El Niche Cache

Is Glenn Phillips The Best Blackcaps Batter? White Ferns Shenanigans

The Niche Cache — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 22:32:17 GMT

Vibe Conductor

The Niche Cache — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 06:22:11 GMT

Scotty’s Word

After losses against West Indies and Sri Lanka, the White Ferns seem likely to miss the T20 World Cup semi-finals and that’s far more common than most would assume. White Ferns won the 2024 T20WC but that is the only time they have made the semi-finals in the last eight World Cups.

Prior to the championship they missed the semi-finals in three consecutive T20WC and they have missed the semi-finals in three ODIWC in a row. New Zealand can’t be a top-four team in women’s cricket if they rarely make semi-finals and while the ODI team has been refreshed since last year’s ODIWC, offering a completely different vibe to the T20I group, the T20I outfit keeps the gloomy flame alive.

Coach Ben Sawyer and his staff have made some strange decisions for this tournament… as well as watching the fielding standards fall off a cliff. All year I have pondered what will happen with Suzie Bates as she wasn’t offering much with bat or ball. While I didn’t think she should be 1st 11, there seemed to be a plan to roll with Bates in the 1st 11 through the T20WC.

I was preparing for that and was open to Bates holding down a vibe conductor role in the team.

After months of planning and preparation, Bates wasn’t selected vs Windies and then didn’t play against Sri Lanka either.

Lea Tahuhu also hasn’t played those games. Meanwhile, Rosemary Mair is averaging 127 in T20I bowling this year - that’s the same as Glenn Phillips’ Test batting average in 2026.

Mair is in her second year of T20I bowling averaging 100+ and Tahuhu has never averaged 30+ in 15 years of T20I bowling. Tahuhu is averaging 20 this year and has averaged over 25 in just one of her last seven years.

Big ups Brooke Halliday who hit her second 40+ score in 47 T20I innings with 40 runs vs Windies. Halliday could bowl but she doesn’t in T20Is so she is an automatic 1st 11 player with 15.4avg/100sr this year and 14.5avg/98sr in her career.

Halliday has played all 13 T20Is this year and Mair is third for the most overs bowled behind the Kerr sisters. These two are playing big roles for White Ferns in T20Is despite not doing much to warrant those roles and this, along with goofy selection planning, is a recipe for bad juju. Bad juju that flows through the mangroves…

Sophie Devine is the most expensive NZ bowler this year and her 7.8rpo makes her the only bowler over 7rpo with 10+ overs.

Bowlers who haven’t taken a wicket at T20WC: Devine (5.3ov), Mair (8ov), A-Kerr (8ov)

Georgia Plimmer’s recent T20I scores: 1, 4, 29, 27, 0, 0, 8, 18.

Plimmer’s strike-rate has progressed but she is still averaging under 21 in both formats and hasn’t climbed over 20avg in 5 years of T20I batting...

Izzy Sharp has struggled to elevate to the T20WC level after decent scores vs Sri Lanka, South Africa, England. Sharp’s T20I scores: 0, 8*, 17*, 22*, 18*, 4, 29, 7*, 26*, 0, 5, 0.

White Ferns now play Ireland on Saturday morning followed by Scotland on Tuesday night. They should win both games and I’m guessing they would need to do something crazy against England to have a chance at making the semi-finals. The grim vibe isn’t a good sign though and the journey of White Ferns under coach Sawyer continues to be one of the odd high point, with many deep dark lows.

Glenn Phillips is my best Blackcaps batter right now. He is the only Aotearoa batter with 60+ runs in this series vs England and Phillips is well above that mark on 127 runs @ 127avg/77sr after his 49* on the first day. That puts Phillips third for Blackcaps Test runs this year as one of three batters with 100+ runs and he doesn’t even have a 50+ score yet this year.

Phillips is another Blackcap who is better overseas than in Aotearoa and he is currently averaging 30+ in all three formats. The other contender for the best batter is Rachin Ravindra and Phillips matches his 40+ average/100+ strike-rate zone in ODIs, is better in T20Is and climbing up towards Ravindra’s Test mahi.

This could open up space to shake up the Blackcaps top-five. Phillips is the best batter in this series yet he’s chillin’ at number seven in the line up, where he has 37.9avg/76sr. I’m not desperate to change Phillips’ role as he’s awesome down the order. I reckon he should settle in the number five position over the next couple of years which would allow for Phillips and Mitchell Santner to play in the same team.

For paid subscribers

Spotlights on Glenn Phillips, Tom Latham and Devon Conway
NZ Warriors per game stat rankings
NZ Warriors back five running mahi vs Sharks
Jett Cleary vs Luke Metcalf
Bulldogs Kiwi-NRL juniors returning to Aotearoa vs NZW

NZ Warriors are in Christchurch to play Cowboys and the two lower grades will play against Bulldogs. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad played 40 minutes on the wing vs Sharks in place of Alofiana Khan-Pereira and I was pretty impressed with how Nicoll-Klokstad took his opportunity as someone who has started all backline positions except for halfback in his career.

Nicoll-Klokstad had twice as many runs as Khan-Pereira, who was probably injured for the last phase of the first half. Nicoll-Klokstad averaged 8.2m/run vs Sharks which was slightly below Khan-Pereira’s 8.3m/run but these two averaged the most metres per run for the back five vs Sharks.

I prefer Taine Tuaupiki at fullback over Nicoll-Klokstad but this is another example of the depth available to NZW. Nicoll-Klokstad isn’t quite at the Roger Tuivasa-Sheck level of 8/10 in all outside back positions, but he is solid regardless of his position and when battling so many injuries, players like Nicoll-Klokstad are valuable.

Another thing to ponder is the perception that Panthers and Sharks forward packs have dominated the NZW forwards. The entire Panthers and Sharks teams won the physicality battles vs NZW which goes beyond the forward packs. Sharks for example monstered NZW when they went to the edges where one, maybe two, forwards are involved in the tackles.

I don’t think that will happen against Cowboys. I have been impressed with how the NZW identity and playing style was shown vs Panthers/Sharks despite missing six top-10 players. This highlights how the roots run deep for NZW as a younger team has been able to roll out the grind against two teams who have such effort and intensity in their footy identity.

Cowboys are different. They are a vibrant attacking team with a lighting fast backline, but gritty footy is not in their identity. Their defence is nothing like Panthers or Sharks, nor is their collective intensity in winning every tackle. Regardless of whether the Aussies back up etc, I reckon NZW can roll out a similar performance to their recent losses and get the win in Christchurch.

Griffin Neame will return to the South Island as part of the Cowboys team. He is from Greymouth but spent a few seasons playing with Halswell in Christchurch. Northland’s Wiremu Greig is also in the wider squad for Cowboys but probably won’t play, having worked his way back into the NRL mix with Cowboys after dipping last year with Eels.

Another thing for Cowboys is that Mason Barber will move to Perth Bears. Barber joins Te Hurinui Twidle in moving to Perth and that means that two of the best young play-makers from Aotearoa will be part of Perth’s squad. Barber is from Kaikohe and his best position is fullback, while Twidle is a Turangawaewae junior who made his NRL debut on the wing but usually plays fullback or halves with Eels.

Musical jam...

Nick’s Notebook

Players Who Scored Multiple Goals in their World Cup Openers...

Lionel Messi (Argentina) – 3 goals
Folarin Balogun (USA) – 2 goals
Yasin Ayari (Sweden) – 2 goals
Kai Havertz (Germany) – 2 goals
Elijah Just (New Zealand) – 2 goals
Erling Haaland (Norway) – 2 goals
Kylian Mbappe (France) – 2 goals
Harry Kane (England) – 2 goals

Nice grouping there of some of the world’s most potent attacking footballers. Good company for Eli Just to be keeping. But what stood out about Just’s performance against Iran wasn’t only the two sumptuous goals that he scored or his fantastic combinations with Chris Wood – we’ll call that combo Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) – but also how immense his workrate was. Not only Just but the entirety of the kiwi midfield. Joe Bell covered the most ground of anybody in the game and Just, Singh, Stamenic all weren’t far behind. Neither was Chris Wood for that matter. McCowatt was on track to be alongside them except he was subbed earlier.

We don’t have express pace in our squad. Funnily enough, the fastest recorded speed by a player so far this World Cup was actually Jordy Bos for Australia (36.7 km/h) while Mo Toure is fourth (35.8 km/h). Man City duo Erling Haaland and Abdukodir Khusanov sit in between them... while NZ’s fastest player, Ben Old (32.4 km/h), doesn’t even crack the top 100. In fact, our fastest player is the slowest fastest player of all the teams - 45 other teams have a player who has recorded a faster fastest pace than our fastest recorded pace (if that makes sense). We’re not dynamic like that but we brought the intensity against Iran which is what made it such a spectacle of a game. Can’t single anyone out when it was such a team effort but since Eli Just scored twice we might as well compare his physical workload and the defensive efforts he put into his game to another fella on that list. Two very distinct ways to get the job done here...

Messi covered barely half the distance that Just did (he was subbed with about five mins left so we’ll cut him a liiiiittle bit of slack) and nearly two-thirds of it was spent at walking or light-jog pace. But Messi is Messi so he wanders around doing nothing until the ball comes near and he’s suddenly activated, like flicking a switch, and he’ll do something astonishing.

Just stayed involved as often as possible. New Zealand didn’t really apply a direct press but they kept their guys rushing up to close passing lanes and Just was big into all of that. Same as he was constantly showing an option to the ball carrier, same as he was constantly pushing on when his team tried to advance the ball (especially on the break), same as he made continuous high-speed and full-speed runs throughout the game. Start to finish. Crazy fitness from the bro.

It was even crazier to see Sarpreet Singh doing the same stuff given how short on match fitness he is at the moment. Just is battle-hardened from a long season in Scotland whereas Singh has barely played 200 minutes of competitive football in 2026... but apparently he spent that whole time on the treadmill doing cardio. Also after watching Marko Stamenić be used in a variety of different ways for a variety of different clubs during his career, gotta say I think the best version of him is what we see for the All Whites where he’s got full midfield freedom, with a defensive option like Joe Bell beside him, and really gets to roam from box to box. Swansea City tended to use him more in that Joe Bell role last season so hopefully in his second season they’ll give him more licence/responsibility.

Tim Payne is reportedly going to sign with Club Olimpia in Paraguay after the World Cup. This would be the logically illogical conclusion of his social media superstardom. It also shapes to be a handy money maker for the Wellington Phoenix seeing as he’s still got two years on his contract and would therefore require a decent transfer fee. There were a bunch of dudes in this World Cup squad angling towards transfers after their recent club seasons, hoping to use the World Cup to boost their stocks. Elijah Just, Callum McCowatt, Matt Garbett, Sarpreet Singh, Finn Surman... didn’t expect Tim Payne to be the first deal done but here we are.

Might as well, right? Payne is 32 years old and he spent time overseas as a youngster – with Blackburn Rovers and Portland Timbers – but never kicked on beyond the academy teams at either. He’d probably have been happy playing out his career at the Welly Nix but then all this madness happened and suddenly opportunities have arisen that he never could have dreamed of beforehand. Initially it was the Argentine clubs supposedly interested in him. Then Uruguay and Paraguay were mentioned as other possible destinations. At no time did any of it feel real but, again, here we are. The news has been reported by Sky Sports UK, Associated Press, and by that Fabrizio Romano bloke (although he’ll report anything if you pay him enough).

To give you even more of an idea of how weird this all is, one of the Argentinian clubs that tried to sign him was Deportivo Riestra. The club even admitted they were interested and it would have fitted their modus operandi because two years ago they club got in trouble when they registered a Twitch streamer and picked him to start a top division game (then subbed him off inside the first minute) all as a publicity stunt. Fortunately, some of the other clubs that turned their heads towards the Payne Phenomena seem to be taking him more seriously as a footballer. T-Payne wouldn’t have upended his career for a gimmick so we can trust Olimpia have some sort of vision for him beyond the social media buzz.

Olimpia are the most successful club in Paraguay. They’ve won 48 Paraguayan league titles in their 123 year history, including the 2026 Apertura phase (this is another of those leagues where the season is split in half with Apertura and Clausura phases). They’ve won three Copa Libertadores titles, most recently in 2002. This year they’ve already topped a Copa Sudamericano (the second tier continental cup) group that included Vasco da Gama (Brazil, Audax Italiano (Chile), and Barracas Central (Argentina).

This is big time footy. Similar to when Marco Rojas joined Colo-Colo. Rojas had a couple of special moments with Colo-Colo though his is also a cautionary tale because even as someone with Chilean heritage he had struggles settling into the culture on and off the pitch. Meanwhile Payne can’t even speak Spanish (although his wife is half-Costa Rican so she does).

Random fact: Club Olimpia have had very few players through the years who weren’t from the Americas but they did sign the Togo legend Emmanuel Adebayor back in 2020. He only played three games for them though. Got red carded in his third appearance for karate kicking a fella in the face and then never went back once covid hit.

Plenty more All Whites x World Cup stuff for the paid whanau, not to mention a wee round-up of some kiwi footballing transfer details

Blackcaps vs England In Test Cricket…

Ben Stokes as ENG Captain: 2 wins, 0 draws, 7 defeats (2022-2026)
Joe Root as ENG Captain: 3 wins, 3 draws, 0 defeats (2018-2026)
Alastair Cook as ENG Captain: 1 win, 3 draws, 3 defeats (2013-15)

Kinda baffling that the last three permanent England captains have had such vastly different fates against New Zealand. Cook led England out here for a three-Test series in 2012-13 where every game ended in a draw. Later in 2013 his England side won 2-0 at home vs NZ, and two years later we returned again for a 1-1 draw across two matches. Only one win from seven matches against Cook’s England but we did okay in the series context, drawing two of the three.

Then Joe Root takes over and the Blackcaps figure it out, never losing in six matches against Root’s England. There was a home series in 2017-18 with a win and a draw. Two years later they came back for the same outcome. Then we went to England in 2021 (ahead of the WTC final) and what do ya know it was the same again. One win and one draw. Three series against Root’s England and three series victories.

But when Ben Stokes got the gig, fates changed and England swept Aotearoa 3-0 in 2022 in the first full series of so-called Bazball. When they came down under in 2022-23, New Zealand lost once and drew once. We did get a win when they returned in late 2024 but only after we’d already lost the first two games and the series. Three series against Ben Stokes and three defeats.

Stokes then led England to a win at Lord’s in the first game of the current series... before playing silly buggers with the team curfew that England Cricket felt they needed to implement after their dudes couldn’t behave themselves like adults during the previous Ashes series (including some shenanigans in New Zealand beforehand involving Harry Brook and a pub bouncer) and now he’s been suspended so England have gone back to Joe Root as captain and based on previous records the benefits of that might outweigh the sadness of Kane Williamson retiring mid-series.

Musical Jam...

Preparedness

The Niche Cache — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 06:39:21 GMT

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Scotty’s Word

NZ Warriors have lost two games in a row. Not ideal but a younger group has executed the long grind style of play and these experiences will be crucial later in the season. Seven of the top-20 didn’t play against Sharks and Sam Healey’s the only guy I don’t have as a top-10 player. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Tanah Boyd are out for the season with knee injuries. Kurt Capewell and Mitch Barnett are doing Aussie things. Leka Halasima got injured vs Panthers and James Fisher-Harris was a late withdrawal for the Sharks loss.

