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Blackcaps development pockets, NBL Free Agency, Wellington Phoenix shot maps, NZ Warriors snapshot, Kiwis in SG Ball finals & more
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Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: The Jacob Laban Debut For NZ Warriors (Rugby League)
Aotearoa Warriors Diary: The Grind Continues vs Sea Eagles (Rugby League)
Notes From The Wellington Phoenix’s 2-1 Defeat vs Central Coast Mariners (Football)
Flying Kiwis – April 9 (Football)
Football Ferns vs Thailand: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back (Football)
The Wellington Phoenix A-League Women’s 2023-24 Season In Review (Football)
Picking One Intriguing Player From Every NZ NBL Team (Basketball)
How Wellington Became 2023/24 Plunket Shield Champions (Cricket)
New Zealand's 10 Best Young Cricketers After The Summer Of 2023/24 (Cricket)
Breaking Down The Blackcaps T20 Squad To Tour Pakistan (Cricket)
2024 Kiwi County Tour: Nathan Smith, Tom Bruce & Will Williams Get Started (Cricket)
27fm Album Jukebox – March 2024 (Music)
27fm Weekly Playlist: April 12 (Music)
Scotty’s Word
A couple changes have been made to the Blackcaps T20 squad that will play in Pakistan with Tom Blundell and Zak Foulkes coming in for Finn Allen and Adam Milne who are injured. As discussed in our Subscriber Pod yesterday there are three pockets of Blackcaps development happening across the world right now (IPL squads, County Championship and Blackcaps in Pakistan) and these developments reinforce this kinda global training camp.
Tom Bruce and Nathan Smith could have added to the Blackcaps T20 squad but they have fabulous opportunities to roll through consistent County Championship games. Blundell is among a group of Blackcaps who were in a fourth pocket of chillin' and training in Aotearoa, now he adds some extra batting and wicket-keeping. Foulkes is obviously the funkiest selection and he deserves to get a crack. We have covered Foulkes all summer in these newsletters and across all channels, but his T20 record lays out his case nicely...
Bat: 26.25avg/128sr
Ball: 15.84avg/6.94rpo
Might go deeper into these tweaks tomorrow. Also in our Subscriber Pod I highlighted the turmoil of Pakistan cricket...
Pakistan defeated New Zealand at the World Cup last year but didn't make the semi-finals. An overhaul was apparently required led by Babar Azam who stepped down as captain and was replaced by Shaheen Shah Afridi for T20s and Shan Masood in Tests. Pakistan lost three Tests in Australia, then lost four T20Is in Aotearoa before winning the last game of the series. Somewhere in all of that there was a coaching change and Mohammed Hafeez took over as team director/interim coach, only to step down after two months in that role. Now Azam has taken back the captaincy for this T20 series vs New Zealand.
First, dabble in gratitude that Blackcaps cricket isn't as shambolic as Pakistan. This also plants seeds for an intriguing series in which this second-third tier Blackcaps group could get some upset wins.
NZ Warriors club update...
NRL: 7th (3-2)
NSW Cup: 10th (2-3)
U21s: 14th (0-4)
U19s: 12th (3-5-1)
U17s: 6th (5-3)
U17s played a Harold Matthews Cup final vs Eels in Sydney this weekend. U19 SG Ball has finished for NZW and the worst team for NZW is U21s but age can determine results an NZW are rolling out a few U19 lads while other teams may have more 21-year-olds.
Also from yesterday's Subscriber Pod - I'm trying to suss out how NZW are using U21s and Fox Memorial. NZW have U21 lads in NSW Cup, Fox Memorial and Jersey Flegg. The Jersey Flegg core features Luke Hanson, Etuate Fukofuka, Toby Crosby, Presley Seumanu, Ieti Samuelu, Makaia Tafua and Harry Durbin.
Some of those lads listed have already played NSW Cup or Fox Memorial last year. Fukofuka, Seumanu and Tafua were regulars in Fox Memorial last year for example. Now they are holding steady in U21s and I don't know how these two zones are ranked within NZW, although it's probably catered to the individual needs of a player. This basically means that U21 players will enter NSW Cup from Fox Memorial and Jersey Flegg, giving NZW different development avenues towards reserve grade.
