Unquashed Buzz
Unquashed Buzz
Kiwi-NRL junior pathways, Breakers re-sign Finn Delany, Sam Waardenburg x NBA Summer League, NZ footy transfer rumours, White Ferns & more
Podcast
Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Youtube
Reading Menu
Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Alignment and Depth (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: The Eventual Arrival Of Rocco Berry (Rugby League)
Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Hosting Sharks & Jets (Rugby League)
After All That... Darren Bazeley Is The New All Whites Head Coach (Football)
Football Ferns vs Vietnam: That Winning Feeling Rediscovered (Football)
Football Ferns at the 2023 FIFA World Cup: Squad Profiles (Football)
Flying Kiwis – July 12 (Football)
Aotearoa at the 2023 Oceania U19s Women’s Championships (Football)
The Quotable Steven Adams: 2022-23 Edition (Basketball)
Recapping Tall Ferns Exploits at the 2023 Asia Cup (Basketball)
White Ferns Stumble In ODI Series Loss vs Sri Lanka (Cricket)
Winter Notes & Nuggs For Each Domestic Cricket Team (Cricket)
Scotty’s Word
This week Canterbury Rugby League announced a partnership with Bulldogs, which comes a few weeks after it was reported that Auckland Rugby League had done a deal with Sea Eagles.
Never fear Warriors folks, these deals won't impact how Warriors grab their talent. The Kiwi-NRL perspective is that all NRL teams are recruiting from Aotearoa. They do so without any official partnerships with regional organisations.
Youngsters from Auckland will be able to sign with any NRL team.
Youngsters from Canterbury will be able to sign with any NRL team.
Auckland and Canterbury RL may receive incentives to deliver talent to Sea Eagles/Bulldogs, but what's if the youngster wants to sign with Broncos or Storm? Auckland and Canterbury RL do not own the rights to the youngsters so they can do as they please.
Bulldogs and Sea Eagles are examples of the NRL catchment area/local nursery myth. Both teams operate in Sydney suburbs and recruit junior talent from around Sydney, Australia and Aotearoa.
That's no different to every NRL team. The catchment area for every NRL team includes Aotearoa. The top-five NRL teams right now are Panthers, Broncos, Sharks, Storm and Raiders. Along with Roosters who invest heavily in Aotearoa systems, these teams snare high quality Kiwi-NRL talent through scouting tournaments and 1st 15 rugby, holding development camps.
Meanwhile, Warriors have Tanner Stowers-Smith from Halswell in Christchurch. Stowers-Smith signed with Bulldogs late in 2020 only to join Warriors for 2023 SG Ball and now he is playing NSW Cup. Warriors also had Makaia Tafua from Linwood playing SG Ball and now he is playing most weeks for Otahuhu in Fox Premiership.
A few weeks ago Warriors announced that they had signed Bishop Neal, Lennox Tuiloma, Jackson Stewart and Ezekiel Faga-Ieti to play U17/U19 next season. All four are from Christchurch. Warriors can and will keep signing players from Canterbury - Auckland as well obviously.
Rugby league in Aotearoa is far bigger than NZ Warriors. There is more than enough talent for Warriors to roll out U17, U19, U21, NSW Cup and NRL teams full of NZ talent next year, with other NRL teams signing Kiwi-NRL youngsters as well. This is Aotearoa's footy abundance.
Speaking of Kiwi-NRL talent, Cronulla Sharks play against NZ Warriors in NRL and NSW Cup this weekend. Kayal Iro isn't named for Newtown Jets but they will have Taranaki's Mawene Hiroti and Jenson Taumoepeau, along with Caleb Uele and Tyler Slade returning to Auckland.
Felix Fa'atili is from Canterbury and he has moved from U19s to U21s this season, named alongside two more Kiwi-NRL big boppers in Salesi Ata'ata and Paaua Papuni-Abbott who are both from Auckland. Sharks U21s are playing against Rabbitohs in Sydney and I missed the sneaky move of Chris Vea'ila from Knights to Sharks. The Waitemata junior was part of a big Kiwi-NRL recruitment push for Knights who have since left Knights; Starford To'a, Jirah Momoisea and Christian Ma'anaima.