The best NZW stuff came in the second half once they had laid the foundations of gritty footy. Wayde Egan was busier around the ruck, Te Maire Martin started bouncing away from the defensive pressure and the outside backs went from running it straight to finding small gaps (DWZ styles). That included Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad making the most of his opportunity on the wing too.

Told you Makaia Tafua loved to whack in tackles. The younger players didn’t shine but they went deep into the set-for-set mangroves and played their roles in excellent defence on their tryline. Seeing this group of emerging players combine organised defence and crazy scramble efforts is a fabulous indicator of how the development pipeline is working.

NZW loss because they failed in the winning moments. Egan’s sloppy pass from dummy half to Martin, who went slow-mo through his droppie attempt. Pushing a pass/dropsies during a linebreak. Pompey didn’t look like he really wanted that kick at goal, so he missed it.

That is an example of everything you don’t want to do when trying to win a game by droppie. There were a couple runs that were barely runs (Demitric Vaimauga bounced on the spot) so the defence hadn’t made repeat efforts. NZW went too close to the tryline and made it very predictable for the defence to pounce.

The funny thing is that Luke Metcalf’s best attribute is his winning plays. Last season Metcalf would miss half the conversions, sometimes playing mediocre, and then make the winning play. Metcalf was good in NSW Cup but everyone in that team played well and it’s tricky to compare him to the NRL team because his NSW Cup team won their physical battle, while the NRL team lost theirs.

Metcalf was playing on the front footy ... in reserve grade. He should have classy touches in that setting. You know what else happened in the NSW Cup win vs Newtown? Jett Cleary had 14 runs - 147m @ 10.5m/run. He had a late shift from hooker to halves but one of his early runs was a dummy half run for 29m. In a team with awesome runners (Luke Hanson, Jye Linnane, Sio Kali, Christian Sikuvea, Jason Salalilo), Cleary was the best runner.

Also big up Jack Thompson for this dummy half run.

Hanson played fullback and played well. He seems most likely to depart NZW with Metcalf in the glut of halves, but if he’s also covering fullback then Hanson could stick around. I reckon Hanson could offer fullback depth behind Taine Tuaupiki and Nicoll-Klokstad, ready to play right now unlike the younger Joseph Ratcliffe.

I don’t believe in a ‘home advantage’ for NZW at Mt Smart. It’s weird because I prefer their crowds in Aussie, plus they go crazy in Christchurch so get ready for that. Wellington went kinda crazy for the Anzac game and they genuinely seem to help NZW. I’ve watched many teams win at Mt Smart during the two Andys era, including finals games and two of the four losses so far this season were at the temple.

So I don’t stress about the Mt Smart factor for finals footy. Regardless of where they play, the Warriors will draw big support in Australia during finals and I believe they are just as good in Aussie as they are on home soil.

I’m lacking juice at the moment so I have some quick yarns about the Blackcaps batting situation including the best emerging options, White Ferns deep cuts and Kristian Clarke’s first game of County Championship cricket. But wait…

Blackcaps have not played at The Oval since 1999. They have played seven Tests at Lord’s since 2000 with five losses and two draws.

Why have Kane Williamson, Tim Southee and Trent Boult had such icky retirements? I don’t think Boult has actually retired, he just drifted into T20 obscurity. Southee hung around during a steep decline and folks were kinda over him by the end. Williamson retired mid series. That’s awkward for Blackcaps in this series but Williamson’s murky commitment made developing emerging talent tricky.

Izzy Gaze is a wicket-keeper who struggles to catch the ball cleanly.

Rosemary Mair is a T20 bowler averaging over 100 in two consecutive years.

That wasn’t a shock win for West Indies because they beat White Ferns in Aotearoa during the 2022 ODI World Cup. Same clumsy cricket, same gloomy looks from the players and staff on the sidelines.

Musical jam...

Nick’s Notebook

The World Cup is underway and it is Matchday-Minus-One for the All Whites who face Iran at 1pm Tuesday NZT. Probably our most winnable game considering how much drama the Iranians are having to deal with simply to partake at all... sounds like Matt Garbett may have picked up a knock though and Ryan Thomas probably isn’t fit enough to start. Fortunately our attacking midfield stocks run pretty deep so we can make that work if need be.

This is a talented squad that’s been playing together for long enough that they don’t really have too many set combinations that we rely upon. We can go between our two goalies, between different centre-back duos, between various attacking support staff for Chris Wood… and it doesn’t make a major difference. Most of our best guys are established enough that they’ve played for multiple clubs in multiple countries and have experienced enough club success that they know what it takes. The worry I have is that we haven’t done much as an international team... and thus it remains to be seen how much mongrel we’ve got when it matters most.

There was a brilliant example of that when Australia beat Türkiye 2-0 on Sunday. Outstanding defensive shift for ninety minutes by the Aussies who have been getting taunted by their opponents (especially the Americans) since the draw was done but channelled that into some fair dinkum motivation. Turkey’s captain Hakan Çalhanoğlu (of Inter Milan) said the day before the match that his squad was more talented and would dominate... and he was right. They are and they did. But what they didn’t do was score any goals within that dominance and the 2010 All Whites could tell you about how that works. Especially at a World Cup where the pressure can do funny things and discipline, aggression, focus, and efficiency can overcome the talent gap. It happens all the time.

The worry is that the All Whites have spent years trying to expand their playing style to become better on the ball but it’s the defence that’ll determine what we’re capable of and we have to hope we haven’t lost those 2010 recipes. It’d be a lot easier to predict this stuff if we’d qualified last time and these guys actually had some tournament experience to fall back upon – every game we’ve played outside our confederation this cycle was a friendly. No intercontinental qualifiers. No Nations League or Euros/AFCON/Asia Cup/etc like other nations are able to indulge in. We basically never get to play against better nations where both teams are going hundies. Bring back the Confederations Cup, that's what I say.

2026 World Cup Nations That New Zealand Has Played During This Cycle

L 0-1 vs England in June 2026
L 0-4 vs Haiti in June 2026
L 0-2 vs Ecuador in November 2025
L 1-2 vs Colombia in November 2025
D 1-1 vs Norway in October 2025
L 1-3 & L 0-1 vs Australia in September 2025
W 1-0 vs Ivory Coast in June 2025
D 1-1 vs USA in September 2024
L 0-3 vs Mexico in September 2024
D 0-0 vs Tunisia in March 2024
L 0-1 vs Egypt in March 2024
L 0-2 vs Australia (again) in October 2023
D 1-1 vs DR Congo in October 2023
NR (1-0 at HT) vs Qatar in June 2023
L 1-4 vs Sweden in June 2023

That’s all during the Darren Bazeley reign. Somehow we managed to tick off 14/47 of the other World Cup qualifiers and it could have been more had Greece, Ireland, Ukraine, Poland, Chile, or Finland qualified. That’s a decent amount of games giving us a decent idea of where the All Whites are at... with 1 win, 4 draws, and 9 losses (plus a no result which we were winning at the time but abandoned because Qatar got racist to Michael Boxall... and then FIFA did nothing about it).

Again, it’s tough to judge because these were all friendlies and there’s that extra 10% that comes out in the World Cup which we’ll have to wait and see if New Zealand possesses. Only three of those games got away from us though (Sweden, Mexico, Haiti). Keeping in mind that the England game was a training exercise from their perspective, the teams that impressed me most when we played them were Ecuador, Mexico, and... yeah to be honest probably Australia in those games last year where Nestroy Irankunda and Mo Toure made such a big difference.

There were two selections that Tony Popovich made with that Socceroos side yesterday that came out of the blue. One was Patrick Beach getting the start in goal (many thought he was there to be GK3) and Paul Okon-Engstler getting the start in midfield. Both are A-League players... at least for now. And both recently gained some valuable schooling at The Port University:

Beach plays for Melbourne City so his season ended with a penalty shootout defeat to Auckland FC in the elimination final, with Michael Woud getting to live the goalkeeping shootout heroics instead
Okon-Engstler plays for Sydney FC so his season ended in a grand final defeat to Auckland FC with Cam Howieson, his opposite man in the midfield, becoming an instant legend by scoring the winner

All you paid subscribers can enjoy some Kane Williamson/Blackcaps/Tom Latham stats in the bonus section… started off looking at how Williamson bossed the number three position and then somehow that turned into Latham’s ducks but you’ll have to subscribe for the explanation

Must be time for a check-in with Charlisse Leger-Walker who has been going about her business more quietly for Connecticut Sun in the WNBA since their starting point guard, Leila Lacan, returned to the team (after wrapping up an MVP/Finals MVP run in the French league). That’s given CLW a more defined bench back-up PG role after moving in and out of the starting five through those initial nine games. That was her audition period and she did well enough to stay on the main roster ahead of Hailey van Lith who was dropped to a development player spot (willingly – as HVL could have signed elsewhere on waivers but wanted to stick around for her development). Nothing wrong with that for CLW’s development either... although a bench role does mean limited action and lesser stats.

After never playing less than 16 minutes in her first nine games (without Lacan), CLW has dropped to an average of 14 min/gm since then. The two games immediately after Lacan’s arrival are the only two games in which she hasn’t made a field goal (held scoreless entirely in the second of those, a loss vs Atlanta). She’s been building back out of that more recently though, finding her footing amongst the bench unit and continuing to provide a calming presence as a ball-handler. She had four assists in 14 mins in the loss vs Indiana on Sunday NZT. Snapped out of her three-pointer drought too. These are all solid development areas for a rookie.

Charlisse Leger-Walker since Laila Lacan returned (6 games)...

14.0 MIN | 2.8 PTS | 0.7 REB | 2.3 AST | 1.0 STL | 1.5 TOV | 1.7 PF

This after she averaged 8.1 points and 2.7 assists up until that point. But that point was always coming so no dramas there. What Leger-Walker needs to do to continue increasing her bench minutes is to knock down a few more threes. She had a wee slump over the last week or two which has spoiled her overall numbers but she began 8/21 which shows she’s equally capable of a hot streak. Overall CLW has shot 9/31 (29.0%) from three-pointers so far... with a curious split across the quarters:

1/7 in first quarters
0/4 in second quarters
5/8 in third quarters
3/12 in fourth quarters

There’s a similar trend in her overall shooting/scoring where she’s scored 34 points in 3Qs, shooting 52.2% from the field (out of 90 total points shooting 38.1% overall)... though she hasn’t actually seen much court time in the third since Lacan’s return – usually subbed in with three or four mins to go and then getting a similar stretch in the fourth before the starters return. Having said that, they finished yesterday’s game with Lacan and CLW on the court together. Been wanting to see more of that – CLW played with Kiki Rice at UCLA so there’s no dramas with her adapting with a second PG on the floor.

Lacan and CLW have spent 17 mins on the floor together across those six games (they’ve tried it in 4/6 of those games) so it’s something the Sun seem to be building towards. They’ve been outscored by 17 points in those 17 minutes but they get outscored with most line-ups, that’s what it’s like on a 2-13 team, hence we can’t overreact to that. It’s the 144.1 Defensive Rating that’s the problem. Bit awkward trying to gel alongside a player who didn’t join the team until two weeks deep into the season. Call it a work in progress.

Musical Jam...

All Whites vs Iran Preview & World Cup Thoughts

The Niche Cache — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 22:51:57 GMT

Eager To Scoot

The Niche Cache — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 03:29:48 GMT

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Scotty’s Word

NZ Warriors vs Cronulla Sharks on Saturday…

NRL

Warriors: 2nd | 9-3
Sharks: 6th | 7-5

NSW Cup

Warriors: 8th | 6-6
Jets: 5th | 7-4

Jersey Flegg Cup

Warriors: 7th | 6-5
Sharks: 5th | 7-4

There could be three NZW debuts vs Sharks. Makaia Tafua is highly likely to debut as a dummy half, Kayliss Fatialofa is likely to debut as an edge forward, and Jason Salalilo has a slim chance to debut as a middle forward. Two of these players are from Christchurch and I’ll swing back around to that throughout this yarn.

Tafua is a Linwood junior and his sister Jaydika is a Papanui junior who has already played NRLW for Sharks. Jaydika is named at edge forward for Sharks in NSW Women’s Premiership round one and younger brother Evander is one of the best Kiwi-NRL juniors rising through the Bulldogs system. Evander is a Sydenham junior so all three siblings have different junior clubs and that’s aligned with the spread of talent coming out of Christchurch.

Wayde Egan hasn’t played 70+ minutes in an NRL game this season so Tafua’s likely get a few minutes off the bench. He doesn’t have a NSWRL profile despite playing 40+ games of reserve grade so I can’t offer any stats. Tafua’s always eager to scoot but watch out for his shoulders because he is one of the biggest hitters at Mt Smart.

Fatialofa is the grandson of the legend Peter Fatialofa. He came through Otara and Manurewa, as well as the tremendous wave of rugby league talent coming out of De La Salle College. If Fatialofa debuts he will join Demitric Vaimauga and Eddie Ieremia-Toeava as youngsters on the rise at Mt Smart who went to DLS, along with notable Kiwi-NRL juniors Kanaan Magele (Roosters) and Haami Loza (Panthers).

Fatialofa is super funky because he sits comfy between Leka Halasima and Bishop Neal as edge forwards with crazy highlights. He doesn’t have the aerial highlights of Halasima or a midfield chip and chase like Neal, but Fatialofa’s running highlights are just as impressive. He will probably give Marata Niukore a break at edge forward and his speed is nicely suited to NRL footy in 2026.

Salalilo is a Papanui junior who sits behind Tafua, Ieremia-Toeava, Vaimauga and Fatialofa on the bench. Aside from Fatialofa, the bench has all done middle forward mahi for NZW so coach Andrew Webster will probably shuffle others into the middle. Salalilo is another excellent middle forward on the rise though and is named to start in the 13 jersey for NSW Cup.

Watch out for Ieremia-Toeava vs Sharks. He hasn’t stacked up consistent games for NZW as a young forward covering edge and middle so many will overlook Ieremia-Toeava when celebrating local juniors. He made Auckland Rugby representative squads while playing 1st 15 for DLS and then entered the NZW system to play U19s in 2023.

Ieremia-Toeava has never played U21s for NZW. He went on to play four games of NSW Cup in 2023 and then played 25 games in 2024, followed by 17 games last year with an NRL debut. All of that happened while he was eligible for U21s so these are strong indicators of Ieremia-Toeava’s talent.

Ieremia-Toeava made the most tackles for NZW in the NSW Cup Grand Final (39 @ 100%) and State Championship (39 @ 91%) last year. He played through the middle in the win vs Eels and then came on for Roger Tuivasa-Sheck vs Dragons to play edge forward with Halasima moving to centre.

I expect Ieremia-Toeava to play as a middle forward vs Sharks along with Vaimauga. He can cover edge forward and centre as well, giving lots of flexibility and that’s why I think he will become a regular bench forward over the next year. Both he and Fatialofa are capable centres but Fatialofa hasn’t started many games at centre in NSW Cup while Ieremia-Toeava has covered centre mid-game in NRL and started games at centre in NSW Cup.