Here is the Kiwi-NRL flavour in U19 SG Ball finals…
Knights: Sosaia Latu (Mangere East), Haami Loza (Otara/Mangere East), Te Kaio Cranwell (Linwood), Bailey Carmichael (RBHS)
Bulldogs: Shaye Faa'aoga (Pt Chev), Sosaia Alatini (Hornby), Sione Siulua (Manurewa), Roy Tatupu (MAGS)
Eels: Javahn Stevenson-Hala (PNBHS), Dakota Kakoi (Linwood)
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
Another massive Wellington Phoenix game tonight. Home vs Melbourne Victory. A win would not only keep the pressure on Central Coast, who don’t play until tomorrow, but it would also ensure a guaranteed top two finish and thus a bye through the first round of the finals (and a home game in the second round). With Central Coast having to take an AFC Cup trip to Kyrgyzstan next week that minor premiership race is still very much on despite defeat last week in Gosford.
I wrote about that game afterwards, as well as a closer look at how the battle for first place was affected by it, but one thing that’s struck me since then was how uncharacteristic that winning goal was.
It’s a drum I’ve been beating on all season, how the Nix’s defensive strategy involves them allowing a lot of shots but mostly lower percentage shots. That stems from shutting down the most dangerous areas (i.e. shots from inside the penalty area and between the posts), daring teams to panic and shoot from further out. Most of them do exactly that. But I finally managed to wrangle an actual shot map for the Nix defence (thanks to the fact that Alex Paulsen has played every minute, therefore his Fotmob stats are the team’s Fotmob stats) and that turned out to be a rather educational discovery.
Here is the overall shot chart...
Heaps of shots yet so many of them are from deep or from wider areas within the 18-yard box. Meanwhile most of the goals they’ve scored came from that danger zones in the middle... just like most goals scored in all football games come from that danger zone in the middle.
Note also how far below the xGOT that Paulsen is. That’s expected goals from shots on target. Basically, that’s a concept specifically focusing on shots that engage the keeper. The xG number is based on all attempts. The xGOT number suggests how likely that shot is to be scored in the event that it’s on target, hence the number is higher (though it discounts off target attempts). Anyway, point being he’s conceded way less than a mere mortal goalkeeper would have.
Now check it out for only the shots from outside the penalty area...
That Doka banger that won the CCM game was only the second goal from 40 shots outside the area against the Welly Nix this season. The other was a rip-snorter from Aleksandar Susnjar for Perth Glory during the Nix’s 4-3 win in Unite Round in January. Goes to show what a rare event that Doka goal was... even if it could end up costing the Nix the Premiers Plate.
They gave The Chief a bit of a spotlight on the A-Leagues All Access show this week. Which used to be a 20-30 minute show but is now apparently only a six minute mini-feature so not quite ALL access any longer but they did still manage to find a few sweet insights into how Giancarlo Italiano works and why he’s been so immediately successful with the Wellington Phoenix...
We’ve got updates from the Australian NBL. Free agency officially begins on Monday but we all know that’s never stopped anyone in professional sports before. Starting with the Breakers, they got the big scoop last week of Parker Jackson-Cartwright returning – the first import to come back for a second year since the ownership changed. PJC joins a short list of Rick Rickert, Mike Chappell, Gary Wilkinson, and most recently Cedric Jackson. Finally. They made it happen. And according to PJC the tipping point was the wonderful shopping and restaurant culture in Auckland, specifically those second hand stores on K Road.
“I'm going to come back and spend hundreds of thousands of hours going through the vintage stores in K-Road again, and eating at the great restaurants that they have. I can’t wait to return.”
This guy grew up in Los Angeles but okay, each to their own, apparently Tamaki Makaurau is thriving. Sidenote: it must be weird for basketball players to go out and do stuff anonymously in society because their height always gives them away. Every now and then there are photos of Steven Adams doing various things and he’s so distinctively himself. But PJC is 5’11 so he might actually get away with it. I also got piqued by this other quote upon his re-signing...
“This club has won multiple championships and when you bring a guy back like myself and you build a team, you think 'championship'. That's why you sign. You sign to be part of something bigger than yourself.”
Love a bit of the ol’ humblebrag. Signing me equals competing for a championship... which means I’m buying into something bigger than myself.