Simi Sasagi was part of that wave and he is apparently off to Raiders next season. Knights have a new wave coming through from Aotearoa. Given how I have observed Knights development Kiwi-NRL talent, I'm... curious about how this new Kiwi-NRL wave develops.
Vea'ila played five games of NSW Cup for Knights at centre, after four games in 2021. Now Vea'ila is playing for Sharks U21s which seems a bit weird. Sharks have immense outside back depth in their Newtown Jets team but Vea'ila will get a crack at some point - I'd rather be in the Sharks system.
Cronulla Sharks Kiwi-NRL guide
SG Ball: Felix Fa'atili (Hornby), Tre Fotu (Marist)
Jersey Flegg: Salesi Ata'ata (Otahuhu), Toataua Porima (WaiCoa-Bay), Chris Veaila (Waitemata) Paaua Papuni-Abbott (Te Atatu)
NSW Cup: Mawene Hiroti (Taranaki), Jenson Taumoepeau (Taranaki), Kayal Iro (Mt Albert/CI), Caleb Uele (Glenora), Tyler Slade (Ellerslie)
Support The Niche Cache
Priority: Subscribe on Youtube
Join the Patreon whanau or jam a paid Substack subscription for an extra podcast each week.
Make a sporadic donation through Buy Me A Coffee.
Tell a friend.
Another sneaky move was Bayleigh Bentley-Hape being named at centre for Rabbitohs NSW Cup. Bentley-Hape was recruited by Roosters from Northland to play SG Ball and then Jersey Flegg, but he must have battled injuries because he dropped out of team lists etc. Interestingly, Bentley-Hape is named ahead of Josiah Karapani who is starting centre for Rabbitohs U21s.
Not convinced about Kiwi-NRL abundance? Here are all the young Kiwi-NRL outside backs named in Queensland Cup, NSW Cup and Jersey Flegg U21s this round...
Q Cup
Wynnum: Deine Mariner (Marist)
Redcliffe: Aublix Tawha (Turangawaewae)
Tweed: Lee Turner (Hikurangi)
NSW Cup
Knights: Simi Sasagi (Ellerslie)
Magpies: Semisi Kioa (Mangere East)
Bulldogs: Hayze Perham (Pikiao)
Bears: Alfred Smalley (Otahuhu)
Panthers: Daeon Amituanai (Whiti Te Ra)
Warriors: Setu Tu (Otahuhu), Viliami Vailea (Aorere Col), Moala Graham-Taufa (Marist)
Jets: Jenson Taumoepeau (New Plymouth)
Sea Eagles: Jackson Ferris (Kia Ora)
Rabbitohs: Bayleigh Bentley-Hape (Kawakawa)
Jersey Flegg
Dragons: Te Umuariki Heremia-Tukere (Turangawaewae)
Panthers: Francis Manuleleua (Papatoetoe)
Rabbitohs: Josiah Karapani (East Tamaki)
Sharks: Chris Veaila (Waitemata)
Sea Eagles: Viliami Kuli (Pakuranga)
Roosters: Tavita Henare-Schuster (Kia Toa)
Tigers: Sione Vaihu (Waitemata)
Raiders: Jack Sandford (CBHS), Siamani Leuluai (Mid-Northern)
One last rugby league thing. NZ Warriors love to score tries through the middle which fits into their style of middle forwards passing and attacking spaces between defenders in this zone. NRL teams scoring around 30% of tries through middle...
Raiders: 36% - 21 tries
Warriors: 30% - 21 tries
Dolphins: 29% - 19 tries
Panthers: 29% - 19 tries
Sea Eagles: 30% - 17 tries
Tigers: 37% - 16 tries
Kiwi County Tour update - no Daryl Mitchell/Matt Henry last round.
