Vaunted Defence
Blackcaps summer reflections, Aussie NBL free agency, Auckland FC & Wellington Phoenix, Kiwi-NRL debutants/depth, Football Ferns & more
Scotty’s Word
Big picture Blackcaps stuff as we move into falling leaves season...
Test
2024: 6-6
Big series sweep win in India, tough series loss vs England as the only home series this summer. Finished sixth in 2021-23 WTC and after finishing fourth for the 2023-25 competition, Blackcaps have returned to top-four status in WTC with two top-four finishes in three campaigns.
ODI
2024 to now: 11-5
Emerging squad lost two games in Sri Lanka, then the emerging group went 5-1 vs Sri Lanka and Pakistan in NZ. Lost two games vs India at Champions trophy but finished second. Maintained the top-four status by making a sixth consecutive semi-final in one-day tournaments and making a third final in the last four one-day tournaments.
T20I
2024 to now: 15-11
Older group lost first two games of T20 World Cup as, after three consecutive semi-finals, they were knocked out at the group stage. Emerging squad went 1-1 in Sri Lanka. Then a stronger squad won 2-1 vs Sri Lanka and 4-1 vs Pakistan in NZ
My best players of the home ODI/T20I summer…
Jacob Duffy
ODI: 11w @ 18.2avg/5.3rpo
T20I: 21w @ 8.3avg/8.8rpo
My best player overall. Sharp swing and giving 140km/h a nudge consistently. Reminder not to worry about ages because Duffy is 30-years-old and has just settled into regular 1st 11 mahi.
Mark Chapman
ODI: 304 runs @ 101.3avg/108.5sr, 1 x 100, 2 x 50
T20I: 199 runs @ 26.8avg/156.6sr, 1 x 50
Three 50+ scores in four ODI innings and always offers crisp T20 hitting. Same as Duffy because Chapman is 30yrs and should be in the ODI/T20I 1st 11, pushing for a Test debut soon as well. I reckon Chapman has overtaken Devon Conway on the Blackcaps motorway.
Matt Henry
ODI: 9w @ 10.3avg/3.7rpo
T20I: 5w @ 21.2avg/8.8rpo
Special mention for Henry because he wasn't involved recently but he hasn't just grown into the best Test bowler for Aotearoa, he is also excelling in ODI/T20I. Henry averages below 30 in all six stat zones for bowling and that improves to below 26avg when taking out his Test average of 29.8. Henry was the mantis at the Champions Trophy as well...
Matt Henry in World Cups/Champions Trophy: 25.94avg/5.2rpo
Rachin Ravindra in World Cup/Champions Trophy: 64.69avg/106.4sr
Brett Hampton's first game of County Championship...
1w @ 4.6rpo | 14 runs @ 42sr | 2w @ 4.4rpo
Hampshire defeated Yorkshire with a day to spare and Hampton was steady throughout. He was their most expensive bowler and bowled the fewest overs of the tight-five bowling unit but snared wickets in both innings. Hampton batted nine which is lower than his usual ND spot and if that continues, it may present more opportunities for Hampton to bang sixes.
For paid subscribers I have a bunch more Blackcaps stats and notes, there are also depth charts for NZ Warriors and NZ Kiwis for the rugby league folks beyond the wall. Over the weekend I whipped up an NZ Warriors break down and offered the 10 best young cricketers below Blackcaps after this summer.
Five Things About New Zealand Warriors Winning Footy In 2025
New Zealand's 10 Best Young Cricketers After The Summer Of 2024/25
We also have a buffet of tunes for you here
Two more Kiwi-NRL debuts this weekend with Sean Mullany (Glenora) coming off the bench for Titans and Moses Leo (Takapuna) making a surprise debut for Storm. Along with Salesi Foketi (Manurewa) and Bayleigh Bentley-Hape (Moerewa), this takes us to four Kiwi-NRL debuts in five rounds of NRL footy.
Titans sucked in their loss vs Dolphins and Mullany only played 15 minutes at the end as a dummy half. The game was already lost and Mullany didn't have a chance to impact the contest but he was solid, plus Titans scored their two tries while Mullany was on the field.
Sean Mullany vs Dolphins: 15mins, 2 runs - 6m @ 3m/run, 8 tackles @ 100%
Leo was a late inclusion at right centre for Storm and while they won easily vs Sea Eagles, Leo had a tricky match up against Tolutau Koula. Koula had four linebreaks and eight tackle breaks which tells you where Leo's seven missed tackles came from, but Storm won and it wasn't all Leo's fault.
