what Warriors fans do.
NZ Warriors are cursed though and the curse features the above notes.
Sure, Warriors could have defeated Roosters without referee shenanigans. That doesn’t change the team’s vibe though and when Steve ‘Blocker’ Roach is celebrating Warriors defence in commentary (also bemoaning referees), you know that a hearty Warriors vibe is present.
Good defence but Shaun Johnson’s defence kinda sucked and was below par. Second half started with Reece Walsh booming another kick off out, flipping the game in favour of Roosters. Penalties and errors kept Roosters in the mix, even though they were well below their best. Strange game. Warriors grafted through the contest and while bagging points is most important, this team showed some level of grizzle which is encouraging.
Warriors won three games in a row, but rolled out their best ‘effort’ in losing to Roosters. As mediocre as Roosters were, they hacked Warriors footy.
No Warrior had 150+ metres, nor did any Warrior hit the magical 10m/run mark. Roosters won this game with their line speed and/or targeted line speed where players on their edges would rush up to snuff out a basic Warriors play; two passes to find a hard running joker out wide. Roosters knew that was coming and shut it down.
Missed tackles, penalties etc were all fairly even. Here is how Warriors Post Contact Metres (pcm) and Average Set Distance (m) breaks down for each game this season…
vs Dragons: 522pcm/33.29m (loss).
vs Titans: 548pcm/43.56m (loss).
vs Tigers: 508pcm/37.93m (win).
vs Broncos: 707pcm/37.24m (win).
vs Cowboys: 534pcm/38.68m (win).
vs Roosters: 398pcm/30.81m (loss).
Warriors had 174 runs, Roosters had 168 and yet Roosters finished well ahead of Warriors with 511pcm. Every team has their basic stuff they like to do and Warriors footy this season features plenty of two pass then straight runner, mixed in with Addin Fonua-Blake type mahi around the ruck. Roosters shut this down and Roosters won.
I was fizzing to see Taniela Otukolo playing as a middle forward, alongside Eliesa Katoa who feels better suited to middle than edge. Otukolo is a hooker and made his NRL debut last season as a hooker, which comes with my favourite wrinkle; Otukolo only played Redcliffe U21s and NRL last season.
Otukolo was deployed in the Brandon Smith type of role with quick feet and power now super useful in the middle - as long as there is no dip defensively. Otukolo isn’t big (179cm) and while he has an NRL body, Otukolo isn’t chunky which made his middle forward role intriguing.
This is a lovely sign for Warriors/Aotearoa junior ponderings. Otukolo is an Otahuhu junior who has a decorated NZRL representative history, was a beast in the 2020 Warriors SG Ball team and has steadily improved since then, even though Otukolo has been based in Redcliffe. Good coaching helps someone like Otukolo pop up as a middle forward in the NRL.
Otukolo has taken every opportunity to get better and that’s a thread across all Warriors juniors from Aotearoa since the pandemic started. After playing SG Ball, Otukolo then lined up for Otahuhu in Auckland’s Fox Memorial against blokes. These are all indicators of a talented youngster who could be a key player for Tonga at the World Cup as there aren’t many halves/hookers in the Tongan mix.
Wildcard’s Notebook
Kiwi Steve In The NBA Playoffs
Yeah... we might have an issue here.
It was a strange one when a bunch of NBA pundits picked Minnesota Timberwolves to beat the 2-seed Memphis Grizzlies and one which I initially put down to recency bias after the play-in but that game one Wolves win made it clear the match-up dramas that the Grizz are going to have to overcome if they’re to progress in these playoffs. And Steven Adams, as is often the case with centres at this stage of the season, could potentially be a scapegoat in all that.
Adams has always had problems dealing with stretch bigs who can shoot at the perimeter, preventing him from hanging back in drop coverage. Gotta stay close to respect the shot… but when you rush up on those lads it’s not too hard for the other team to get a switch around a screen and suddenly Adams is up against a speedy guard who gives him no chance. That wasn’t quite what happened against Karl-Anthony Towns though (although it did a few times). That’s because Towns doesn’t need the switch. He’s got enough burst himself to take the ball to the hoop and score, as well as being a knockdown jump shooter. He gave Steve-o absolute fits in Minnesota’s 130-117 game one victory.
Towns scored 14 of his 29 points when guarded specifically by Steven Adams, shooting 6/8 with a triple in those possessions (he shot 61% overall, 11/18 FG). Not good at all and something is going to have to change.
The easiest adjustment would be to have Jaren Jackson Jr guard Towns but that’s no simple solution itself as JJJ and Adams were both in foul trouble in G1. A few of Adams’ fouls were specifically up against Towns on the drive. Reaching in. Trying to take a charge. Weird because you normally just don’t see that kinda thing from Steve-o. Jackson, on the other hand, naturally has more of a predilection towards fouling being an aggressive shot-blocking defender.
It could just be that Memphis have to deal with a poor match-up, hoping that Towns misses a few more shots and that Adams and JJJ can both avoid foul trouble so as to keep their options open. Get those guards fighting through screens more too so as not to worry about any defensive switches involving the big men.
But the more I look back at that game, the more I wonder if the bigger issue wasn’t at the other end. Because Adams gave them next to nothing in offence which is usually where he’s such a factor. Three assists but zero points with zero shot attempts and only one offensive rebound. He just never got the ball. They didn’t use him. Too frantic in trying to play catch-up after getting on the wrong end of a 41-point Minny first quarter. Adams had a 12.0% usage rate in the regular season but in this game that dipped to a mere 1.8%.