The Aotearoa flavour for Sharks this weekend…

NRL

KL Iro (Mt Albert), Ronaldo Mulitalo (Ellerslie), Mawene Hiroti (Western Suburbs)

NSW Cup

Morgan Harper (Ngaruawahia), Felix Fa’atili (Hornby)

Women’s Premiership

Julliana Kolio (Linwood), Najvada George (Melbourne), Jaydika Tafua (Papanui), Alianna Tonu’u (Otara)

Jersey Flegg Cup

Pharrell Gray (Victoria Hunters), Manako Piutau (St Paul’s College), Jake White (Bell Block)

Add in Fa’atili and Kolio to the Christchurch crew named so far. Also notable is White who is from New Plymouth and has moved up from U19s this season as a middle forward who made Australian Schoolboys last year.

Almost half of the Broncos team this week is from Aotearoa...

Hayze Perham: Pikiao
Josiah Karapani: Otahuhu
Antonio Verhoeven: Cobden-Kohinoor
Jesse Arthars: East Coast Bays
Preston Riki: Rawene
Jordan Riki: Hornby
Xavier Willison: Whatawhata
Aublix Tawha: Turangawaewae

J-Riki is another Christchurch junior and, along with Willison and Verhoeven, was recruited by Broncos from New Zealand. All the other Kiwi-NRL juniors joined Broncos from other NRL systems with Perham, Karapani and P-Riki starting out with NZW before moving to Australia.

The Rabbitohs NSW Women’s Premiership team is linked to NZW which will give those not involved in NRLW games the chance to play reserve grade level games for Rabbitohs. This was not the case last season which made the way the youngsters settled in NRLW even more impressive as they did so without any reserve grade experience.

I don’t recognise any NZW names in the Rabbitohs team named for round one. I do recognise Langi Veainu who played NRLW for NZW in 2019 and is named at centre, along with Summer van Gelder who is named at edge forward. Van Gelder played for Mt Albert before moving to the Bulldogs system where she spent the last few years and while she has no links to NZW, maybe her move to Rabbitohs puts her in the wider NZW mixer.

Other NRLWahine from Christchurch named in NSW Women’s Premiership...

Olive Connolly: Panthers | Linwood | middle forward
Terongomaianiwaniwa Williams | Bulldogs | Eastern Eagles | middle forward
Manisha Seebeck: Roosters | Hornby | wing

For paid subscribers

Two Lukes & a Jett
Eddie Ieremia-Toeava stats
NZ Warriors deep cuts
Matt Henry’s colonial struggles
Updated Blackcaps vs England stats
Full lists of Blackcaps strike-rates/economy rates vs England
Basics for Tests at The Oval

Thankfully Gus Atkinson won’t be playing for England in the second Test vs Blackcaps… oh and Ben Stokes too. Atkinson has been awesome in Tests vs Aotearoa (19w @ 17.7avg/3.1rpo) with wickets in all eight innings, taking 2+ wickets in five of those innings. Atkinson also plays for Surrey so The Oval is his home ground in County Championship and we don’t have to worry how good Atkinson may have been at The Oval vs Blackcaps.

This tour started at Lord’s and will move a few kilometres south to The Oval. That’s like Blackcaps playing one Test at the Basin Reserve and the second Test at the Caketin, or All Blacks playing consecutive Tests in a tour at Eden Park and Mt Smart. Nothing about England cricket makes much sense and yet they love beating the Blackcaps.

The Blackcaps last played a Test at The Oval in August, 1999. They have played five Tests at Lord’s since 2010 and have lost four of them with one draw. Lord’s has the cricketing vibe but Blackcaps only lose there and their pitch sucks, so screw Lord’s.

Matt Henry loved bowling to Zak Crawley. But Crawley isn’t playing and Henry hasn’t been that good vs England outside of his automatic wickets vs Crawley. Henry averages a solid but not dominant 33.61 vs England and 41.17 in England. Despite Henry settling into his world-class groove over the last five years, he still averages 29.4 vs England and 40 in England which are well above his Test bowling average of 22 since the start of 2020.

Batters in current squad who have lower strike-rates vs England than their Test careers: Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Rachin Ravindra, Henry Nicholls.

Bowlers in current squad who have higher economy rates vs England than their Test careers: Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Will O’Rourke, Nathan Smith, Blair Tickner, Glenn Phillips.

Rosemary Mair is still tracking as a 1st 11 seamer for White Ferns at the T20 World Cup even though she couldn’t change things up during the two warm up games...

2025 T20Is: 11.3ov, 1w @ 106avg/9.2rpo
2026 T20Is: 30.2ov, 2w @ 100avg/6.5rpo
Warm up vs Bangladesh: 3ov, 1w @ 7.3rpo
Warm up vs South Africa: 3ov @ 12.3rpo

Another thing I’ve been tracking is how Suzie Bates isn’t bowling much. Nensi Patel is clearly the second spinner behind Melie Ker and while we got a Flora Devonshire flourish vs Bangladesh, White Ferns went back to their regular combos vs South Africa and Devonshire clearly isn’t in their 1st 11 plans.

This leaves Bates as a lower order batter who may bowl the odd over. It’s still a fascinating role in a World Cup but White Ferns have plenty of all-round balance to carry Bates as a vibes leader.

T20I overs this year

Melie Kerr: 38
Nensi Patel: 22
Suzie Bates: 9
Flora Devonshire: 3

Overs in T20 World Cup warm ups

Melie Kerr: 7
Nensi Patel: 6
Flora Devonshire: 3
Suzie Bates: 2

T20Is this year

Melie Kerr: 11w @ 20.8avg/6rpo
Nensi Patel: 9w @ 9.8avg/4rpo
Suzie Bates: 2w @ 37.5avg/8.3rpo
Flora Devonshire: 1w @ 19avg/6.3rpo

Musical jam...

Nick’s Notebook

Probably won’t be doing a Flying Kiwis roundup this week or next week, club football has pretty much all stopped for the World Cup and the transfer windows aren’t open yet so there’s just not much happening. That allows me to put full focus on the All Whites with a little dash of Football Ferns alongside (once I finish my Auckland FC season review). But of course that doesn’t mean nothing’s happened. There’s always something going on, for example Troy Putt scored his first goal for Minnesota United 2 in the MLS Next Pro league.

Putt was part of the last U20 World Cup squad for NZ, coming through Birkenhead United, and was going to sign for the Auckland FC Reserves until this gig came along. He’s in his second year with MNU2, used mostly out of position as a fullback last year but then he impressed kiwi MLS coach Cam Knowles in preseason and earned an MLS debut off the bench. Since then he’s had a spell out injured but has otherwise settled into a more appropriate attacking role for the reserves and look what he’s done with that. Speedy winger/forward with crazy fitness (part of that impressing in preseason idea was that he won the club beep test), perhaps shades of a younger Matt Garbett if you want a comparison to hang onto.

And Riley Bidois scored too. He plays in the USL Championship which is sort of equivalent to Next Pro but with standalone clubs rather than MLS affiliates/reserves. However his latest goal came in a USL Cup game. Monterey Bay drew 1-1 against Sacramento FC away, going on to lose on penalties. It’s group stage footy not knockouts but it was their second to last group game and they needed to win to keep a realistic chance of progressing. Sacramento had a dude sent off after thirty minutes and they still couldn’t do it. Nevertheless, Bidois’ goal means that since he returned to starting line-up (after an injury and late arrival), he’s scored four goals in three games.

And if you want some transfer updates on the likes of Tyler Bindon, Kate Taylor, Alex Paulsen, Mickey Foster, Marley Leuluai, and others then you’re just going to have to sign up for a paid subscription… also comes with some Tall Blacks chat for the people

There has also been movement on the A-League front. Auckland FC have announced contract extensions for both Cam Howieson and Michael Woud. Two of their championship heroes from the recent finals run. Howieson was coming off contract following an initial two-year deal so that’s good business there, while Michael Woud is a bit more confusing because he already had another year on his reported deal so either they’re announcing a previously existing contract option or he’s added another year on the end of that present deal. Or maybe strewn the previous deal away and given him a pay-rise in which case he hasn’t extended his stay at all.

It’s confusing because Auckland FC never seem to announce the length of these contracts for some reason. Pretty much every other A-League club does except them. But one way or another, Howieson and Woud will be back again. Hiroki Sakai already signed a new one-year deal in April while Luka Vicelich signed on scholarship terms in January. Beyond that it was so full steam ahead for the trophy that they haven’t done much else (at least not that’s been made public) with more than half of their squad slated to come off contract.

The Wellington Phoenix did the ol’ favourite PR move of bad news leading into good news so Ifeanyi Eze, who wasn’t listed on their initial exodus of free agents, has now told the club that he intends to “pursue options outside of the A-League” so he’s gone. They left the door open unless he couldn’t find anything better but that was never a likely outcome. Then a few hours later they announced that James McGarry has wrangled an early release from the Brisbane Roar and will re-join the Nix for his third stint with the club, signing on a two-year contract. McGarry’s been on the fringes of the All Whites over the past twelve months and just had an injury-free season with Brisbane Roar. He won the ALM with Central Coast a few years ago and has played professionally in the top divisions of Netherlands and Scotland.

With Dan Edwards released, McGarry is a direct upgrade in that left-back position. They also have Lukas Kelly-Heald who is placed in an odd spot by this move. Presuming that Chris Greenacre rolls with a back four like he did at the end of last season, that offers a left-back dynamic between LKH who is a very good defensive fullback with large attacking deficiencies and McGarry who is a very good attacking fullback with large defensive deficiencies... though McGarry’s defence did improve a fair bit during his time with Aberdeen. McGarry will be the starter which leaves LKH as a back-up covering both left-back and centre-back. He’ll probably feel like he’s ready to try nail down a starting role... but then he’s only one injury away so it’s not the worst spot to be in.

James McGarry:

4 goals, 8 assists in 84 ALM appearances (1G/3A last season)

Lukas Kelly-Heald:

0 goals, 3 assists in 60 ALM appearances (0G/0A last season)

And for the Wellington Phoenix Women, no fresh announcements there but the latest Domestic Football weekly wrap had a bit about how out-of-contract academy players Ela Jerez (Wellington United), Ella McMillan (Waterside Karori), and Grace Bartlett (Auckland United) have all linked up with other clubs around Aotearoa. Ela Jerez scored a hat-trick on debut for the Diamonds. This doesn’t preclude them from rejoining the Nix next A-League season but you’d imagine that they won’t, given how none of them were factors once the squad got settled.

You recall that thing last week about the two New Zealanders picked in the NBL Next Stars team that went to the Adidas Eurocamp development tournament? Well, the Next Stars won all three games to win that mini-championship. The tournament is designed as a pre-draft workout focusing mostly on international players trying to get into the NBA so it’s not a results driven thing but the games were proper games and the NBL team won.

First game was a 90-63 win over Team World where both Jackson Ball and Jayden Cecil were in the starting line-up. Cecil, who is still only 16yo and presumably the youngest dude in the team, then dropped to the bench for limited minutes in the next two but Jackson Ball became even more prominent in a 94-88 win over Eurocamp 2 (against a team that features Victor Wembanyama’s younger brother) and then a 66-62 win over Eurocamp 1.

Phil Handy coached the Next Stars, a current Dallas Mavericks assistant who has worked with LeBron James in both Cleveland and Los Angeles. His main assistant was... Petteri Koponen! The Breakers head coach for the past two seasons. New Zealand’s Ross McMains (current assistant for the Boston Celtics and regular on Tall Blacks benches throughout the years) was also among the coaches involved, working under Milwaukee Bucks assistant Rex Kalamian with the 3Stripes Select team.

Jackson Ball Box Scores

G1: 19:15 MIN | 11 PTS (5/9 FG, 1/4 3PT) | 1 REB

G2: 27:39 MIN | 14 PTS (5/11 FG, 3/7 3PT) | 6 REB | 3 AST

G3: 27:40 MIN | 6 PTS (3/9 FG, 0/4 3PT) | 2 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL

Jayden Cecil Box Scores

G1: 17:28 MIN | 6 PTS (2/4 FG, 1/3 3PT) | 1 REB | 1 AST

G2: 4:49 MIN | 0 PTS (0/0 FG)

G3: 3:49 MIN | 0 PTS (0/1 FG, 0/1 3PT) | 1 REB | 1 AST

Here’s New Zealand’s World Cup squad as per the official documents...

Top Five All Whites Middle Names:

The Zen Brothers – Joe Zen Robert Bell & Nando Zen Pijnaker
The President – Thomas Jefferson Smith
Cook Islands Represent – Maxime Teremoana Crocombe
Samoan-Serbian Connection – Marko Seufatu Nikola Stamenić
Italian From Wellington – Liberato Gianpaolo Cacace

And further to a talking point from a few newsletters ago you may notice there that for the third major tournament in a row (the others being the last two Olympics), Alexander Noah Paulsen has been listed as 193cm tall which is so blatantly untrue that it either shows that they don’t put any effort into those details or it shows that someone (maybe AP himself, maybe his coaches/scouts) is conscious enough about his height to want to hide it. NZ Football submits those team lists to FIFA, so that’s where it stems from. Maybe it’s just a typo that keeps getting copy-pasted?

Musical Jam...

A Splash of Grit

The Niche Cache — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 09:50:16 GMT

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Scotty’s Word

Well that was a stink start to the Blackcaps tour of England. Nothing new though as it was their fourth consecutive loss vs England in England. All four losses have been by 5+ wickets or 100+ runs and New Zealand is 2-7 in all Tests vs England since start of 2022.

The most disappointing aspect of the loss was the batting. Yes it was a tricky pitch to bat on but England managed to have two 50+ scores in the same game and such an experienced batting unit should be able to offer a wee bit more resistance. Just a splash of kiwi grit would have been useful, just a splash.

Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell are in notable form dips. Pretty big dips considering their usually high standards.

Williamson is averaging below 50 in consecutive years for the first time since 2013. This is the only phase of his career without a century in consecutive years after 13 consecutive years with a century prior to 2025. Williamson has one 50+ score in his last nine innings and through this losing streak in England he has dished up 114 runs @ 19avg.

Since the start of 2025, Williamson has the lowest batting average for Blackcaps with 150+ runs (34avg). Mitchell doesn’t have 150+ runs in this period so he’s excluded from that last stat but he does have the lowest average for Blackcaps with 100+ runs (21.5avg) and he is the only Blackcap with 100+ runs averaging below 30.

Mitchell’s scores since start of 2025: 80, 25, 11, 1, 12, 0.

Williamson’s last century was late in 2024 and Mitchell’s last century was in March 2023. Mitchell had a dominant phase of three years averaging 40+ in Test cricket, Mitchell’s now in his third consecutive year averaging below 40...

2021: 58.6avg/74sr
2022: 68.3avg/50sr
2023: 42.6avg/61sr
2024: 30.3avg/50sr
2025: 38.6avg/58sr
2026: 4.3avg/46sr

Williamson and Mitchell are in the spotlight because their form dips were present before this Test. Tom Latham, Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra and Tom Blundell weren’t so flash in the first Test but they have all done fairly well in the recent wave of Tests for Aotearoa. It wasn’t the strongest run of Test opponents, yet that only amplifies the lack of runs for Williamson and Mitchell because they weren’t dominating Zimbabwe, West Indies or Ireland.