Will Williams: 31w @ 19.9avg/2.6rpo
Colin de Grandhomme: 128 runs @ 18avg | 7w @ 42avg/3.3rpo
Will Young: 170 runs @ 170avg
Tom Latham: 160 runs @ 26avg
Doug Bracewell: 141 runs @ 15avg | 23w @ 25avg/3.9rpo
Matt Quinn: 14w @ 28avg/2.7rpo
Henry Shipley: 116 runs @ 58avg | 13w @ 36avg/4rpo
White Ferns in T20Is vs Sri Lanka - Most Runs
Suzie Bates: 133 runs @ 44avg/96sr
Amelia Kerr: 81 runs @ 40.5avg/108sr
Sophie Devine: 51 runs @ 25.5avg/159sr
Bernadine Bezuidenhout: 28 runs @ 14avg/87sr
Georgia Plimmer: 19 runs @ 19avg/79sr
Maddy Green: 15 runs @ 7.5avg/83sr
Izzy Gaze: 13 runs @ 13avg/93sr
Most Wickets
Lea Tahuhu: 4w @ 8.5avg/5.6rpo
Eden Carson: 3w @ 22avg/6rpo
Leigh Kasperek: 2w @ 24.5avg/7rpo
Amelia Kerr: 2w @ 33avg/6rpo
Suzie Bates: 1w @ 13avg/6.5rpo
Across both formats there were a few players who didn't pounce on their opportunities. Brooke Halliday struggled for runs and her lack of runs was a notable nugget prior to the tour. Hannah Rowe, Fran Jonas and Molly Penfold combined to bowl 34.1 overs in Sri Lanka for 2 wickets.
Brooke Halliday: 3 runs in 7 balls (ODI), 2 runs in 4 balls (T20I)
Hannah Rowe: 1w @ 41avg/5rpo (ODI), 3ov @ 9.6rpo (T20I)
Fran Jonas: 1w @ 86avg/6.2rpo (ODI), 6ov @ 6rpo (T20I)
Molly Penfold: 3ov @ 6.6rpo (ODI), 1.3ov @ 18.6rpo (T20I)
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
The Breakers have pulled off a smart one in getting Finn Delany back on a two-year contract. Delany’s been over in Germany playing for Telekom Baskets Bonn – where he finished second in the Bundesliga as well as winning the Champions League last season. The Nelson native played several seasons for the Breakers prior to that, blossoming into one of the best forwards in the competition.
I should point out that the Basketball Champions League is not the equivalent of football’s Champions League. The equivalent there would be the EuroLeague, while there’s also a EuroCup, then there’s the BCL which unlike those others is organised by FIBA itself. So it’s effectively like the Conference League albeit not part of the same pyramid. The EuroLeague in particular has mostly closed access with many of the same teams guaranteed spots each season hence the BCL was designed as a rival with qualification based on domestic performances. But anyway, Finn Delany won that thing recently. Fine work.
Just quietly, the Breakers needed something like this. They’d lost Rob Loe to retirement and allowed Tom Vodanovich to chase that gig in the Philippines. Retaining Will McDowell-White was massive for them and getting Tom Abercrombie to sign up for one more year was another savvy move... but they also said they wanted to bring back all three imports from last time and now it sounds like they’ll get none of them. They’ve taken a risk in picking up Mangok Mathiang to be the new starting centre. They’ve also, yet again, failed to lure in the top kiwi players out of college with Flynn Cameron going to Melbourne United and Sam Mennenga to Cairns Taipans.
Therefore if the Breakers plan on contending for another title they needed more of a guarantee from their local core. In that light, it would have been crazy not to approach both Finn Delany and Yanni Wetzell to see if they were interested... and sure enough they’ve been able to lure ol’ Finn Diesel back to the motherland.
Curious to hear that Delany still has ambitions to return to Europe after this stint. In that case you’d have figured he’d stay there now and push the Breakers reunion back a few more years but two things probably shifted that course: one is that there’s a championship window open now, two is Mody Maor. Those two things are definitely connected and if he waits 3-4 years then Maor probably won’t be around any more.
Breakers Roster As It Stands...
