Wild Times
Aotearoa Sporting Wahine, Flying Kiwis Weirdness & National League Footy
Podcast
TNC Variety Show - Episode 42
The Niche Cast - Keep It Tidy/Stay Steady
Reading Menu
2021/22 Women's Super Smash: Bouncing Back With Suzie Bates and Amelia Kerr (Cricket)
Football Ferns vs Korea Republic: Game Tahi, All About The System (Football)
An Analysis Of Alex Rufer, The Welly Nix’s Most Misunderstood Player (Football)
The 2020 Aotearoa Warriors SG Ball Team Was Really Good (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Takeover Continues With Seven Young Hookers From Auckland Signed To NRL Clubs (Rugby League)
Flying Kiwis – November 24 (Football)
Scotty’s Word
Sophie Devine, Lydia Ko and Aotearoa’s sporting wahine…
Sophie Devine and Rachel Priest were the only kiwis in this summer’s Women’s Big Bash League. Usually there is a hearty group of White Ferns playing WBBL and the change in vibe for this season is low key positive as most Ferns have been bolstering Aotearoa’s domestic cricket. This also amplifies the antics of Devine as her Perth Scorchers won WBBL07.
Devine and Priest both hit centuries early in the competition. Priest was playing for Hobart and they wound up with a 5-8 record to miss finals cricket, with Priest finishing on 262 runs @ 20.15avg/103sr. Devine finished 3rd in runs with 442 runs @ 34avg/128sr and 10w @ 19.60avg/7.25rpo; forming a fabulous opening duo with Beth Mooney (1st for runs) and adding an extra bowling option to Perth’s three bowler in the top-10 for wickets.
This wasn’t dominant Devine, this was Devine playing her role in a championship team. Devine has played seven seasons of WBBL averaging 30+ with the bat in all but two seasons, while also averaging below 25 with the ball in four of the last five campaigns. Overall in WBBL, Devine averages 39.94 with the bat and 22.28 with the ball which is pure all-round excellence.
The wider context to ponder here is how Devine’s WBBL mahi translates to the White Ferns ODI World Cup. Whether it’s WBBL or Super Smash, Devine is a destructive force. In 50-over cricket though, Devine’s output is aligned with a losing White Fern team and like Amelia Kerr, this is among Devine’s worst in ODI cricket. Devine averaged 30+ with the bat in every year from 2013-2019 before sliding from 25avg in 2021 to 18.25 this year. With the ball, Devine’s T20I average of 17.64 balloons up to 37.12 in ODI cricket.
There is lots of Women’s World Cup propaganda as NZC and various parties build buzz around the home World Cup. Devine’s WBBL excellence and what she does in the most visible domestic competition (Super Smash) can easily be tied into World Cup buzz, although when you dig deeper there is plenty of caution around how these various White Ferns pieces align in ODI cricket for the World Cup.
This sets up the glorious year of Aotearoa women’s sport in relation to women’s cricket. Devine’s WBBL antics combined with Lydia Ko’s epic 2021 in my mind over the weekend, which then flowed back to the Olympics where Ko, Valerie Adams, Lisa Carrington and Women’s Sevens formed my favourite thing about Aotearoa’s Tokyo Olympics campaign. Devine is joined by Suzie Bates, Amy Sattherthwaite, Lea Tahuhu and Amelia Kerr in this realm of wahine excellence.
We don’t view women’s sport any differently to men’s sport at the Niche Cache. We celebrate excellence and poke holes in stuff that doesn’t make sense. As we round the final bend of 2021, I’m reflecting on Aotearoa women’s sport and how epic this year has been for our upper echelon of female athletes. As crappy as Devine’s year with White Ferns was, Devine’s mana ensured that she would sustain her high level of play in WBBL and the same vibe is present in Ko’s mana as she cruised through niggly years to enjoy 2021.
Football Ferns are on the rise and frequent footy is crucial to their visibility. Abby Erceg and Ria Percival are players who get regular mentions in our mahi, they fit into that Aotearoa wahine upper echelon. They also have an exciting World Cup on the horizon in this part of the world and as we leave 2021, I’m fizzing to see how all women’s sport elevates with a couple World Cups and plenty of talent emerging.
There has been a lack of international rugby league during this period. I’ll be following the Kiwi Ferns and Aotearoa’s presence in NRLW closely when that swings around, which is another massive area of growth. Because of the lack of fixtures etc, this angle has been lost and I’m curious about the general premise of Aotearoa rugby league emerging from hibernation; I know what’s happening beneath the surface while nothing is happening on the surface.
You would have read the Wildcard’s updates on Charlisse Leger-Walker in these emails and I see the same swift growth happening in basketball that is present in various ways across football and cricket. Tall Ferns will only get better, just as the Football Ferns feel like they can only get better as young players step in with greater talent than those who came before them.