Blackcaps won 3-0 in India without Williamson by the way. He played in both losses during the tour of Sri Lanka before that series in India and while Test cricket results don’t depend on one player, it’s not automatic that Blackcaps are better with Williamson in the team.

This is supposed to be the most reliable pocket for Blackcaps. All five (six including Blundell) have played plenty of Test cricket, experienced a wide range of conditions, and are granted tremendous selection faith ... to the point where I don’t think any will be dropped throughout this series. Perhaps Henry Nicholls is the saviour?

Blackcaps Test bowlers with 20+ wickets and averages below 25…

Jacob Duffy: 25w @ 16.28avg
Kyle Jamieson: 86w @ 19.55avg
Jack Cowie: 45w @ 21.53avg
Shane Bond: 87w @ 22.09avg
Nathan Smith: 27w @ 22.18avg
Sir Richard Hadlee: 431w @ 22.29avg
Will O’Rourke: 43w @ 23.67avg

Duffy, Smith and O’Rourke have started their Test careers with legendary mahi over the past three years. Jamieson’s been on the scene a bit longer and he is the only bowler in the history of Aotearoa Test cricket who has 50+ wickets averaging below 20. The other names on that list make it extra impressive (Cowie, Bond, Hadlee) along with the names who aren’t on that list because they average over 27 (Boult, Henry, Wagner, Southee etc).

My favourite bowling nugget is Will O’Rourke being better overseas than in Aotearoa and it includes some tricky nations for seam bowling...

Home: 21w @ 27.5avg
Away: 22w @ 19.9avg
In England: 4w @ 17.7avg
In India: 7w @ 18.4avg
In Sri Lanka: 8w @ 23.1avg
In Zimbabwe: 3w @ 18avg
In Aotearoa: 21w @ 27.5avg

White Ferns in T20 World Cup warm up win vs Bangladesh…

Batting

Georgia Plimmer: 28 runs @ 147sr
Suzie Bates: 45 runs @ 115sr
Izzy Sharp: 46 runs @ 177sr
Melie Kerr: 51* @ 182sr
Flora Devonshire: 20* @ 250sr

Bowling

Rosemary Mair: 3ov, 1w @ 7.3rpo
Jess Kerr: 3ov @ 9.3rpo
Lea Tahuhu: 3ov, 1w @ 4rpo
Nensi Patel: 3ov, 4w @ 6rpo
Flora Devonshire: 3ov, 1w @ 4.6rpo
Melie Kerr: 3ov @ 6.6rpo
Suzie Bates: 2ov @ 5.5rpo

White Ferns top-five in last three T20s…

vs England: Gaze, Plimmer, Kerr, Devine, Halliday
vs England: Bates, Gaze, Kerr, Devine, Halliday
vs Bangladesh: Plimmer, Bates, Sharp, Kerr, Devonshire

Izzy Sharp vs Brooke Halliday in T20Is this year...

Izzy Sharp: 32.3avg/131sr
Brooke Halliday: 13.1avg/93sr

Rosemary Mair wickets in T20Is since start of 2025 and T20WC warm up: 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1

For paid subscribers

Blackcaps Test stats
White Ferns spotlights on Nensi Patel and Flora Devonshire
Kiwi-NRL spotlights on Jahrome Hughes vs Dylan Brown, Keano Kini
Best Kiwi-NRL juniors for Panthers: Patrick Moimoi, Toby Crosby, Haami Loza

I’m fizzed for the Warriors NRLW season. Apparently the three Warriors games in Hamilton last year drew the three biggest crowds for standalone NRLW regular season games. Warriors were already attracting the biggest NRLW crowds and that should only increase with a better team featuring more familiar players.

Gayle Broughton and Mele Hufanga are major additions as talent as well as ‘star power’ and that’s only going to increase when Stacey Waaka pops back on the scene.

This presents Warriors wahine with a chance to take over the women’s sporting landscape in Aotearoa. Based on Warriors fandom and the buzz around the wahine team, players could rise above other women from other sports to become fan favourites. Take Broughton for example as she already has NRLW championship experience, has a vibrant personality and can connect with sports fans from all corners of New Zealand.

Patricia Maliepo, Ivana Lauitiiti and Payton Takimoana are all players to watch out for in this regard. Most notably, the Warriors wahine are already cultural leaders and while some in Aotearoa try to divide folks by culture, this group will be far louder than other women’s teams in driving unity and equality. I also suspect we will see similar support in Australia that the men’s team are attracting.

Here’s my attempt at the best Warriors wahine team - it’s awesome...

Fullback: Apii Nicholls
Wings: Stacey Waaka, Payton Takimoana
Centres: Mele Hufanga, Tysha Ikenasio
Halves: Patricia Maliepo, Gayle Broughton
Middle: Annetta Nu’uausala, Harata Butler, Laishon Albert-Jones
Edge: Shakira Baker, Kaiyah Atai
Hooker: Capri Paekau
Bench: Jasmin Huriwai, Ivana Lauitiiti, Matekino Gray, Maarire Puketapu

Squad

Backs: Emmanita Paki, Lavinia Tauhalaliku, Natalia Hickling
Forwards: Mya Hill-Moana, Ashlee Matapo, Felila Kia, Metanoia Fotu-Moala

Salute Penrith Panthers...

NRL: 12-1 | 1st
NSW Cup: 10-1-1 | 1st
Jersey Flegg Cup: 9-2 | 2nd (same record as Dragons in 1st)

Kiwi-NRL Panthers this weekend…

NRL: Casey McLean (Sydney), Moses Leota (Mt Albert), Isaiah Papali’i (Te Atatu), Scott Sorenson (Sydney)
NSW Cup: Tom Ale (Mt Albert), Kalani Going (Mid-Northern), Toby Crosby (Greytown)
Jersey Flegg Cup: Haami Loza (Mangere East)

I’ve enjoyed how Papali’i has settled into the Panthers system. He was shuffled around a bit in his first year with Panthers and this season he has started all 13 games at edge forward. Papali’i has played 60+ minutes in every game and 70+ minutes in eight games. Here’s Papali’i’s per game mahi since moving to Australia and while he’s not quite as his Eels levels, he isn’t far away...

Eels: 64% wins, 0.32 tries, 0.37 linebreaks, 1.26 offloads, 145m, 93.5% tackling
Tigers: 21% wins, 0.17 tries, 0.17 linebreaks, 0.17 offloads, 109m, 92.8% tackling
Panthers: 72% wins, 0.25 tries, 0.27 linebreaks, 1.16 offloads, 121m, 92.4% tackling

Musical jam...

Nick’s Notebook

The Blackcaps lost to England in a Test match where less than a thousand balls were bowled despite all 40 wickets being taken. The All Whites lost to England at a stadium that usually has an artificial turf but they laid down strips of grass over top for the game and it looked pretty shoddy, you could see the seams where the strips met. Two games between New Zealand and England. Two different sports. Two different continents. Two crap pitches.

Not sure there’s any deeper relevance but it was an odd coincidence. At least the footy pitch held up alright and couldn’t be blamed for the result... unlike what was served up at Lords (but fair play to England who batted better and bowled just as well as the Blackcaps on that surface to deservedly take the win in the first Test of this three-match series).

Alright, down to brass tax then, this is what I’m predicting the starting line-up to be when the All Whites face Iran in eight days in their first World Cup group game...

Max Crocombe in goal having looked solid against England and having had the superior club season (on the whole) compared to Alex Paulsen. He’s more experienced and Baze tends to lean on experience... which is as it should be at a World Cup. Look back on the dudes who were most crucial in the 2010 campaign and it was mostly the veterans (Nelson/Elliott/Vicelich/Smeltz with a splattering of Reid/Smith).

Finn Surman’s already locked in so it’s between Michael Boxall and Tyler Bindon and again this is where I think Baze will defer to experience. No wrong answers here (at least not among these three CBs… if you say Tommy Smith then that’s a wrong answer) but Boxall getting the nod against England could be a tip of the hand.

Libby Cacace has played 45 minutes vs Haiti and 60 mins vs England. Got picked on a tad by those speedy English wingers, brutal assignment after all his injuries of late, but he got through that unscathed and should be ready for full capacity vs Iran. Note that Ben Old played LB ahead of Francis de Vries off the bench in this game... I’ve been telling ya that might happen. We also saw some Tyler Bindon RB minutes though I can’t see that being Plan A ahead of Tim Payne who is far more of a specialist in that role and actually offers something going forward. But that is a way they might choose to use Bindon off the bench to avoid changing up the formation too much.

Joe Bell and Marko Stamenić in midfield needs no explanation. Ryan Thomas has always been likely to edge Sarpreet Singh in the CAM role, making it more of a midfield three and thus offering a little more ball retention and a little more defensive coverage, skills that are probably worth leaning into given the underdog nature of these next three games. Just a matter of whether Thomas is fit to start by then or if he has to do this off the bench... in which case Singh probably holds that spot. He’s got brownie points with Bazeley having started all ten games last year. Didn’t have a very good game vs England but he’ll be better for the run.

Elijah Just is going to start in one of the wing spots and the good thing about him is that he’s perfectly versatile. He played RW vs Haiti and LW vs England. Doesn’t matter. Even did some false nine stuff for Motherwell during the club season. Put him on one side and then on the other I’d prefer Callum McCowatt whose club form better warrants the start, plus I think he’s a much superior finisher to anyone else in the hunt.

But Bazeley loves Matty Garbett and to be honest I really liked how he used him against England. I’d been imagining him in an impact role off the bench but now I’m wondering if that impact wouldn’t be of more use running rampant for 55 mins before subbing on someone like McCowatt/Singh/Old/Randall to take it from there. Get the engine going with his work-rate. I don’t think he’s quite first eleven in terms of raw ability but he’s got intangibles, he makes things happen. I’d still prefer McCowatt but I see the vision with Garbs.

And while Old and Randall are certainly in the mix... as much as their straight-line pace would come in handy I think you lose a bit too much in other aspects with either of them. Compared to Just, McCowatt, Garbett, Singh at least.

And in a hugely controversial move I’m backing Chris Wood to start up front.

All Whites WC Squad – Year of Debut

2008 – Kosta Barbarouses
2009 – Chris Wood
2010 – Tommy Smith
2011 – Michael Boxall
2012 – Tim Payne
2014 – Ryan Thomas
2015 – Alex Rufer
2018 – Max Crocombe, Sarpreet Singh, Liberato Cacace, Michael Woud
2019 – Joe Bell, Callum McCowatt, Elijah Just, Nando Pijnaker
2021 – Marko Stamenić, Matthew Garbett, Francis de Vries
2022 – Ben Old, Ben Waine
2023 – Callan Elliot, Tyler Bindon, Finn Surman
2024 – Alex Paulsen, Jesse Randall
2026 – Lachlan Bayliss

For the paid subscribers, there’s an audio reaction pod about the All Whites vs England game that’s already been sent out separately and beyond the paywall in this email are ten ideas from the Football Ferns defeat against Haiti on Saturday morning

NZ NBL Season Form…

Auckland Tuatara (10-2): WWWLWWLWWWWW
Southland Sharks (10-2): LWLWWWWWWWWW
Wellington Saints (8-3): WLLWWWWLWW
Canterbury Rams (8-3): WWWLWWLWWWL
Otago Nuggets (5-6): WWWWLLLWLLL
Franklin Bulls (5-7): LLWLWWLLWLWL
Tauranga Whai (4-6): WWLLLLLLWW
Manawatu Jets (4-8): LLWLLLLWWLWL
Taranaki Airs (3-8): WWLWLLLLLLL
Nelson Giants (3-8): LLWWLLLLLWL
Hawke’s Bay Hawks (2-9): LLLLLWWLLLL

The Tuatara have gone top of the ladder after cashing in their game in hand, though their last defeat (before this five-game winning streak) was against the Southland Sharks.

The Sharks began 1-2 but have won nine on the trot since their best players began to arrive/find fitness... also their next four games are all against bottom half teams so there’s no reason to think that win streak is ending this month. Southland vs Canterbury on July 1 could be a banger if that’s the case.

The Saints also started 1-2 and have gone 7-1 since then with that lone defeat coming against... you guessed it: Southland (on 21 May in Invercargill).

The Rams were building a nice streak of their own until getting dropped by Auckland last week. Note that they and Wellington both have a game in hand on the top two so they’re only one notch worse in the loss column. Canterbury have also lost to Southland within the past month.

The Nuggets began with a hiss and a roar in those murky early stages of the season when players are still arriving from overseas. They were 4-0... they’ve gone 1-6 ever since. Yikes.

The Bulls are the streakless wonders of the NBL. They have not won more than two games in a row, they have not lost more than two games in a row. They simply cruise between states.

The Whai won two games, then lost six games, but have won their most recent two with Reuben Te Rangi having big scoring nights in both. Those were against Nelson and HB... but then Tauranga were in no place to be wobbling about their opposition in the midst of their previous form.

The Jets struggled initially with a 1-6 start as the likes of Corey Webster (he’s back now) and Dontae Russo-Nance (still absent) worked back from injuries. They’ve been better since, with Tai Webster joining the whanau to help matters. Their last five have included wins against Franklin, Tauranga & Taranaki while losing to Canterbury & Wellington.

The Airs were 3-1 to start, cashing in when the opportunity was there, but have lost seven in a row since then for the longest losing run of the season – which they’ll put on the line against Hawke’s Bay next up.

The Giants were 2-2 before going on a five-game skid which they only halted by beating last-placed Hawke’s Bay last week (which was followed by only scoring 58 points in defeat to Tauranga two days later). They face Southland next.

The Hawks have wins against Otago and Nelson but on either side of that was a five-game and four-game losing streak. They’ll need to beat Franklin to avoid making that multiple five-game droughts in the same season.

Musical Jam(s)...

All Whites vs England - Match Reaction

The Niche Cache — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 23:37:21 GMT

Blackcaps vs England Day Two Check In

The Niche Cache — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:29:49 GMT

Blackcaps vs England Day One Check In

The Niche Cache — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 20:38:36 GMT

Lovely Smells

The Niche Cache — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 05:03:58 GMT

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Scotty’s Word

Blackcaps start their tour of England tonight. I reckon this is the best Blackcaps group to play against England in the three series they’ve played over the last few years and I also think that this is the weakest England group. That smells lovely but I’ve had similar feelings in the last two series so I don’t want to go too hard on Blackcaps optimism just yet.

England don’t care about the World Test Championship. It’s barely mentioned by Team England or their media.

Aside from doing our duty to grow Test cricket with games against Zimbabwe and Ireland, Blackcaps Test cricket follows the WTC context flow. This is why the series vs West Indies was crucial as Blackcaps had to get positive results while their depth was under pressure. Now we enter the series vs England sitting second on the ladder (usually top-four just like World Cups) and England are ... wherever they are.

World Test Championship rankings before Blackcaps vs England

Australia: 87.5% | 7-1
New Zealand: 77.78% | 2-0-1
South Africa: 75% | 3-1
Sri Lanka: 66.67% | 1-0-1
Bangladesh: 58.33% | 2-1-1
India: 48.15% | 4-4-1
England: 31.67% | 3-6-1
Pakistan: 8.33% | 1-3
West Indies: 4.17% | 0-7-1

Quick check in with runs and wickets per Test innings (the runs list includes England’s best batters and helps frame the Kane Williamson vs Joe Root battle)...