PG - William McDowell-White | Izayah Le'afa | Alex McNaught (DP)
SG – [Import] | Cam Gliddon
SF – [Import] | Thomas Abercrombie | Dan Fotu
PF – Zylan Cheatham (I) | Finn Delany | Mantas Rubštavičius (NS)
C - Mangok Mathiang | Dane Pineau
That’s the full quota of local players, by the way. They can still add to the development player stocks and hopefully they will although in recent years the Breakers have kinda preferred to focus on next star development instead (they’ve got another one of them in tow in the form of Lithuanian forward Rubštavičius). Other than that it’s a matter of filling out the last couple import spaces.
Zylan Cheatham hasn’t technically been confirmed yet but that signing’s been reported in reliable channels for several weeks. He’s an American power forward recently of Bayern Munich so somebody that Delany will know a bit about. TBB actually beat Bayern twice last season. In December there was a 78-68 victory in which Delany had 7p/6r/2a. Then he had 10p/4r/2a/2s in a 77-73 win in February. Shot 2/3 from deep in both games. However Cheatham didn’t join Bayern until March so he missed both those potential head to heads.
Meanwhile over in Las Vegas, Sam Waardenburg has been hanging around the Minnesota Timberwolves trying to get some Summer League action. Unfortunately for the bro, he missed the first couple games with a knee injury… but the fact that he was still there on the bench lent support to the hope that he’d be able to play later in the week. Waardenburg was with the Dallas Mavericks for Summer League last year only to get injured then as well and didn’t end up playing at all. Maybe there’s a curse on him? Anyway, here he was prior to game two sitting on the Wolves bench with a compression sleeve over his knee and nothing worse...
Well, the curse was lifted for Minnesota’s third game. Waardenburg was active for their meeting with the Sacramento Kings and saw some action in the first quarter. Made a couple nice passes. Grabbed a tough rebound. Got to the free throw line for a pair. Also got blocked at the rim and fouled a three-point shooter in that initial stint so it was a mixed bag for the lad. Alas, he then took a seat at the end of the bench with a towel over his sore knee (possibly concealing an ice pack?) and didn’t take the court again.
There is at least one more game for Minnesota on the weekend so fingers crossed for that one. This is a funky situation because Waardenburg withdrew from Tall Blacks World Cup squad contention in order to chase up other career opportunities and considering how Summer League will be over before the Tall Blacks even begin their training camp (and that many in that squad also have similar Aussie NBL contracts to what he does)... that sounds a lot like perhaps there’s more to this American stint than just Summer League?
It’s Flying Kiwis transfer season and you know what that means...
Seems like most folks were caught off guard by Milly Clegg signing with Western Sydney Wanderers for the next A-League season. Clegg had been the Wellington Phoenix’s top goalscorer while still at high school... although to be fair she still only scored four of them. Played mostly as a winger or a substitute too. Regardless, this will be the second time in a row that the Nix have lost their top scorer to a rival club after Grace Jale left for Canberra a year ago.
Got to imagine that this move is very much about positioning her career moving forward because Clegg is a switched-on character. When she signed for the Nix, she did so as an amateur (despite taking up a professional spot on the roster – aka not a scholarship player) in order to preserve her eligibility for USA college footy.
Thankfully that’s now off the menu as there was no mention of amateur status in the WSW announcement – Clegg is too good to spend four years playing youth team football and with the poor record of NWSL teams drafting international players (Katie Bowen remains the only NZer ever drafted to that league) it just isn’t the professional pathway that reputation once suggested. For players on the fringes, sure, you get a great life experience and a free degree. For someone aiming to make a career out of the sport, on the other hand, it’s that European path which is the one to target.
And what’s the best way for a young NZer to get into that European scene? The booster league that is the ALW, of course. So many Aussie players have taken that exact trajectory, as well as a few kiwis. The English league seems to have an especially close eye upon Australasian players – of the 94 players headed to the World Cup from WSL clubs, Australia’s 9 are the most of any nation other than England itself. NZ has 4 which is also a comparatively hefty portion (and I still reckon there’s a chance of further movement after the tournament). No domestic league is supplying more World Cup players than the WSL.
Clegg could have done the same at the Wellington Phoenix, sure. But the Nix have spoken about wanting to sign an import striker (as they absolutely need to do) which opened the door for WSW to offer her more centre forward minutes. Plus a season in Australia would be a valuable experience in preparation for potentially moving to the other side of the world someday soon-ish.