Moses Leo vs Sea Eagles: 80mins, 6 runs - 63m @ 10.5m/run, 1 linebreak assist, 2 tackle breaks, 9 tackles @ 56.2%
This was also Leo's second game of rugby league after switching from Sevens. He was a late inclusion for North Sydney Bears in the week prior which was also a win and this is notable because Storm stashed Will Warbrick away for a full season of Queensland Cup before he made his NRL debut.
Leo's swift rise for Storm is not the status-quo. I reckon NZ Warriors are following the Storm blueprint of emerging talent playing at least 20 reserve grade games (usually 30-50) before stepping up to NRL, something that is also part of the Panthers development plan. Leo must have made a fabulous impression at Storm over the summer which is reinforced by Storm getting Leo out of his NZR Sevens contract a year early after he was initially signed for 2026.
Kiwi-NRL Risers…
Xavier Willison (Whatawhata)
Two tries and seven tackle breaks in the Broncos win vs Tigers. Willison is playing similar minutes compared to last season and averaging fewer metres but he's playing better under coach Michael Maguire. I've got Willison climbing into my NZ Kiwis top-17 as a bench forward and he is my favourite emerging player to start this season.
Mawene Hiroti (Western Suburbs - New Plymouth)
Hiroti was awesome at centre in the Sharks loss vs Raiders in a game where three of the four centres are from or represent NZ Kiwis. Sebastian Kris was also fantastic and he's already played for NZ Kiwis so he's not in the rising emerger bracket but I do have him in my top-17. Back to Hiroti and he's fascinating because he has been lurking beneath the radar at Sharks, now in his sixth season after initially being recruited by Rabbitohs.
Hiroti has played more than two games in just one of his five seasons with Sharks before 2025 (14 games in 2021). He played one game in each of the last two years and despite being shuffled around different positions, Hiroti has been a fantastic clubman for Sharks as well as being highly efficient: Hiroti has scored one try in each of his last three games stretching across three seasons.
Alec MacDonald (Auckland)
I always throw MacDonald into these kinda brackets because folks don't know he's from Aotearoa and any bloke thriving as a hard-working forward for Storm, deserves to be celebrated. Here's his mahi in the win vs Sea Eagles:
45mins, 10 runs - 110m @ 11m/run, 1 tackle break, 22 tackles @ 95.6%
There is a wee increase in his minutes this season and he has made 96 tackles with one missed tackle this season: MacDonald has one tackle break and one missed tackle in four games. MacDonald's minutes per game at Storm...
2022: 33.5mins
2023: 33.8mins
2024: 35.6mins
2025: 40mins
NZ Kiwis Top-17
Fullback: Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad
Wingers: Ronaldo Mulitalo, Jamayne Isaako
Centres: Matthew Timoko, Sebastian Kris
Halves: Jahrome Hughes, Dylan Brown
Hooker: Jeremy Marshall-King
Middles: James Fisher-Harris, Joseph Tapine, Naufahu Whyte
Edges: Briton Nikora, Isaiah Papali'i
Bench: Erin Clark, Leo Thompson, Griffin Neame, Xavier Willison
Catching up on NRLWahine signings...
Kerehtina Matua stays with Raiders, Leianne Tufuga moves from Tigers to Raiders
Amber Hall stays with Roosters
Tyla King moves from Dragons to Sharks, Jaydika Tafua promoted to top-tier
Pia Tapsell moves from Sharks to Dragons
Rosie Kelly moves from Eels to Cowboys, Hailee-Jay Ormond-Maunsell moves from Titans to Cowboys
Musical jam...
Wildcard’s Notebook
The first major setback of the new Breakers regime has happened with reports that Flynn Cameron has opted to sign a three-year contract with the Adelaide 36ers despite big interest from the Breakers (and half the rest of the league too). That’s a bummer for NZB but you know what? I’m never disappointed seeing kiwis sign with Aussie teams because that’s just one more kiwi in the league. Especially now that the Breakers have proper owners again and will actively try and fill the roster with NZers.
Missing out of Cameron has opened the door for an Izayah Le’Afa return, with word emerging this arvo that Le’Afa has agreed to a two-year contract with the Breakers. He’s back after one year away with the Sydney Kings where he should have found a great fit except that the threes didn’t drop consistently enough and the team didn’t click around him. He’s a streaky shooter who plays very good defence. If he can find that consistent shooting then he’ll be a very good addition. He certainly had his moments during his previous stint. While Flynn Cameron is the more enticing player at this stage of his career, there is a case to be made that Le’Afa will be easier to slot into line-ups alongside an import point guard.