Runs per Test innings (40+)

Harry Brook: 52.9
Kane Williamson: 49.2
Joe Root: 46.78
Rachin Ravindra: 43.3
Devon Conway: 41.59

Wickets per Test innings (2+)

Blair Tickner: 2.44
Nathan Smith: 2.25
Kyle Jamieson: 2.22
Matt Henry: 2.15

There is lots of the noise about the Blackcaps bowling trio of Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson and Will O’Rourke. Blair Tickner and Nathan Smith are slightly more efficient with wickets as an example of depth and Smith’s brewing as my most interesting Blackcap; Smith could be a better all-rounder than Ben Stokes in this series.

For paid subscribers

Blackcaps spotlight on Daryl Mitchell & spinner comparisons
Full list of Blackcaps runs/wickets per Test innings
NZ Warriors depth after Leka Halasima and Samuel Healey injuries
Five sneaky NZ Warriors juniors

NZ Warriors per game stat rankings…

Set completion: 1st - 83.7%
Points: 2nd - 30.7
Tries: 2nd - 5.3
Try assists: 4th - 4.3
Linebreaks: 6th - 5.8
Tackle breaks: 8th - 33.4
Post contact metres: 7th - 563.2
Run metres: 9th - 1,699.7
Kick return metres: 10th - 160.3
Dummy half runs: 7th - 8.5
Offloads: 15th - 8.1
Tackles: 15th - 326.5
Missed tackles: 8th - 32.9
Kick metres: 1st - 649.6
Errors: 17th - 9.9
Penalties conceded: 16th - 4.2

There are four halves leading the way for NZ Kiwis in this role ahead of a World Cup and none are from Auckland. Jahrome Hughes and Dylan Brown is the best combination, with Kodi Nikorima and Te Maire Martin offering hearty depth. Hughes is from Wellington, Brown’s from Whangarei, Martin’s from Waikato and Nikorima spent time in Palmerston North and Christchurch before moving to Australia.

Brown and Martin are playing halfback, meaning that three of these halves are halfbacks in the NRL right now. This has seen Brown and Martin average 200+ kick metres for the first season of their careers. Hughes is ticking along as usual and Nikorima is doing a nice job as a pure five-eighth alongside Isaiya Katoa for Dolphins.

Here’s some per game stats for this season...

Jahrome Hughes: 348.21 km | 94m | 1.3 try assists | 83.5% tackling
Dylan Brown: 278.1 km | 117m | 0.5 try assists | 91.6% tackling
Te Maire Martin: 253.93 km | 80m | 1.3 try assists | 90.4% tackling
Kodi Nikorima: 40.38 km | 50m | 0.62 try assists | 89.2% tackling

This is amplified by the cluster of halves from Aotearoa on the rise below NRL. Te Hurinui Twidle (Turangawaewae) is playing halfback for Eels in NSW Cup having made his NRL debut on the wing and playing all backline positions in the Eels system. Haami Loza (Mangere East) has played NSW Cup and U21s for Panthers this season in both halves roles, named in U21s this week along with Bronson Reuben (Kaiapoi) who is usually in the halves for Bulldogs U21s.

Tokoaitua Owen (Ngongotaha) is getting game time for Broncos in NRLQ U21s after starting this year in U19s for Souths Logan. Ryder Crosswell (Dannevirke) has also played a few games of U21s for Knights after starting the year in U19s, both are usually playing in the numer six jersey for their respective teams.

Harry Inch (Nelson College) is settling into his rugby league groove for Warriors U21s and they have Maui Winitana-Patelesio (Te Aroha) who covers hooker and halves. While Warriors have a tremendous group of young Aussie halves, all the halves ranked below Jack Thompson (Inch onwards) are from Aotearoa and sometimes they have a Inch/Winitana-Patelesio combo in U21s.

Musical jam...

Nick’s Notebook

Alas, Kane Williamson missed out on his chance to score a hundred against Ireland. We also had a Test cancelled against Afghanistan a couple years ago and it’s unlikely he gets another crack to reach triple figures against a tenth separate nation in Test cricket. Mentioned before this tour that there are 15 men who’ve scored Test tons against nine nations but nobody who has done it against a tenth... it was a record that Williamson could have held all alone but nope that’s not what the tea leaves had in store for him.

Okay, alright, we won’t dwell on that... because what’s if that record was meant for a different Blackcaps top order batter? Just look what Rachin Ravindra has already done in the space of 21 Test matches...

Rachin Ravindra in Test Cricket

Five tons against five different teams. That includes Ireland and Zimbabwe who, sure, those are two of the weaker sides... but he’s also scored a Test hundy away against India in the toughest of circumstances. And what matters for this purpose is that Ireland and Zimbabwe are relatively rare opponents that he’s already ticked off.

He hasn’t played a Test against Pakistan yet and didn’t reach triple figures against Sri Lanka or Bangladesh in his first opportunities. But that’s cool because we play those teams all the time... in fact Sri Lanka are coming to Aotearoa for two Test matches next February. In between now and then, Ravindra will also get three Tests against England starting tonight and four Tests against Australia in December-January (both series are away tours). By this time next year, he could have eight scalps and he’d only be 27 years old. Of course, he’s gotta do the business before we can give him credit for it. But that’s something to track over a very busy eight months of Test cricket coming up for the Blackcaps.

The other thing about Ravindra is that his first three Test matches saw him picked as a spinning all-rounder for subcontinent tours where he batted seven or eight and only scored 73 runs at an average of 14.60. That was before the 2023 ODI World Cup. After he made his (global) name at that tournament, he broke into the Test match top order and promptly scored 240 against South Africa. Take those initial six innings out of his record and this is what he’s done while batting in the top five:

32 INNS | 1574 RUNS | 56.21 AVG | 68.07 SR | 5 100s | 5 50s

There was a little slump in there as he struggled against England when they toured here in late-2024… but these are his last seven Test innings: 165no (ZIM), 3, 176, 5, 72no, 46no (WI), 121 (IRL).

Elijah Pepper’s going a wee bit crazy for the Wellington Saints, currently seven points clear of the next top scorer across the NBL...

Pepper was born in Australia, raised in America, and after finishing college he moved back to Australia to sign with the Perth Wildcats where he’s been steadily raising his profile over the last few years. He debuted for the Aussie national team against the Tall Blacks in 2025. Now the bloke is on an absolute tear in the NZ league. In his ten games, he has points totals of: 28, 23, 20, 30, 36, 23, 29, 43, 26, 45.

In other words, there are only 12 players in the league averaging 20 points per game or better at the moment... and Elijah Pepper’s worst scoring game was 20 points. He’s got 51.9/36.5/82.7 shooting splits and is also averaging 5.3 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game. 3.2 steals as well. Multiple 40-point games, something nobody else has done this year (Keanu Rasmussen and Kaden Sand have had 39-pointers while Reuben Te Rangi scored 37 the other day). Bro’s been pretty insane.

Alright, that’s enough praise for an Aussie-American. Time to turn the lens towards Jackson Ball who has just been selected for an NBL Next Stars showcase team to play at the Adidas Eurocamp – which coincidentally is the youth tournament where Petteri Koponen got most of his head coaching experience prior to getting hired at the NZ Breakers.

The NBL sent a team last year and that seems to have been a successful mission, making it to the final, so they’re doing it again. Karim Lopez was in the 2025 crew but no New Zealanders. This time Jackson Ball is correcting that oversight... along with Jayden Cecil who is dual-eligible for AUS/NZ but despite growing up in Brisbane he’s committed to play for New Zealand at the U17 World Cup later this year.

This is an interesting pocket because Jayden Cecil moved to America two years ago to link up with Utah Prep Academy, where his dad Tai Cecil (proud kiwi) is the president and Tall Blacks legend Mark Dickel is the head coach. Jayden’s older brother Isaac also attends that school and there was an awesome instance last month where the brothers competed against each other as Jayden joined the NZ U17s in an invitational tournament that included a 90-80 win against Utah Prep. The NZers did a haka before the game and Isaac, on the other side with Utah Prep, stepped up to meet the challenge.

Utah Prep is also where AJ Dybantsa went (playing alongside the Cecil bros) before his year at BYU. That bloke is now one of the favourites to go first overall in the 2026 NBA Draft. All of which puts Jayden Cecil in some glorious territory as a kiwi basketball prospect... look forward to that U17 WC in a few weeks.

Also look forward to everything that Jackson Ball does because he’s off to college soon and with this Next Star invitational thingamajig it’s unclear how much more NZ NBL he’ll play this year... but how about these numbers for an 18yo?

Jackson Ball in 2026 NZ NBL (Hawke’s Bay Hawks)

19 points on 8/18 shooting with 7 rebounds & 4 assists vs MAN
16 points on 4/14 shooting with 4 rebounds & 5 assists vs CAN
19 points on 7/14 shooting with 2 rebounds & 4 assists vs AKL
14 points on 4/11 shooting with 2 rebounds & 6 assists vs OTA
21 points on 7/13 shooting with 7 rebounds & 4 assists vs NEL
18 points on 6/9 shooting with 1 rebounds & 5 assists vs FRA
29 points on 10/20 shooting with 4 rebounds & 1 assist vs WEL
22 points on 8/15 shooting with 3 rebounds & 2 assists vs TAU

He’s shooting 47.4 FG%, 38.8 3P%, 81.6 FT% as an 18 year old... and given what he’s already done in his career, this is him during a quiet run without many headlines.

For the Paid Subscribers, you’ll get some insight into the next generation of Auckland FC and Wellington Phoenix Reserves players as well as reaction to the news of Finn McKenlay, Adama Coulibaly, and James Hilton being released by AFC

Notable 4-0 Defeats Of All Whites Yore…

Brazil 4-0 New Zealand – 1982 World Cup

Our first World Cup and we were pitted against probably the most fondly remembered Brazilian team not to win a World Cup. Usually when you watch old football matches, they feel like old football matches given how much the game has naturally evolved. But watch that game and see those Brazilians playing fast and free and it’s surprisingly modern stuff. Better than modern because they’re actually taking risks... which might also be why they didn’t win in ‘82 but never mind that.

Portugal 4-0 New Zealand – Confederations Cup in 2017

Anthony Hudson’s New Zealand up against prime Cristiano Ronaldo and friends. Mr CR7 scored a penalty alongside a Bernardo Silva goal... though the other two goals didn’t arrive until the final ten minutes. Not a bad showing, all things considered. Hudson being Hudson, he had Dane Ingham and Tom Doyle as his wing-backs against that team so it could have been far worse.

Australia 4-0 New Zealand – Soccer Ashes in 1948

Don’t know anything about this one other than that we got thrashed but it was actually the smallest thrashing of a three-game series having earlier been beaten 6-0 and 7-0. This game, like the first one, was played at the Basin Reserve back when it was still often used for football as well as cricket.

Brazil 4-0 New Zealand – Friendly before the 2006 World Cup

A completely random friendly played in Switzerland against the defending World Champs who absolutely coasted with Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Roberto Carlos, and Kaka involved... and then one of the things they blamed their eventual quarter-final flameout upon was their weak preparation, with this unchallenging game at the top of the pile. So we made a bit of history with that one.

Haiti 4-0 New Zealand – Friendly before the 2026 World Cup

Yesterday’s game was a stinker of a result... but in its way also an irrelevant one. You make six half-time subs and it’s going to get messy. This was only a warm-up designed to find match fitness ahead of the games that actually matter at the World Cup. Bit embarrassing how it ended up though. Here’s a write-up on the matter.

Musical Jam...

All Whites vs Haiti - Rapid Reaction

The Niche Cache — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 02:58:16 GMT

The Albatross

The Niche Cache — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 04:44:56 GMT

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Scotty’s Word

NZ Warriors vs Panthers...

NRL: 18-20
NSW Cup: 20-30
Jersey Flegg Cup: 40-30

My favourite thing in recent weeks has been the thriving Taharoa connection with Te Maire Martin joining Taine Tuaupiki in the team. I was reminded of the crazy rugby league hub of Ngaruawahia earlier this year when Te Hurinui Twidle made his NRL debut for Eels as he is a Turangawaewae junior same as Martin.

Tuaupiki is a Ngaruawahia junior and both clubs sit within a kilometre or so of each other in Ngaruawahia. Two cousins coming from rival clubs in Ngaruawahia is pretty cool and their performances vs Panthers helped NZW score 18 points against an excellent defensive unit. NZW scored three tries vs Panthers and these two were involved in all three with Tuaupiki scoring a try, while Martin had two try assists.

Tuaupiki had 10 tackle breaks in his 24 runs - 228m @ 9.5m/run and Martin had a linebreak, as well as being the only NZW player with two offloads. Martin also did his share of the kicking and while kicking has been a minor weak spot since arriving at Mt Smart, his kicking along with Chanel Harris-Tavita helped NZW find some territory after being beaten up deep in their own end of the field.

Neither were locked in starters to begin the season. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad was still viewed as the best fullback and Tuaupiki has thrived with more opportunities to the point where he’s now the best fullback, with a chance he sneaks into the NZ Kiwis World Cup squad. Martin was the fourth half in the depth chart to start the year and now he’s in one of the best patches of his career.

Martin is keeping Metcalf out of the NRL team. NZW lost vs Panthers but Martin’s level of performance didn’t dip from his two wins and I reckon that only injury/suspension will open up a spot for Metcalf. The NSW Cup Warriors lost vs Panthers and that was expected with Panthers leading NSW Cup as well as NRL, while NZW are mid-table.

Metcalf has now lost five games in a row. He lost four NRL games before returning to NSW Cup with a loss. It’s not like his presence made NZW lose because they are 6-6 having rolled through a wide range of players, but the trend of Metcalf losing does seem connected to the bad vibes around how his decision to depart NZW played out.

The NSW Cup Warriors is super funky right because below the Metcalf intrigue is an amazing group of emerging talent. This is evident in the Sio Kali/Bishop Neal/Jett Cleary/Jye Linnane combo for Linnane’s try as all four of those players are freakish talents who are 21-years-old or younger.

Palmerston North’s Joseph Ratcliffe also made his debut at fullback and he joined Neal, Connor Bowden, Jeremiah Lemana and Tyson Hansen as Under 19s who played NSW Cup vs Panthers. All but Lemana played U19s earlier this season before progressing through U21s to reserve grade and Lemana skipped U19s while still 17-years-old to start his year in U21s.

Two Kiwi-NRL juniors I learned about this weekend...

Jeshua Maa-Nelson and Lauti Lauvao both went to De La Salle College (which continues to produce lots of rugby league talent). Maa-Nelson is a Manurewa junior who has been playing on the wing for Eels U21s and Lauvao had a year with Panthers after leaving school where he played U19/U21s, before returning to Auckland and playing on the wing for NZW U21s vs Panthers.

A few NRLWahine of note...

Kerri Johnson and Azalleyah Maaka are still with Broncos after watching all other NRLWahine depart over the summer. Both moved from rugby union and had their first season with Broncos last year, now they are primed for bigger roles.