There were some hints of something in the second as Ja Morant began to get going with a few athletic finishes at the rim - on a related note Adams had 8 screen assists for 18 points while the rest of the team only managed 5 for 11 points combined (all stats from NBA.com btw). And Tips did still have those three assists.
Forget the points, he’s not a scorer, but those other areas where Adams influences this team so positively... he still mostly did so when he got the opportunity. The issue was that the fella only had 15 touches in total (and still managed to get three dimes). Adams may have had his team’s worst defensive rating this game (140.4 which is terrible tbh) but he also had the second best offensive rating amongst Grizz players (120.0). If you’re going to ride through his defensive limitation against KAT then you surely need to be making the most of the goodness that he offers too.
The Grizz are gonna have to make some significant adjustments for the second game. That’s where this gets really interesting. Does Adams find himself playing fewer minutes because of this rough match-up? Do they adjust the rotations so he’s out there with the second unit more often so as to shield his defence from Towns? Do they keep him out there but get him guarding the four with JJJ on Towns instead? Does Brandon Clarke (one of the few plus performers in G1) come into the starting team, potentially even playing alongside Adams?
Lots for Coach of the Year candidate Taylor Jenkins to ponder over. Most of it boiling down to this question: does Steven Adams’ offensive role in this team balance out his defensive weakness against KAT?
One thing about the NBA Playoffs: heaps can change in the space between games.
Also, Adams is listed by the NBA website as having zero box outs this game. We’re talking about the NBA’s leader in box outs here. But Minnesota won the rebounding battle against the number one rebounding team in the NBA and they did so via a targeted effort. A major reason Adams was kept so quiet in that stat category was that KAT muscled up, putting a heavy body on him, often aided by Jarred Vanderbilt. It was a clear strategy to keep Adams from hunting those second chancers as these screenies, all from the first quarter, can attest to...
Looking back at the clips, there was also some bad luck in there. Long rebounds that landed conveniently in the laps of Wolves players, that sorta thing. Kyle Anderson knocked one away from Adams to a MIN player at one stage. A tip out from Adams that went through the hands of Dillon Brooks and away for an easy transition T-Wolves bucket. Plus this was Minnesota showing their hand so you can expect a tactical response next time.
Long way to go yet, no need to panic.
Flying Kiwis Goal Zone
Welly Nix Homecoming Blues
It’s a surreal feeling when there’s all this positive energy surrounding the Wellington Phoenix and their first game at home all season, with a crowd of 18000 fans in attendance... and the Nix get pumped 4-0.
Not entirely sure what it is about the Central Coast Mariners as a match-up for the Phoenix but they beat us 5-0 a few weeks back and now 4-0 in Wellington. Both matches have involved the Mariners taking leads into half-time and thus being able to sit back and pick the Nix off in the second half with their dangerous attacking weapons on the break and the Phoenix have been without a few key players throughout those games (a midfield of Alex Rufer and Clayton Lewis would certainly help against the counters). But CCM have not played like this against other teams. It’s a strange one. Here are their last five results:
Drew 2-2 vs to Western United
Won 5-0 vs Wellington Phoenix
Lost 5-0 vs Sydney FC
Drew 2-2 vs Western Sydney Wanderers
Won 4-0 vs Wellington Phoenix
That WSW game saw them reduced to ten men on 48’ and still snatching a 95th minute equaliser. They scored in stoppage time of both Nix wins too, though under very different circumstances.
The most annoying thing about that Nix loss yesterday is that they’d begun the game so well, looking comfortably on top of things until they went and leaked one against the run of play and that goal changed the whole course of the match. CCM could sit deeper in their defensive structures knowing that the Nix’s attacking options have been struggling for consistency lately.
A deeper line takes away Jaushua Sotirio’s best weapon – his pace in behind. It also crowds out guys like Reno Piscopo and David Ball who are much more effective playing in space and at speed. Gael Sandoval was already playing deeper to cover for the lack of available midfielders. And unfortunately those guys just didn’t complement each other enough. This is a regular pattern by the way and it’s not a coincidence that the Nix’s record sucks when they concede the first goal.
Actually an even more annoying thing about that loss: both the first two CCM goals came directly after David Ball had missed a great chance up the other end.
But this team has already bounced back from 4+ goal defeats more times this season than they’d have liked to so what’s one more for the list? Their goal difference was shot weeks ago. At this stage, a 1-0 loss and a 4-0 loss are basically no worse than each other so long as the team is able to respond in the next game. It’s rocks or diamonds with them at the moment but considering what a challenge this season has been that wild inconsistency sorta comes with the territory. As long as they can find enough remaining diamonds to make the playoffs (and hopefully avoid the Mariners if they do).
As a reminder, ignoring all the other things the Nix have had to deal with this season, here some players who were unavailable for yesterday’s game through injury/illness:
Alex Rufer, Clayton Lewis, Gary Hooper, Sam Sutton, Josh Laws, Callan Elliot.
To be sitting in fifth place with four games remaining, with the ability to go fourth (and earn a first round home finals game) if they win their game in hand over Adelaide, is honestly quite an incredible achievement already:
No home games until yesterday (and they got smoked)
Only 4 points from their first six matches – which they played with only two available import players
Top striker Gary Hooper has only started six games
They’ve had an injury crisis all second half of the season, especially in midfield (including an ACL tear for captain Alex Rufer)
Six academy players have made debuts this term plus three more have made benches
Six defeats of 4+ goals, of which three times they’ve won the immediate game after
I’ll expand this idea into a longer article when I get more time. Moral of the story is this: just roll with the flow because this team is still very much in the finals hunt.