FC is more of a hybrid and that could make it tricky to recruit around him - even though it would have been worth the gamble. The lure of playing in Aotearoa had to have been pretty bright for Cameron (he’s playing for Franklin Bulls right now so he’s already in Auckland... albeit on the other side of the city) so clearly Adelaide had to have trumped that bid. Finances will have played a part but the main reason Cameron left Melbourne United was to find a bigger playing role that’d allow him to take his game to the next level. Sounds like Adelaide came up with the big promises. Here’s hoping they follow through with them.
Also, to the surprise of nobody, Shea Ili has re-signed with Melbourne United on a two-year deal and with Matt Dellavedova leaving for the Sydney Kings that should mean he gets genuine point guard status rather than the mix-and-match they were operating with before. Ili and Delly was an amazing combo but Ili with an import who shoots 40% from deep would also go hundies and it’d mean that the kiwi dude gets the funkier stats.
Kiwis Contracted for NBL26
Sam Waardenburg – Cairns Taipans
Sam Mennenga – NZ Breakers
Tyrell Harrison – Brisbane Bullets
Tohi Smith-Milner – Brisbane Bullets
Max Darling – NZ Breakers
Carlin Davison – NZ Breakers
Kaia Isaac – NZ Breakers (DP)
Dontae Russo-Nance – Perth Wildcats
Alex McNaught – NZ Breakers (DP)
Walter Brown – Tasmania JackJumpers
Flynn Cameron – Adelaide 36ers
Izayah Le’Afa – NZ Breakers
Shea Ili – Melbourne United
Not a whole lot of other Aussie NBL free agency stuff happening yet. Lots was dependent on what Matthew Dellavedova chose to do and Cameron was probably also an early domino. Should ramp up over the next week. Lachlan Olbrich did declare for the upcoming NBA Draft though... you my remember him as the NZ NBL MVP (lots of acronyms there) last year, when he won the title with Canterbury Rams. He then went and won the Aussie NBL championship with the Illawarra Hawks. With a bit of luck he’ll get picked up in the second round and the Canterbury Rams can get their credit for helping him along the way.
If you’re curious about the chat surrounding Yanni Wetzell, check in after the paywall jump for some context surrounding that and also the form of a few other Tall Blacks playing in big leagues around the planet. As well as a bit of Where Are The Now from last year’s Birkenhead squad that made the National League football grand final because those jerries have been jet-setting all over the place.
Not sure why people seem to think that Auckland FC are stumbling when they’re on an 11-game unbeaten streak. Five points clear in first place with four matches to go. They have drawn their last three home games, and four of their last five overall, which is presumably where the idea stems from... but, like, if you’re drawing on the bad days then you’re clearly in a good place. Nothing wrong with that. They’re just churning out the points.
However AFC did concede a goal with their vaunted defence in place so the stats do need updating:
Auckand FC have now conceded two goals in the 720 minutes that Nando Pijnaker and Dan Hall have been on the pitch together (eight games accounting for seven wins and one draw).
AFC are up to 596 minutes in which the full Sakai-Hall-Pijnaker-FDV quartet has been on the pitch together. During that time they have conceded twice.
The concessions got doubled and the stat still looks amazing, to be fair.
Two things that I’m not so keen on: Marlee Francois as a starter and Cam Howieson as a bench striker. It is cool to see Steve Corica finding ways to get Howieson involved but sticking him that far up the pitch doesn’t really work. You want him to be the guy playing that pass into the attacking third, not receiving it. And as for Francois, he’s got a bit too much of the Joey Champnesses about him (albeit with a much better attitude) where the skill and pace isn’t translating to goals. He’s got the same finishing issues as Liam Gillion only he’s creating less (and Gillion was a good finisher for Auckland City so there’s reason to think he’ll figure that out when given more time). Not that Gillion is the guy who should have been playing there... Jesse Randall is that guy. But Neyder Moreno should be back next week so it’s a moot point.
Some more updated AFC stats...
Guillermo May has attempted 81 shots this season (27 on target, with 8 goals scored). The next three most prominent shooters in the squad (Moreno, Mata, and Gillion) have combined for 78 shots.
When Max Mata is on the pitch, AFC have scored 20 goals and conceded five in 661 minutes, which works out to 2.73 goals scored per ninety minutes and 0.68 goals conceded per ninety minutes Compare that to when Max Mata is off the pitch, when AFC have scored 22 goals and conceded 16 in 1320 minutes, working out to 1.50 goals scored/90 and 1.09 goals conceded/90
As anticipated, Western United won against Perth and Melbourne City won against Central Coast so Auckland FC didn’t get much closer to the Premiers’ Plate in round 25. Second-placed Western Utd have won five matches in a row and can get to a maximum of 53 points. Auckland FC are on 46 points... thus the magic number is eight. It was nine before this round, it is eight after this round. One more win and the lowest that AFC can possibly finish will be third. This week sees Melbourne City (40 pts) host Brisbane Roar, Western United (41 pts) are away to Western Sydney, and AFC are away to Sydney FC.