By the way, Milly Clegg has now been selected for U17, U20, and Senior World Cup squads all within the space of twelve months. There’s a very good chance she can soon say she’s played at all three within one year. There’s also the possibility, a lot slimmer but still genuine, that she manages to score at all three. Now that would be an incredible feat.
There’s a wee rumour going around that there are MLS clubs interested in signing Joe Bell. Bell’s played 34 times for Brøndby since joining them 18 months ago but has had long spells stuck on the bench within that span... which is also how he finished last season. A struggling team followed by a new manager doesn’t always help those things. Preseason could allow him to win his spot back... or maybe these transfer rumours oughta be taken more seriously than first inclination would suggest.
It’s no surprise that MLS teams would be keen on a bloke that dominated at the college level, going all the way to the national championship final with a Virginia Cavaliers team that also included current USA internationals Daryl Dike and Henry Kessler. Both of them went top six in the MLS Draft that year and had Joe Bell not chosen to sign pro in Norway instead he might well have gone ahead of them. Bell was brilliant with Viking leading to the BIF move... but that one hasn’t really worked out to date. He’s under contract until 2026 though so anyone who wants him had better have the chequebook ready.
As a gut feeling... I’d guess he’s more likely to go to England than USA. Bell was born in Bristol and it’s known that Barnsley tried hard to sign him while he was still with Viking. Others would have taken notice. He’s more than capable of being one of the better midfielders in the MLS but he’s also capable of being a lot more than that too. English Championship would be a fitting spot – note that BIF have reportedly sold fellow midfielder Anis Ben Slimane to Sheffield United (he’s an attacking mid so that doesn’t change Bell’s situation btw) - although there’s nothing yet to suggest that he’s planning on leaving Brøndby.
Burnley FC have now confirmed the transfer of Marley Leuluai as an academy scholar for the next two years. He thus makes the switch over from Manchester City, as touted in last Friday’s email. Burnely have some strong links to Man City through manager Vincent Kompany so there may even be a few familiar faces around the place for Marley – who will probably captain NZ at the U17 World Cup later this year. He’s the only one in this age group making that switch but City have signed a few older Man City academy dudes since Kompany took over.
Ben Waine scored a preseason goal for Plymouth during the week, good to see. It was in the annual friendly fixture against Plymouth Parkway and it took him less than five minutes to dash in behind and finish smartly with his left foot. Waine played the first half in a mostly youth-orientated team before wholesale changes were made at the break. Wouldn’t view that as any indication of his status in the first team but still cool to see one fly into the net nice and early.
Jamie Searle had looked like he might have a shot at backup duties for Barnsley with the departure of a couple other goalies... but that’s no longer the case after they signed free agent Ben Killip this past week. Probably still gotta hang around as the third choice for another year although there are rumours that top choice Brad Collins could be snapped away before the transfer window is through.
No word yet on what Tommy Smith is doing after his release from Colchester United became official at the start of the month. Also despite those strong rumours of a move to Blackburn Rovers, Nik Tzanev did start for AFC Wimbledon in their most recent friendly game and played the second half of their earlier one. There is some chat about Wimbledon being in the market for goalies though so the Tzanev buzz definitely hasn’t been quashed just yet. Had been hoping that Oliver Colloty might join these folks after several trials in England prior to the U20 World Cup but that hasn’t happened for him just yet, instead he’s joined Auckland City. Add a few more National League goals to the tally and then see what happens.
Another sneaky one is that former WeeNix fullback Marco Lorenz has been doing the trial things with Werder Bremen over in Germany. Wynton Rufer’s old club. Werder had Trevor Zwetsloot in their academy team for a couple years and they tried to sign Sarpreet Singh a year ago – both with Wynton connections. Guessing there’s something similar at play here. Lorenz has been with the U23s there for at least two weeks, playing the other day in a friendly against GW Firrel (the only one of their multiple current trialists to feature). Adam Supyk is another young fullback (recently of the U20s) who has been on the trial circuit, apparently even with a Premier League club or two. Time shall tell how that goes.