Daynah Nankivell has switched from rugby union to NRLW with Bulldogs. Nankivell is from Northland (like Johnson) and has been playing Super Rugby Aupiki with Blues and most recently in Japan. I’m not sure about the status of Moana Courtenay and Monica Tagoai with Bulldogs but they also moved from rugby union in Aotearoa to Bulldogs NRLW, so Bulldogs are making a habit of this.

Wainuiomata junior Te Ngaroahiahi Fanua Awhina Rimoni is in the Titans squad after working her way through Queensland’s Women’s Premiership. She is a middle forward and joins a growing group of NRLWahine juniors from Wellington.

Another is Jessica Patea who like the three Tauaneai sisters are also Wainuiomata juniors. Patea isn’t in NRLW but she was named in the Panthers NSW Women’s Premiership squad along with Kahu Cassiday (Kaikohe), Olive Connolly (Linwood), Harmony Covacich (Northern Wairoa), Malena Lavea (Richmond) and Dejah Tuliau (Linwood). That’s lots of wahine from Aotearoa for an organisation that doesn’t have an NRLW team yet.

For paid subscribers

NZ Warriors spotlights of Taine Tuaupiki, Te Maire Martin, Jacob Laban
NZ Warriors kicking stats
NZ Warriors deep cuts
Blackcaps Test podcast update
Blackcaps role depth
Blackcaps bits and bobs

The news of Mitchell Santner’s return for Blackcaps came just before I started typing my debrief of the Test vs Ireland. One of my favourite Blackcaps meditations is trying to have Santner and Glenn Phillips in the same team, while also trying to build teams with Nathan Smith and Zak Foulkes together. Perhaps all four in the same team together.

The top-six is settled. The best way to have all four in the same team would be to shake up the top-six but that’s unrealistic as I think they will play throughout the series vs England unless there is an injury. Even then, I believe Henry Nicholls would step into the batting unit as next man up, and given how he has fought for his Blackcaps spot, as well as how the others sit in various spots of the legendary Test batting spectrum for Aotearoa, these blokes deserve to be given time and space as a settled batting unit.

Here’s the easiest way to select the four all-rounders: Phillips, Santner, Smith, Foulkes, Henry.

I have Smith ahead of Foulkes though, leaving Kyle Jamieson and Will O’Rourke as more likely options in that Foulkes spot. Santner is also on the comeback from injury and may not play the first Test. Add in how Foulkes has been steady but not dominant in Test bowling and the most realistic combo is Phillips, Smith, Jamieson, Henry, O’Rourke.

That would leave Santner, Foulkes and Tickner as surplus in the squad along with Nicholls. However this cookie crumbles, Blackcaps will have Smith batting eight or nine. Smith averages 21.2 at eight and 36 at nine in Test batting, as well as having a First-Class batting average of 27.3.

Runs from the bowlers will be crucial throughout the series vs England. Since the start of 2024, Phillips and Santner have both hit at least two 50+ scores in Test cricket while averaging 28. Smith has a top-score of 42 in this period averaging 23.6 and Foulkes has a 23* averaging 19.5.

Most importantly, none of this batting stuff takes away from the potency of the bowling. Phillips and Santner are both averaging early-30s as Test spinners, while the seam bowling skills are tremendous throughout that group.

Musical jam...

Nick’s Notebook

There are many critical questions on people’s minds as we pass the two-week warning for the All Whites at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Will Joe Bell and Ryan Thomas be fit to start? Which two centre-backs get first choice status out of Surman, Bindon & Boxall? Will Tim Payne with the Golden Ball? But the biggest question of them all... how tall is Alex Paulsen?

The reason that’s a question is because he’s come under some pretty heavy critique after his loan season at Lechia Gdańsk in Poland, largely due to his perceived lack of height. At first it wasn’t a major deal because his team was doing alright but as they sunk deeper and deeper towards relegation, and their kiwi goalkeeper proved unable to do anything to halt the slide, the chat got louder.

That might be a surprise to folks who haven’t really tracked him since he left the A-League but that’s how it happened. Not very many egregious errors from AP, just a whole lot of accumulated goals conceded where it looked like he could have done better. We can’t expect the Polish folks to care about what Paulsen did in the A-League beforehand but even if they did, there wasn’t much comparison between that version of AP and this version of AP...

Alex Paulsen’s last three seasons:

Wellington Phoenix - 80.9% Save Percentage & 12.94 Goals Prevented
Auckland FC - 73.0% Save Percentage & 2.07 Goals Prevented
Lechia Gdansk - 61.0% Save Percentage & -8.26 Goals Prevented

One of the local shows even voted him the Worst Goalkeeper of the Ekstraklasa season. Jeepers. It wasn’t all bad because his team definitely improved when he first arrived, however if you’re allowing too many goals past you and hardly saving anything while your team loses over and over again on the way to relegation then that’s going to leave a bad taste in people’s mouths. AP ended up being dropped for the last game of the season but it was too late by then: the reputation had already stuck that he’s too small and can’t make the saves that other keepers can. And in fairness what else are they supposed to think after a season like this...

AP actually did an interview a few months ago where he addressed his feelings on the matter in the confidently defiant manner you’d hope. He was asked about what he thinks is his biggest weakness and he said not being loud enough with his communication, to which the interviewer straight-up said: “I thought you’d say not being the tallest keeper”. That sparked a friendly debate about the merits of goalkeeper size. Paulsen used David Raya (Arsenal goalie, same height as Paulsen) as an example of a shorter dude who still gets the job done.

Alex Paulsen: “I don’t really think about heights. For me personally, if you can navigate and become an aerial threat with claiming crosses or coming for punches or demanding and being a presence within the box, then you shouldn’t really look at the player being not as tall as like a 6’3 goalkeeper or 6’4 goalkeeper. If he’s doing better statistics compared to somebody who’s 6’4 then like what’s what’s the difference? I don’t try to have that mindset because I know that like within myself, I obviously wouldn’t say that I’m the tallest of players, but at the same time, I can say that I can still make a difference within the box. And even if players are taller than me, my starting position can affect the cross to claim balls or being physical in the air or being dominant within the air would help me navigate the fact that people try to think, oh, he’s a short goalkeeper, if that makes sense.”

This is going to be an albatross around Paulsen’s neck his whole career. People are going to look at his profile and doubt him straight away because they see 6’0. It also leaves me more confident than ever that Darren Bazeley will pick Max Crocombe as his no1 for the World Cup – not only because AP’s low on form but also because it fits with his general modus operandi of leaning towards experience, as we saw with Michael Woud getting the GK3 nod ahead of Kees Sims or Henry Gray (Woud also had good form to back it up, granted).

Note that these fellas are all really tall. Tracking proper heights can be a hassle since different sources claim different numbers but major tournaments squad lists include heights so we’ll go with those as a baseline (with one asterisk).

Listed Heights of Various NZ Goalkeepers

Oli Sail – 197cm
Alby Kelly-Heald – 196cm (2023 U20 World Cup)
Michael Woud – 196cm (2021 Olympics)
Nik Tzanev - 195cm
Max Crocombe - 194cm
Kees Sims – 194cm (2024 Olympics)
Henry Gray – 193cm (2025 U20 World Cup)
Jamie Searle – 191cm (2021 Olympics)
Joe Wallis – 190cm (2025 U20 World Cup)
Josey Casa-Grande – 187cm (2025 U20 World Cup)
Alex Paulsen - 183cm

Don’t have verified heights for Crocombe or Sail or Tzanev who weren’t at any of those tournaments but frankly I don’t fully trust any of these numbers anyway. For example, the U20 WC squad had Lukas Kelly-Heald being two centimetres taller than twin bro Alby which doesn’t actually look to be true. For what it’s worth, re-signed Phoenix youngster Eamonn McCarron is apparently 199cm so keep an eye out if AKH and EM are ever standing side by side. Josh Oluwayemi is 185cm, if you were wondering. Using Chiefy as a barometer you can see that McCarron clearly towers above Olu.

The specifices of a few centimetres aren’t important, this is merely a general idea to show how Paulsen is considerably shorter than the goalkeepers we usually produce and which are in vogue around the world – if you’re a Premier League club with the resources to go after any goalie you want, and you’re picking between two transfer targets of a similar ability but one is four inches taller than the other... you’re going to pick the taller guy every time.

The asterisk is that Alex Paulsen has been listed at 193cm at both the 2021 Olympics and the 2024 Olympics and he’s for damn sure not that. Can’t be a typo if they did it twice, three years apart. Maybe they factored in the ‘fro? If he was legitimately 193cm then he’d be 6’4 and nobody would be whinging about his height. Here he is standing next to 198cm tall Alby Kelly-Heald, tell me that’s only a five centimetre difference lol...

And again next to 188cm Michael Boxall...

For the Paid Subscribers:

Working through the Wellington Phoenix’s latest squad updates
Charlisse Leger-Walker’s rotational minutes in Connecticut

Speaking of tall people, there was a brilliant bit of news yesterday with kiwi big man Ben Gold being signed to a two-year development contract by the Tasmania JackJumpers. Gold is a 23yo centre who stands at 6’11 and has already played several times for the Tall Blacks including at last year’s Asia Cup. He’s just finished up at Marquette University where he spent four years and was a regular starter in the last two of them, averaging 8.0 points and 5.8 rebounds per game in his senior season.

Gold maybe didn’t kick on quite as much as was hoped when he was a highly touted prospect coming out of the NBA’s Global Academy in Canberra (he joined that programme before Oscar Goodman or Julius Halaifonua went there, helping pave the way). Part of that was his three-point percentage taking a huge dip in his last year, going from 37.1% in 2024-25 down to 26.4% in 2025-26. But that still shows that he’s got the capability to knock down threes as he steps into what’ll be a more defined role in the pros, having alternated between bench and starter and power forward and centre throughout his time at Marquette.

Gold joins a very reliable procession of the best kiwi graduates from American colleges being able to land Aussie NBL deals straight away... and most of them not with the Breakers, curiously, even though Gold is exactly the type of guy that NZB might have wanted to try mould into a next generation Rob Loe. Unlike previous Tazzy signings, like Tom Vodanovich or Walter Brown, we can’t hype up JackJumpers general manager Mika Vukona for this one because he’s moved back to Brisbane and resigned his post there. Tasmania didn’t actually have any kiwis in their squad last season.

Notable Kiwi NCAA Graduates Going Straight Into NBL

NBL27 – Ben Gold to Tasmania JackJumpers
NBL26 – Taine Murray to Brisbane Bullets
NBL24 – Flynn Cameron to Melbourne United
NBL24 – Sam Mennenga to Cairns Taipans
NBL23 – Sam Waardenburg to Cairns Taipans
NBL22 – Jack Salt to Brisbane Bullets
NBL21 – Yanni Wetzell to South-East Melbourne Phoenix

The Breakers did end up signing a couple of those guys afterwards but they didn’t take the punt on them as rookies which is curious. Granted, there was a different ownership (with different ideas about kiwi players) for most of that time. And admittedly there is some logic in knowing that you’ll always have pull with attracting New Zealanders so you can wait to see how they settle in the NBL before going after them.

NZers Currently Contracted for NBL27

Adelaide 36ers – Flynn Cameron, Keanu Rasmussen
Brisbane Bullets – Tyrell Harrison, Taine Murray
Illawarra Hawks – N/A
Cairns Taipans – N/A
Melbourne United – Sam Waardenburg, Shea Ili
NZ Breakers – Sam Mennenga, Carlin Davison, Reuben Te Rangi, Izayah Le’Afa
Perth Wildcats – N/A
South-East Melbourne Phoenix – N/A
Sydney Kings – N/A
Tasmania JackJumpers – Ben Gold (DP)

The Breakers haven’t announced their DPs yet or whether any are under contract, that remains to be seen but they’ll be adding a few more kiwis to the ranks. Mojave King is the main free agent, last heard he was trying to see if they’d let him play a year of college basketball (after he’s already been drafted) – though it seems they’re going to tighten the rules back up to prevent that. Keanu Rasmussen has signed a 1yr deal to return to Adelaide which sees him move onto the main roster. Preston Le Gassick with the Breakers is eligible for the Tall Blacks but dunno whether that’s something he’ll pursue or not. Everybody’s got room in their squads for adding further players so we’re definitely not done yet.

Musical Jam...

Blackcaps Win Test vs Ireland

The Niche Cache — Fri, 29 May 2026 22:05:20 GMT

Jibber-Jabber

The Niche Cache — Thu, 28 May 2026 07:53:19 GMT

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Scotty’s Word

NZ Warriors have three games vs Panthers on Sunday. Here’s how the teams match up...

NRL

Warriors: 2nd | 9-2
Panthers: 1st | 10-1

NSW Cup

Warriors: 8th | 6-5
Panthers: 1st | 8-1-1

Jersey Flegg Cup

Warriors: 7th | 5-5
Panthers: 2nd | 8-1

Panthers have plenty of Aotearoa flavour throughout their system and the deepest cut is how they usually had at least four wahine in their U19 team earlier this season despite not having an NRLW team. The NSW Women’s Premiership starts in a couple weeks and I’m curious how many NRLWahine will pop up for Panthers in that competition.

Kalani Going is the only Kiwi-NRL player who moved from NZW to Panthers who has played NRL this season. Tom Ale and Toby Crosby have stayed at the same level as they were with NZW, while Patrick Moimoi has moved up a notch to be a regular at centre this season for Panthers.

None of these departures were major losses for NZW who have a tremendous group of forwards who have plugged those holes. NZW have 17-year-old Jeremiah Lemana playing centre in NSW Cup along with Jye Linnane (20yrs), while Caelys Putoko (20yrs) spent the first few months at centre before dropping down to U21s. Moimoi was getting more game time at edge forward last season for NZW and that’s another role in which NZW are flush with fabulous talent.

Add those together and Moimoi has made a great move for him. Panthers also have Haami Loza in the halves for NSW Cup and his move from Knights to Panthers has been good for him. Loza is the best emerging Kiwi-NRL half on the rise in Australia as he’s played the most reserve grade and the Mangere East/Otara junior will play his sixth game of NSW Cup while still eligible for U21s.

Panthers Kiwi-NRL list

Isaiah Papali’i: Te Atatu
Moses Leota: Mt Albert
Scott Sorenson: Sydney
Casey McLean: Sydney
Kalani Going: Mid-Northern
Patrick Moimoi: Mangere East
Haami Loza: Mangere East
Tom Ale: Mt Albert
Toby Crosby: Greytown

One funky development has been Compton Purcell returning to Aotearoa. Purcell made a mid-season switch from NZW to Panthers last year and played a bunch of U21 games while still U19 eligible. I didn’t spot him this season and then saw him named on the wing for Pt Chevalier in Fox Memorial last weekend.

NZ Warriors halves combos vs Panthers with Luke Hanson floating between NRL/NSW Cup...

NRL: Te Maire Martin, Chanel Harris-Tavita
NSW Cup: Jett Cleary, Luke Metcalf
Jersey Flegg Cup: Jack Thompson, Harry Inch

Actions over words. I’m not fussed about what folks say as it’s all about what they do. There is a combination of both in how NZW released two statements about Luke Metcalf. That’s all jibber-jabber but those statements were super short with no fluff. Releasing two abrupt statements were actions, as are team selections, and all NZW actions suggest a fair amount of niggle aimed in the direction of Metcalf.