All of this comes without Black Ferns or Silver Ferns. We don’t buzz about rugby union or netball and mainstream media still views these sports as hubs of female sport in Aotearoa. We obviously want the best for all Aotearoa sport, so it’s not about taking away from a sport or dimming their light. The other female sports we dive deep into though are exploding with talent and buzz, which presents an intriguing juncture as girls have far more options available to them than netball.
Devine and Ko feel like fabulous representations of Aotearoa sport. Ko endured a tough period that she rolled through with a smile to finish 2021 as the only golfer to win two Olympic medals. Devine battled a adversity this year, struggling for form and battling the dark arts that come with a lack of form. Devine then found a zone to win WBBL07 and all the same sporting narratives that dominate men’s sport are present across Aotearoa’s female athletes. We love our lads to be mellow troopers with no drama, just sporting excellence and do your job vibes. 2021 is the year of Aotearoa wahine sport because every pocket I explore has a kiwi woman battling adversity, overcoming and growing to finish 2021 in a far better spot.
Maybe it’s how Carrington won more medals in different kayak events, or how Adams won more medals as a mum. Maybe it’s Rebekah Stott battling Hodgkin’s Lymphoma to get back into professional footy. Maybe it’s Ko, Devine and Amelia Kerr dealing with adversity to bounce back. Maybe it’s how Aotearoa’s female rugby league players were on the cusp of consistent NRLW footy only for no NRLW footy for two years.
Ending 2021 is a great time to slow down and celebrate Aotearoa wahine sporting excellence. It’s also a time to ponder how the next few years might look and there are easy windows to peep into such as World Cups in Aotearoa/Australia, as well as growing resource/opportunities available to sports that are primed for rapid expansion.
Brad Riddell update…
On Friday I laid out all things Team City Kickboxing. Today this interview with Brad Riddell dropped. Peep the Tonga Rugby League singlet.
Wildcard’s Notebook
Flying Kiwis Weirdness...
This at the very end of an already thrilling game. Viking had come back from a goal down right at the end, not playing particularly well but pulling out the victory in the clutch to beat Kristiansund in what was their toughest remaining fixture. With that they’re now a point away from securing third place in the Eredivisie with two games left. But nah that wasn’t enough chaos. Still had to chuck in some shenanigans at the death Viking finished with ten men after two of their dudes got into a fight... with each other. Goalkeeper Patrik Gunnarsson and defender David Brekalo.
Not sure what the handbags were about, probably just the heat of battle and all that, but Brekalo gave Gunnarsson a shove which he didn’t appreciate too much so he got back up in Brekalo’s face. Thus the big defender gave him another couple heavy palms to the chest and this time Gunnarsson took a wild tumble. Like, he clearly exaggerated the contact, as they say. Getting his own buddy in trouble. Whaaaaat was going on!?
Joe Bell did his best to talk the referee out of anything drastic as other VFK players separated the two scrappers but alas ‘twas to no avail. Out came the red card. Up went Joe Bell’s hands to his face in disbelief. Off went David Brekalo for a slightly early shower (there were basically only seconds remaining).
But it’s all good, folks, because there’s a happy end to this yarn. Gunnarsson and Brekalo shared some ‘Smil’ branded lollies at the airport as they put the drama behind them.
All’s well that ends well. Viking FK, who were playing second tier football in 2018, are on the brink of their best league finish since 2007. Which will come with Europa Conference League second qualifying round entry too... though whether Joe Bell will still be there to partake in those experiences is another matter. They did well to hold on to him when the summer transfer window closed but now the winter one is only a month away. Very real possibility that these next two games will be his last for the club.
But that wasn’t all. Joey Champness scored his second goal for Giresunspor over the weekend and that was a bonkers situation too. G’spor rolling Besiktas 4-0 and JOWIC getting the fourth, right at the end from a counter attack slotting into an empty net after the keeper busted his knee trying to adjust to the oncoming overload. Can’t embed on Substack but have a click on the link here.
Is it poor form from Champness carrying on and scoring rather than kicking the ball out? Personally speaking... I don’t think so. These things happen so quickly and Champness probably didn’t even realise the extent of the injury (or whether he was injured at all) until it was too late. There was a replay which showed the goalie’s knee bending at a sick angle so he defs wasn’t faking it. Dude had to be subbed off. But Joey wasn’t to know that as soon as it happened.
Champness had like five seconds max to make a decision there, don’t see how you can hold that against him. That’s three times as long as it took Will Young to not review his LBW in time last night for the Blackcaps. Not to mention that Champness is a new signing trying to make the most of any opportunity that comes his way. He might not have even realised the keeper had gone down at first as he charged head-down towards goal, shrinking that five second window even further.
Nah, I don’t have a problem with that. If it were a contact injury with a Giresunspor player then yeah absolutely kick it out. But a freak incident off the ball like that is just a freak incident. There are no rules. And it’ll never happen again in Champness’ career so there isn’t even really a lesson to be learned.