There is going to be a very different look to this Breakers team next time though, with a heap of Jackson-Cartwright’s teammates gapping it in free agency. For a team that lost in the play-ins coming off a finals appearance that might not be a terrible thing. All depends on whether they can rebuild in keeping with how they did so two years ago or if they continue to not learn their lessons by chasing the best players without considering the fit and the connection to the club.
On that note, it’s a bummer to say that Will McDowell-White and Finn Delany appear to be heading out the door. WMW has declined his contract options and while there’s conflicting stuff over Delany, it’s either a case of him also declining a player option or possibly using an overseas out-clause. Izayah Le’afa is also predicted to leave now that his contract has run down.
Word is that Le’afa has been lined up by the Sydney Kings which would actually be pretty fantastic for him so fair enough. If Marc Hinton’s scoops on Stuff are anything to go by – and they usually are – then the Breakers are hoping to swing that back by grabbing Jonah Bolden from the Kings (he of 61 NBA appearances for Philadelphia and Phoenix, as well as being an Aussie international) to be their next starting big man. Mangok Mathiang is apparently exploring overseas options.
Additionally, Hinton’s latest piece claims that Mojave King and Mitch McCarron are Breakers targets (an idea that’s also been reported in Australia). King was born in Dunedin but grew up in Australia, whom he wants to represent internationally, and was drafted second round by the Indiana Pacers (via a trade with LA Lakers) last year. But he never progressed past G-League and is now without a contract. He’s played NBL before with Cairns and Adelaide whilst still a teenager. McCarron is currently with Taranaki Airs in the NZ league, which ain’t his first stint in the NZ comp. He’d potentially be a replacement for Cam Gliddon as the reliable Aussie veteran guard on the roster. Bul Kuol has drawn rumoured interest from NZB too (amongst other teams). Sounds like Italian teenager Dame Sarr is the frontrunner for their next Next Star experiment. Elephant in the room is a disturbing lack of kiwi recruits amongst all this… not that we ought to be surprised at this stage.
Sam Mennenga and Dane Pineau are the other players currently and officially signed, alongside PJC, though Carlin Davison, Alex McNaught, and Max Darling do have additional development player contract years (those DP ones aren’t always set in stone though). Technically Mantas Rubstavicius too... but that’s only so they can get compensation if/when he’s drafted. Not sure what Finn Delany’s up to but at a guess he’ll probably return to Europe. McDowell-White was courted by half the league a year ago so he’ll have his NBL options available. Both those two suffered last season from less than ideal fits alongside imports Zylan Cheatham and PJC.
Elsewhere with the kiwis, Tyrell Harrison’s had his contract option taken up by the Brisbane Bullets, while Sam Waardenburg’s one-year contract extension with Cairns Taipans has now been confirmed. Sounds like the Perth Wildcats will pick up Tai Webster’s option but decline Corey Webster’s option, while Dontae Russo-Nance was meant to be elevated to the main roster after a year as DP, it was in his contract, but they’ve renegotiated that in order to free up another local spot and DRN will remain a DP. Hyrum Harris is still under contract there although Jack Andrew is a free agent after two years as development player.
There’s now an official NBL Free Agent list so updating last week’s notes on the kiwi players...
Contracted (13)
Tyrell Harrison (Brisbane), Sam Waardenburg (Cairns), Flynn Cameron & Shea Ili (Melbourne), Sam Mennenga (Breakers), Alex McNaught, Carlin Davison & Max Darling (Breakers – DPs), Finn Delany (Breakers – but only until he takes his overseas opt-out), Dontae Russo-Nance (Perth – DP), Hyrum Harris & Tai Webster (Perth), Walter Brown (Tasmania - DP)
Free Agents (13)
Tohi Smith-Milner (Adelaide), Keanu Rasmussen (Adelaide – if you wanna count him), Rob Loe (Melbourne – retired), Izayah Le’afa, Dan Fotu & Dom Kelman-Poto (Breakers), Tom Abercrombie (Breakers – retired), Corey Webster & Jack Andrew (Perth), Anzac Rissetto & Reuben Te Rangi (SEM), Sam Timmins (Sydney), Tom Vodanovich (Tasmania)
Now I’m duty bound as an avowed psych-head to hype up the latest Earth Tongue offering...