Not only has Hanson been selected ahead of Metcalf in the NRL team list vs Panthers for the second week in a row, Cleary is selected at halfback ahead of Metcalf in NSW Cup. I am prepared for NZW to select Hanson ahead of Metcalf if the number six spot opens up for the NRL team and while it’s unlikely, I’m even preparing for Cleary to get a crack at halfback ahead of Metcalf in NRL.

Metcalf sucked at five-eighth in his two losses this season whereas Hanson did his job in a win. Hanson also seems the most likely of the younger half lads to depart this summer but he’s getting the main development opportunities so I’m curious how that bigger situation unfolds. Metcalf will probably be selected at halfback if Te Maire Martin stumbles or gets injured but none of the NZW actions suggest they are chuffed with Metcalf’s behaviour. This differs greatly from the general perception that Metcalf cruises back into the NRL team.

Here’s the halves rankings based on selections this week with Tanah Boyd out injured...

Chanel Harris-Tavita
Te Maire Martin
Luke Hanson
Jett Cleary
Luke Metcalf
Jack Thompson
Harry Inch
Maui Winitana-Patelesio

One deep cut for NZW is how 18-year-old Tyson Hansen made his NSW Cup debut in the win vs Dragons last weekend. The Ngongotaha junior played 15 minutes off the bench which seemed to overlap with Linnane playing 65mins and Hansen appeared to slot into a halves role alongside Cleary.

Hansen has been an elite junior for NZW having won back to back U17 championships, then playing three games of U19s this year and nine games of U21s. Hansen will probably develop into a small forward like Erin Clark but his ability to play in the forwards and halves is super useful to have on the bench in NSW Cup.

Hansen is the latest player to move from U19s to NSW Cup this season. Lemana’s still only 17yrs and he didn’t even play U19s this year. Bishop Neal and Connor Bowden have played U19/U21/NSW Cup already this season and they are named as the edge forwards in NSW Cup this week.

Lemana and Bowden are from Auckland, Neal is from Christchurch and Hansen’s from Rotorua. All four played 1st 15 rugby union as well. Lemana played for Kelston Boys High School, Bowden played for Botany Downs Secondary College, Neal played for St Thomas of Canterbury College and Hansen played for Rotorua Boys High School.

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NZ Warriors stat pockets
NZ Warriors youngsters are ready
Sneaky Kiwi-NRL juniors
Blackcaps vs Ireland podcast update
Blackcaps batters/bowlers recent Test averages
Emerging batter comparisons

Blackcaps vs Ireland Test notes...

Rachin Ravindra is averaging 118 since the start of 2025 with scores of 2, 165*, 3, 176, 5, 72*, 46*, 121.

His strike-rate of 87.2 in this period is the highest for Blackcaps with 50+ runs and he’s the only kiwi over 70sr. Ravindra has hit 13 sixes since the start of 2025 and he is the only Blackcap with more than three sixes.

Last three years of Test batting

2024: 42.7avg/60sr, 2 x 100, 4 x 50
2025: 117.2avg/98sr, 2 x 100, 1 x 50
2026: 121avg/62sr, 1 x 100

Geography

Home: 47.2avg/62sr
Away: 53.5avg/67sr

Tom Blundell’s recent scores: 45, 51, 41, 49*, 21, 28, 6, 98*, 96, 35, 25, 62, 142*.

He has a 50+ score in four consecutive games, three of which are 90+ and averaged 40+ in Plunket Shield, Ford Trophy and Super Smash last summer.

Dean Foxcroft’s recent scores for Blackcaps: 59, 15, 75, 3, 15*, 38*.

I went deep into White Ferns T20I matters here after they lost the third T20I vs England. It didn’t seem like White Ferns really wanted to win that game based on team selections and I’m pretty confused about the Brooke Halliday/Suzie Bates/Rosemary Mair trio heading into the T20 World Cup.

Bates and Mair shouldn’t be in the 1st 11. Halliday will be in the 1st 11 despite doing nothing to warrant such selection and the two players who could shake things up in Flora Devonshire and Polly Inglis didn’t get a game vs England. This is my T20I 1st 11...

Izzy Gaze (wk), Georgia Plimmer, Melie Kerr, Sophie Devine, Maddy Green, Izzy Sharp, Jess Kerr, Nensi Patel, Flora Devonshire Lea Tahuhu, Bree Illing

Inglis can play as a lower order batter who can score in quirky areas but I prefer Devonshire as an aggressive lefty batter who also bowls lefty spin. This would require a reshuffle just before the tournament though and that’s a tricky spot for Devonshire to be in, so I’m expecting White Ferns to continue selecting their worst T20I players.

Musical jam...

Nick’s Notebook

A-League Offseason Primer...

Auckland FC ALM Squad For 2026-27

Contracted: Logan Rogerson, Jake Brimmer, Nando Pijnaker, Hiroki Sakai, Callan Elliot, Michael Woud, Luka Vicelich

Off Contract: Oli Sail, Francis de Vries, Guillermo May, Louis Verstraete, Felipe Gallegos, Cam Howieson, Jesse Randall, Marlee Francois, Dan Hall, Lachlan Brook, Jake Girdwood-Reich, Sam Cosgrove, James Hilton, Liam Gillion

All the other scholarship dudes are off contract too... though they’re also all eligible to re-sign on the same terms and none of Jonty Bidois, Joe Knowles, Oli Middleton, Adama Coulibaly, or Finn McKenlay have done enough to be turning heads from other clubs so those moves are there to be made if they want them. Van Fitzharris will surely be moved up to a scholarship deal too with Liam Gillion vacating his.

The rumour around Gillion is that AFC want to keep him but that Western Sydney Wanderers are also putting up a chase. That’ll mean that if he does stay, it’ll need to be on improved full contract terms. There’s also talk of Dan Hall leaving for either a rival A-League club or the increasingly likely option of a bigger paycheque in Asia. Girdwood-Reich was only on loan and has another year on his St Louis City contract Stateside which complicates his situation. We already know Jesse Randall is leaving to join Dundee United in Scotland. But there is some chat about Auckland going hard to recruit Lachlan Bayliss to join the cause, with his brother James already in AFC’s Pro League team.

Keep in mind that AFC aren’t as transparent with their contracts as other clubs have been so some of those off contract names could be wrong if there were unpublicised club options or unannounced extensions. But they mostly gave out two-year deals to begin with and this is the end of the second year so there will be departures one way or another. The league-wide move to a hard salary cap doesn’t help either.

Wellington Phoenix ALM Squad For 2026-27

Contracted: Kazuki Nagasawa, Tim Payne, Bill Tuiloma, Corban Piper, Isaac Hughes, Matt Sheridan, Alby Kelly-Heald, Lukas Kelly-Heald, Xuan Loke, Nathan Walker, Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues, Jayden Smith, Luke Brooke-Smith, Anaru Cassidy, Eamonn McCarron

Off Contract: Paolo Retre, Nikola Mileusnic, Manjrekar James, Sander Kartum, Alex Rufer, Dan Edwards, Sarpreet Singh, Ifeanyi Eze, Carlo Armiento, Ramy Najjarine, Josh Oluwayemi, Fin Roa Conchie, Luke Supyk

Great news with Nagasawa re-signing. Genuinely think he’s the most underrated player in this squad and has been for his entire two years. Would be surprised if any of their other imports return though – it’s already been hinted that they’ll go local at goalkeeper and we know that Eze’s going to be too expensive to retain. James lost his spot when Greenacre went to a back four. Kartum never held down a spot long enough to lose it. That’ll give Greenie a fresh slate with which to rebuild this team, with a strong back four in place and basically everything else up in the air.

Alex Rufer’s speculated move to Newcastle is a spanner in the works if that comes to be. Sarpreet Singh’s Serbian club got relegated the other day which should make it a little easier to retain him if he’s keen on the move (it might have been a strict pre-World Cup thing in his eyes though, hard to tell). Roa Conchie is on the fence but Supyk is surely gone.

Other than that it’s a bunch of Aussies who’d probably all prefer an equal offer from across the ditch should it be there for them. Maybe it will be, maybe it won’t. Cases can certainly be made to retain Retre, Armiento & Najjarine… but Mileusnic is already out the door. The good thing is that they do have a good core of academy grads on board... the complicating factors there is that most of them are moving up to full roster status this season (unless things get rearranged) yet barely any of them featured during Greenacre’s interim spell.

On that note, Eamonn McCarron was given a three-year deal today except they didn’t say if it was scholarship or full contract… which usually means full contract and that’d be wild with Alby Kelly-Heald already on one of those. Greenacre played Oluwayemi on an expiring deal ahead of both of them now suddenly there’s a hint they could be happy with those two moving into next season. Unless they just got sloppy and it is only a scholarship deal for McCarron.

Wellington Phoenix ALW Squad For 2026-27

Contracted: Brooke Nunn, CJ Bott, Sabitra Bhandari, Grace Jale, Ellie Walker, Emma Main, Tiana Jaber, Mackenzie Barry, Marisa van der Meer, Macey Fraser, Makala Woods, Pia Vlok

Off Contract: Vic Esson, Tessel Middag, Mackenzie Anthony, Lucia Leon, Lara Wall, Alyssa Whinham, Aimee Danieli, Manaia Elliott, Daisy Brazendale, Emma Pijnenburg

Again, lots of youth contracts and scholarship deals expiring... however they’ll be able to re-sign all the players they want to from that lot. Zoe Benson is the biggest name. Ela Jerez and Ella McMillan might be asked to ponder a move elsewhere having not been in the picture in year one under Bev Priestman. Grace Bartlett has already left, joining Olivia Ingham at Auckland United as of a couple days ago. Ella McCann, Brooke Neary, Lily Brazendale, Harriet Muller, and Mikaela Bangalan are the others in that category – would be surprised if any of them follow Bartlett’s footsteps but you never know. L.Brazendale and McCann are the two who’d be closest to that stage of their career.

Other than that, the WahiNix have already done most of their re-signings with Jale, Nunn, Walker, Barry, and Woods all penning one-year extensions (aligning with the one year left on Priestman’s deal). Of the leftovers it would be Esson, Elliott, Pijnenburg, and Wall who are highest on the wishlist (in that order). Just depends on if Coach Bev reckons she can upgrade in any of those spots. Whinham’s ACL injury could complicate her situation depending on how quickly she’s able to return. Samba did hers later but she at least had time to prove herself in the Priestman system first.

Kiwi Scoring Leader For Each NZ NBL Team

(Min. 5 games)

Southland – Sam Timmins (20.2 ppg)
Canterbury – Walter Brown (23.1 ppg)
Auckland – Zach Riley (18.4 ppg)
Wellington – Carlin Davison (13.0 ppg)
Otago – Ethan Rusbatch (16.0 ppg)
Franklin – Kael Robinson (12.6 ppg)
Taranaki – Taane Samuel (11.6 ppg)
Manawatu – Kazlo Evans (11.0 ppg)
Nelson – Kruz Perrott-Hunt (21.4 ppg)
Tauranga – Taine Murray (21.8 ppg)
Hawke’s Bay – Keanu Rasmussen (20.6 ppg)

Some Charlisse Leger-Walker press conference insights...

CLW on adjusting to the WNBA after college: “I think just coming in and understanding that every team that you go out and play, every individual person you go out and play, is just such an elite player. They play at elite pace. Especially defending really elite guards. You have to really lock into tendencies and scout and if you make a mistake they’re going to punish you for it. So I think it’s really being able to come into the game locked in. There’s not really any time to have any mistakes. You have to go out there and really compete.”

CLW on playmaking as a rookie point guard: “Yeah, I think, coming in and just really getting to well, continuing to get to know my teammates and how they want to play and where their best shots come from, understanding their strengths and weaknesses, and I need to do a better job at facilitating that and getting us better looks on offence. Coming in you have that adjustment period, but you know, it’s a really amazing opportunity at the same time, being thrown into the fire. A lot of people don’t get that opportunity as a rookie point guard. It’s definitely a challenge but one that I can for sure step up to and continue to find ways to help this team win and move forward.”

Charlisse Leger Walker WNBA Minutes By Game:

21, 20, 16, 18, 23, 28, 30, 19, 27

Charlisse Leger Walker WNBA Points By Game:

4, 6, 2, 1, 10, 16, 5, 9, 11

Charlisse Leger Walker WNBA Assists By Game:

1, 2, 2, 5, 2, 3, 5, 2, 3

For the Paid Subscribers, you can read all about the death of FIFA+ and the way that Auckland FC used their OFC Pro League squad to bridge A-League and National League

Maggie Jenkins is back in the Football Ferns despite not yet being back in professional football. Pretty rare these days that a kiwi player gets picked out of the amateur/semi-pro level but when the national team is struggling in front of goal and you’ve scored 36 goals in your last 18 appearances spanning from Wellington United to Auckland United to Essendon Royals... then clearly you’re worth a punt. There’s a Footy Ferns squad yarn in the works that’ll get into that side of it more, this section is about the Aussie NPL as a stepping stone to the A-League. It’s a path that worked for Kelli Brown, Charlotte Lancaster, and Deven Jackson within the last year or two. Many ALW players drop down into the NPL leagues during the offseason to stay busy and work on their game – Alyssa Whinham did that very successfully last year. And unlike the ALW itself, they’re not as bothered about foreign player limits so heaps of kiwis are increasingly getting gigs there.

Jenkins joined Essendon a couple weeks ago, linking up with kiwi defender/midfielder Kendrah Smith (former West Coast Rangers and Southern United) and also head coach Jaiden van der Heijden (former Eastern Suburbs men’s player). In her first game she scored twice in a 4-1 win over South Melbourne. Would have been more except she limped off after 37 minutes. That didn’t stop her from scoring a first-half hatty in the next game, a 7-1 win over Box Hill United (who were leading the league at the time)... though with her team 4-0 up and an international trip on the calendar they did sub her off at HT of that match. Five goals in 82 minutes at what should be a step above where she was in the NZ domestic comp. Utter madness.

But in researching that, I took a closer look at Kiara Bercelli who plays for Box Hill. She’s an attacking midfielder who has played U20s for NZ and was really good for Auckland United as they won the National League last year. Spent some time with Sampdoria in Italy’s Serie A before that (until they got relegated and disbanded their women’s team). Turns out Bercelli has 8 goals and 12 assists for Box Hill this season across 14 appearances. Another absolutely brilliant undercover season so far. Also having a fine time is retired Ferns striker Hannah Wilkinson with 8 goals and 4 assists for Avondale. Natalie Olson, now a Thai international, joined Preston Lions after scoring buckets for Wellington United in the Central League (and alongside Jenkins for the National League phase) and she’s got four goals and one assist.

Already mentioned Kendrah Smith starting games at the back for one of the best teams. Mary Brown is Aussie-born but plays age grade for NZ and she has two goals and two assists for Melbourne City U20s – she was in the NZ U20s squad that just played a couple games against Australia. Heidi Draii wasn’t... but she did go to the U17 World Cup last year and is in that same Melbourne City U20s team having made 10 appearances. Defender Jess Shilton (formerly Waterside Karori) is a regular for Alamein. As is Rosie Wild for Heidelberg Utd – she’s been based there for several years now. Goalkeeper Brooke Bennett is with Wilkie at Avondale and has kept four clean sheets in 14 games. That’s one more than Geo Candy has kept in 13 games for South Melbourne.