Here’s another one: these two random incidents also came in the same month as Andre De Jong’s AmaZulu team had a match against Marumo Gallants abandoned nine minutes into the contest because there was a clash of kits that the officials deemed too drastic for play to continue. It was navy blue against a dark green and players were having trouble differentiating. Officials called things to a halt and then ended up calling the game off altogether because the floodlights at the AmaZulu stadium had been taken down for repairs so they didn’t have time to find a solution against the encroaching darkness.
Here was the kit clash...
Annoying for Andre De Jong because he was making his first start in ages, getting a game completely out of the blue (though he’s made the most of this return to the rotation with a couple assists in his last two games – shout out to ADJ). Thankfully they were ordered to play the game again the next day (it ended 0-0) and they weren’t allowed to make changes to the starters so that was cool. ADJ got 65 mins.
The two teams were also heavily fined and on top of that forced to pay for the costs of rescheduling... which was entirely fair because this was an entirely avoidable situation. Gallants had travelled without a second kit and AmaZulu, as the home team, had refused to change. As well as the non-functioning lights. Madness on all counts. However AmaZulu did compromise for the replay by wearing their white away kit.
So... yeah, it’s been a wild time in the Flying Kiwis ranks.
National League Thoughts...
1) We have our finalists. With Wellington Olympic bagging a very late comeback win over Western Suburbs, and Miramar Rangers doing the business over Cashmere Technical, they’re both four points clear of anyone else going into the final round. They’ll be meeting in the final no matter what else happens and considering they just last week played a thrilling 4-4 draw that sounds like a pretty fine way to end this compacted season. They’ve been the two best teams, can’t complain. Only games they’ve failed to win were against each other. Cannot wait for the rematch.
2) Canterbury were looking a tad ragged after the first half of the first half against Central. Beat them 5-0 a week earlier but here it was still 0-0. The Pride were coughing up some sloppy possession and leaving themselves vulnerable on the break. Not great. Whitney Hepburn and Annalie Longo were both on the bench, given a rest from the start, and it showed as their midfield struggled to break down a dogged Central side. So they subbed on Longo after 29 mins and she ended up with two goals and two assists in a 5-0 win. After scoring two with one assist in the first meeting with Central. Absolutely ruthless.
3) Ben Mata, big man central defender, has four goals in four games. All four of them have come from the penalty spot. In a team stocked full of attacking flair players and set piece specialists (Sinclair, Gould, McKeown, Bouzoukis, etc.), it’s the captain and central defender who takes the spotties. And for good reason. Wrote this many a-time last season when Mata was producing the goods for Team Wellington: he may look like a lumberjack style defender, and he certainly wins more than his fair share of headers and tackles, but the fella’s got some deceptively silky skills too and you can see that clearly from his penalty technique. He’s not closing his eyes and smashing them. He takes a slow and steady run up, keeps his head up, and then just strokes them buggers into either bottom corner. Pure as it gets.
4) Josh Rudland was sent off as a sub in his first appearance, then scored a first-half hatty in his second. Definitely enjoyed that from him... and it wasn’t like he was just hovering in the right place at the right time. I mean, he was... but also his movement was crucial to the WeeNix getting off to a fast start against Selwyn. Taking advantage of a less-than-100% backline for their hosts, the WeeNix blitzed them from the outset. Quick passing and lots of players in motion. It was great to see. Did that in the absence of top scorer Oskar Van Hattum who had the week off having scored all four of the team’s goals to that point. Now Rudland (3) and Luis Toomey (2) are hot on his heels following a 5-0 win. Certainly didn’t see that coming, biggest margin of victory of the Men’s South Central Series and it came in a match between two previously winless teams.
5) If Southern had beaten Capital at home then they’d have only needed one point against Central next week (or Canterbury the week after) to clinch the title. It was right there for the taking supposing they could repeat last week’s defensive masterclass... but instead they got Southerned themselves. Capital scored inside 20 mins as Emma Main flicked in an Anna Green free kick and then defended supremely despite being down a couple of regulars. Further goals either side of half-time meant that Capital not only took the win 3-0 to overturn their loss a week earlier but they did so whilst claiming the head to head over Southern. Canterbury took care of business against Central in the other match so it’s all on for the last two weeks. Three teams still in it to win it.
6) No way I’m gonna do this myself because I’m crammed for time enough as it is with all this beautiful football... but if I could choose a selection of specific highlight compilation videos to watch from this season that selection would look something like this:
Wan Gatkek doing stepovers
Ben Mata winning headers, especially from attacking set pieces
All of Ollie Whyte’s completed passes
Garbhan Coughlan drawing fouls
Anna Green’s set piece deliveries
Jack-Henry Sinclair hitting the afterburners into space
Kees Sims pinging long range passes right on teammates’ feet
Every time Annalie Longo received the ball on the turn
The shot-stopping prowess of Pieter-Taco Bierema and Brooke Bennett
Margi Dias attempting bicycle kicks
7) No explanation necessary (or possible)…