Oh yeah and the Wellington Phoenix won! Snapped an eight-game streak without victory by beating Newcastle Jets 2-1 on the road. The first half was quite possibly the best they’ve played all season, with Kazuki Nagasawa looking fantastic in the front three (much prefer him there to in the midfield) while Kosta Barbarouses returned to how he was playing earlier in the season by relying on his brilliant off-ball movement rather than trying to drop in and link up on the ball. Both those two scored goals.
The second half was much wobblier as the Nix devolved back into the image of a team that can’t remember how to win games. Josh Oluwayemi might have been fouled for the own goal he scored but he also might have punched that ball clear. The same bloke also made a couple of superb saves though. He came out on top of the balance sheet. Plenty of hearty defensive blocks from the back three as well – Corban Piper, Scott Wootton, and Isaac Hughes. Not to mention poor Matty Sheridan...
That win should ensure that the Phoenix finish no lower than eleventh place where they currently are... and they could yet climb as high as ninth if they’ve got a few more of these ones in them. Kosta Barbarouses is also now within three goals of Archie Goodwin’s Golden Boot lead so there’s that to ponder as well.
In trying to figure out who the secret talisman is for the Phoenix - in the way that Max Mata seems to massively improve Auckland FC whenever he’s involved - it would appear that the answer is Kazuki Nagasawa...
Welly Nix with Nagasawa: 1279 mins | 17 GF | 15 GA | 1.20 G/90 | 1.06 GA/90
Welly Nix without Nagasawa: 701 mins | 6 GF | 19 GA | 0.77 G/90 | 2.44 GA/90
Nagasawa only has five instances of playing ninety minutes so this isn’t about specific games played, with the on/off stats involving lots of him being subbed off (except for KN being an unused sub for the 6-1 derby defeat that derailed the Phoenix’s entire fragile season). However, these are the games that Nagasawa didn’t start:
1-2 loss vs Adelaide
0-1 loss vs Melbourne City
1-6 loss vs Auckland FC
0-1 loss vs Melbourne City
1-4 loss vs Western United
1-1 draw vs Sydney FC
He doesn’t necessarily feel like a glue player but that there is quite a lot of evidence that the Wellington Phoenix have been a far more effective team whenever Kazuki Nagasawa has been out there.
The Football Ferns were supposed to be playing against Chinese Taipei tomorrow night. They were supposed to have a practice game against the same opponents during the weekend too – no caps on offer for that one, so chances are everyone would have gotten some game time. Alas, that’s not going to happen. First the training game was canned because of “safety concerns over the pitch” and, well, the proper game was set to take place at the same venue so you can guess what happened next.
NZF: “The stadium staff have worked to improve the pitch since issues were first raised, but unfortunately, in its current condition, New Zealand Football have had to prioritise player welfare and call off the match, as it is unsuitable and unsafe to play on. Alternative venues were sought immediately when concerns were raised, but no suitable grass pitch options were available, so unfortunately the match has had to be called off.”
So... no game for the Fernies this window. They did get the squad together for some useful training sessions but they were already cutting it fine by including a non-official match and now they won’t get anything at all. Sounds like it was NZF’s decision to can the matches, though it was the state of the local venues that caused it. That and, seemingly, a desire to play on grass pitches rather than artificial alternatives. While that may sound picky, it’s probably fair enough. Those artificials vary drastically in quality and can be pretty hard on the body which, combined with the travel, would have put the Ferns at risk of unnecessary injuries – especially with most of them carrying the wear and tear of being late in their club seasons. Note that there’s no Men’s international window in April.
The Ferns have been victims of circumstance... but you know what would have saved them the trouble? If they’d scheduled home games instead. Since the World Cup, New Zealand has played 2/19 fixtures in Aotearoa (those two being against Thailand in the April window of 2024). Seems less than ideal. Hosting internationals is a lot more expensive but remember that the Ferns didn’t schedule games in either the October or November windows after the Olympics. They can’t play again until the end of May at which point we’ll have only had two internationals (both away in Costa Rica) across the previous ten months. Plus they don’t even have a permanent coach – this was to be Michael Mayne’s last interim joint. We’re going to need to see the Senior Women’s National Team taken a little more seriously, please folks.
Musical Jam...