Not bad going entirely from the NPL Victoria. Other NPL leagues are trickier to research and we don’t have all day here but that’s an indication of the quality we’ve got floating between the National League and the A-League tiers. From that group, Jenkins and Bercelli have the most upside but I could see a world in which Olson, Candy, or Smith hold down ALW deals someday. Candy already has with both the Phoenix and Melbourne Victory (though only as a backup).

Musical Jam...

Blackcaps vs Ireland & White Ferns Confusion

The Niche Cache — Wed, 27 May 2026 23:10:51 GMT

Mission Success

The Niche Cache — Mon, 25 May 2026 06:57:28 GMT

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Scotty’s Word

Some NZ Warriors hot pockets to boost your yarns...

Best start to a season of the two Andys era after 11 games

2023: 6-5 | -6 points
2024: 4-6-1 | -7 points
2025: 8-3 | -1 points
2026: 9-2 | +156 points

Top-five in these per game stat pockets

Points: 31.8 - 1st
Tries: 5.6 - 1st
Try assists: 4.4 - 4th
Set Completion: 83.2% - 1st
Dummy half runs: 9 - 5th
Fewest penatlies conceded: 4.2 - 2nd
Fewest errors: 10.1 - 1st

Halves this season

Tanah Boyd: 10 games, 3 tries, 10 try assists, 80% wins
Chanel Harris-Tavita: 8 game, 3 tries, 6 try assists, 100% wins
Te Maire Martin: 2 games, 3 tries, 1 try assist, 100% wins
Luke Metcalf: 2 games, 0% wins
Luke Hanson: 1 game, 1 try, 1 try assist, 100% wins

Young wave in NSW Cup win vs Dragons

Jeremiah Lemana (Mt Albert): started in U17s, skipped U19s, NSW Cup debut at 17yrs
Harry Tauafiafi-Iutoi (Pt Chevalier): started in U21s, NSW Cup debut last round
Jye Linnane: From Knights, U21 eligible
Jett Cleary: From Panthers, started in U21s
Rodney Tuipulotu-Vea (Mangere East): started in U19s
Makaia Tafua (Linwood): started in U19s
Kayliss Fatialofa (Otara): started in U19s
Jacob Auloa (Pt Chevalier) started in U19s
Jason Salalilo (Papanui): started in U19s
Christian Sikuvea (Mangere East): started in U19s
Bishop Neal (Hornby): started in U17s, NSW Cup debut at 17yrs
Tyson Hansen (Ngongotaha): started in U17s, U19 eligible
Connor Bowden (Botany Downs): started in U17s, U19 eligible

Melbourne Storm aren’t just struggling in NRL, they are losing lots in the next two grades as well…

NRL: 15th | 4-8
NSW Cup: 14th | 2-9
Jersey Flegg Cup: 12th | 2-8

Their most notable Kiwi-NRL juniors below NRL are all from Christchurch with K-Ci Newton-Whare (Riccarton) in NSW Cup, Victory Isaako (Eastern) in U21s and Isaiah Savea (Hornby) starting in U19s then moving up to U21s.

Bulldogs Kiwi-NRL crew this weekend…

NRL

Leo Thompson (Napier Boys High School

NSW Cup

Sosaia Alatini (Hornby), Alekolasimi Jones (St Paul’s College), Zyon Maiu’u (Te Atatu), Fahmy Toilalo (Otahuhu)

Jersey Flegg Cup

Chelden Hayward (Linwood), Alvin Chong Nee (Manurewa), Bronson Reuben (Kaiapoi), Kaawyn Patterson (Dargaville), Azariah Toki Mautairi (Otahuhu)

For paid subscribers

NZ Warriors in NZ Kiwis mix
NZ Warriors hooker development
White Ferns spotlights on Georgia Plimmer, Jess Kerr, Nensi Patel
NZ-A spotlights on Bella James, Hannah Rowe
Matt Boyle in T20 Blast (almost)

White Ferns won the second T20I vs England and their impressive start to the Melie Kerr era continues. They are 6-2 in ODIs and 8-2 in T20Is this year, having not lost back to back games in either format. There were two notable tweaks to their 1st 11 from the first game with Lea Tahuhu replacing Rosemary Mair and Nesni Patel replacing Suzie Bates, which weren’t solely responsible for the win but winning is a bit easier when selecting the best players.

This includes keeping Bree Illing in the 1st 11 and because Tahuhu’s always at this level, this was more about Illing being selected ahead of Mair. Illing has wickets in every game of this England tour and there is a clear difference between her mahi and that of Mair in T20Is this year...

Bree Illing: 21ov, 5w @ 23.2avg/5.2rpo
Rosemary Mair: 27.2ov, 2w @ 92.5avg/6.7rpo

Patel and Bates haven’t done much batting in T20Is this year to clarify their battle further, but Patel was tidy in the win with 2w @ 6.2rpo in her 4 overs. Patel and Illing are the only White Ferns with 2+ wickets in the series so far, while Patel has quickly stacked up 20 overs this year which is twice as many as Bates (9ov) in the same number of games.

The T20Is vs England offer a snapshot of this as Patel bowled all her available overs and Bates bowled just one in her appearance. Both played as the second spinner behind A-Kerr and while Patel’s overall mahi is still boosted by the series vs Zimbabwe, the fact that she is being used far more than Bates while playing the same role is informative.

Two tricky spots vs England...

Georgia Plimmer: 0 runs off 2 balls
Jess Kerr: 6ov, 1w @ 67avg/11.1rpo

Both have been good overall this year so I’m curious to see if they can find a groove soon.

NZ-A Women have lost their T20 series vs Sri Lanka A and the third game is being played Monday afternoon, so Bella James may find some runs and Hannah Rowe may struggle in the last game of the tour. James and Rowe have dropped out of the White Ferns tier over the last six months and they have had different responses with James struggling for runs and Rowe eating up wickets.

James has one score over 10 runs in four innings and that was a knock of 20 runs to start the tour. She didn’t dominate domestic cricket last summer either and despite a refreshed ODI group, James hasn’t featured in ODIs since the end of 2024. An opening spot will open up with Bates retiring but Kate Anderson’s in a better patch of form and the skills of the younger players offer a wide range of team combos.

Rowe has 2+ wickets in three consecutive games for NZ-A. Her batting has underwhelmed in recent years and she has scores of 10* and 11 so she doesn’t have much juice as an all-rounder. Rowe has been overtaken by faster seamers in Illing, Molly Penfold and Kayley Knight with White Ferns depth on show in how Knight has also been good for NZ-A.

Rowe’s taken 7 wickets in Sri Lanka and Knight’s taken 5 wickets. Knight also had a knock of 38* @ 173sr in the third one-dayer and she has already been effective for White Ferns. A funky comparison for Rowe is Marama Downes because they lack the pace of the others and rely more on movement, along with J-Kerr and Emma Black.

All of which is useful for White Ferns moving forward. They have four seamers hovering around 115km/h (including Mair) and capable of giving 120km/h a nudge. Then there is a different group of seamers who move the ball with swing/seam and while not at the genuine all-rounder level like Patel/Devonshire, all these seamers have shown strong progress in their batting that will increase in the White Ferns environment.

Musical jam…

Nick’s Notebook

There’s going to be a lot of Auckland FC in this section after what happened over the weekend: Not only did they win the A-League championship but the OFC Pro League championship as well. The Reserves lost 1-0 to Eastern Suburbs on Friday night to spoil perfection… but they weren’t competing for a trophy so it doesn’t matter.

Not gonna lie about it, that was not a grand final for the neutrals. It was a bit of a nothing game between two very good defensive teams who mostly cancelled each other out. Auckland FC did enough to deserve the luck that came their way after an hour when Cam Howieson’s second-phase volley took a deflection that wrong-footed PFA goalkeeper of the year Harrison Devenish-Meares, however they didn’t exactly have an abundance of other chances (Jesse Randall had one chance to ice it but that was about it). But that was more than they allowed Sydney. Dan Hall was superb and Nando Pijnaker not too far behind him as Michael Woud was gifted an uneventful evening with the gloves. There were only 13 shots in total in this game. Two on target each. The Expected Goals count was 0.40 vs 0.41. Not a lot of corners either way. Honest, it was a pretty dull contest.

And that’s exactly what Auckland FC wanted. Steve Corica kept the same team that did a job away against Adelaide, including the back three, and although it never opened up for them after the goal like things had done at Coopers, they were even more smothering at the back. Objective #1 was to frustrate and disarm their opposition – which is not the most exciting approach but that tends to be when AFC are at their best. They only kept 38% of possession in this game... mirroring the figure from the win vs Adelaide and extending their season’s record to 5-0-0 when AFC keep less than 40% of the ball in a game. Here’s the updated stat from Thursday’s preview section...

When AFC have over 60% of possession they are 0-2-3 (W-D-L)
When AFC have over 50% of possession they are 2-6-5
When AFC have 50% or less of possession they are 10-5-1
When AFV have 40% of less of possession they are 5-0-0

In a grand final, you do what you do best and try to win by whatever means necessary. Steve Corica knows that – he’s won three of these things as a coach after winning two of them as a player.

Minutes Played During Finals Run

Michael Woud, Dan Hall, Jake Girdwood-Reich, Louis Verstraete - 390
Hiroki Sakai – 390*
Jesse Randall – 353
Callan Elliot – 337
Cam Howieson – 327
Sam Cosgrove - 321
Lachlan Brook - 290
Nando Pijnaker – 250
Guillermo May – 171
Logan Rogerson – 154
Liam Gillion – 47
Francis de Vries – 43
Jake Brimmer – 37
Luka Vicelich – 10
Van Fitzharris - 0**

*Subbed once in injury time

**Subbed on in injury time once

This is a team that won the competition having to play four finals games during which import midfielder Felipe Gallegos (who had started the previous 14 games in a row) did not get a single minute due to injury. Another import, Guillermo May, went off injured in the second game and therefore missed the two most important ones entirely (second leg away in the semis and the grand final). Francis de Vries, one of their World Cup bound All Whites, wasn’t fit enough to play more than twenty minutes in any of those matches. Jake Brimmer, one of the few in this squad who has played in an ALM grand final before, was restricted to one substitute appearance in week one of the playoffs also due to injury. And they won anyway.

For The Paid Subscribers…

Darren Bazeley’s path to the All Whites
Kane Williamson’s last shot at a Test world record
Top 10 uncapped Football Ferns & All Whites update

In the starting eleven for this successful grand final outing were five New Zealanders, three Australians (one of them also Fijian), a Belgian, an Englishman, and a Japanese captain. The three subs used were all New Zealanders, with a Chilean, an Australian, and two more kiwis left unused.

Of those kiwis, the only one that they signed who was an established All Whites international at the time was Nando Pijnaker – and he was playing in the League of Ireland where his form was admittedly awesome but the A-League is a step up from there. Keep that in mind when a lot of those initial two-year contracts end in a few weeks and they have to replace some of these lads – AFC are not going to be able to turn the heads of your favourite World Cup selections, sorry to say it. They can’t afford them in a salary-capped league and anyway NZ’s best players are too good for the A-League. Circumstances have to be perfectly aligned for that to happen (think Sarpreet Singh’s loan to Wellington for example).

But you know what? It doesn’t matter. Because look at what AFC have already done with players signed from less renowned situations around the world. They don’t need to spend the big bucks when they can get top value (championship calibre value!) from guys beyond that, thus expanding our professional player pool by giving opportunities to guys who might not otherwise get them. These are the ten kiwis in the matchday squad for the grand final and how they ended up at Auckland FC:

Cam Howieson – Signed after many years running the midfield for Auckland City, winning National League and Oceania Champions League titles and competing at Club World Cups every year. People forget he did play overseas early in his career – in the Burnley academy and for St Mirren in Scotland at a senior level (he once scored a goal against Rangers). Earned a decent number of All Whites caps from that amateur situation. Personal circumstances prevented him from leaving Auckland but fortunately professional football came to him and now he’s the hero of a grand final victory.
Nando Pijnaker – Won a National League with Eastern Suburbs as part of that great generation of Ole Academy players (McCowatt, Just, Parker-Price, etc) and was a standout at NZ age grade levels so was always on the radar... but struggled to find a home at club level in Switzerland, Portugal, and Denmark before finally settling in Ireland and parlaying that into AFC.
Michael Woud – Another one who was a standout at age grade level but had trouble translating that into his club career. Spent time in the Sunderland system before moving to the Netherlands where he played a few games in the Eredivisie with Willem II as a backup and then became a starter for Almere City in the second division. Erratic form cost him his spot there so he moved to Japan where he was mostly a reserve keeper during those 2.5 years (although did play some AFC Champions League, including a clean sheet against Melbourne City). Was on the bench for every game in year one with AFC and didn’t fully win the fans over until the last quarter of this campaign... now he’s even earned a World Cup spot. What a ride.
Callan Elliot – Had some good times at the Wellington Phoenix, twice leaving to chase overseason opportunities and failing to even debut for either Xanthi (Greece) or Motherwell (Scotland). When he made his introduction for AFC, he’d gone almost 18 months without playing a competitive league game. Was a capped All White but only recently has he become a regular selection.
Jesse Randall – A highly regarded youngster in the Wellington scene (going to the U17 World Cup in 2019) and bounced around a few different National League teams to get established. Had a good year playing for Northern Kentucky University in 2021 and went back to America in 2023 for his first taste of pro footy... where he barely even got a look-in for that USA second tier club. So he returned to Wellington Olympic and was awesome again before AFC came calling. Solid rotational player in year one, then exploded as their best and most reliable forward in year two... now is a regular international and is about to join Dundee United in the Scottish Premiership.
Logan Rogerson – Left the Wellington Phoenix system after making 10 ALM appearances, scoring two goals, but not managing to earn a pro contract. Then embarked on a nomadic overseas career that took him from Germany back to Auckland City to Finland to Armenia and then to Auckland FC. Debuted for NZ in 2015 but has doubled his cap tally in the past two years since joining AFC (nine caps in nine years, then nine caps in two years).
Francis de Vries – Probably the most significant reputation boost of any of these guys (okay, second to Jesse Randall perhaps) though it’s so often overlooked that FDV was starting games in the top division of Swedish football until he busted his ACL in 2022. Of all the guys on this list, he has easily the most extensive experience above the A-League. But that knee injury did knock him off course and it took him a wee while at Eastern Suburbs to get his mojo back. Now he’s better than ever.
Liam Gillion – Was thrilling the Auckland City crowd at Kiwitea Street for a couple years as one of the most exciting younger players in the National League before signing his scholarship deal. He dropped down to the Pro League team to work on a few aspects of his game, which proved a successful mission as he regained his A-League role for this finals run and could be one to benefit from Randall’s departure. Hadn’t played any international footy until the U23s during his Auckland City stuff. Nor had he any professional experience until AFC came calling.
Luka Vicelich – Part of the initial Reserve team intake, having previously been in the Auckland City system - in fact he was the youngest player signed to that original squad. He’s progressed so quickly since then that he’s now made five first team appearances (including two in the finals) by the age of 18. They signed him to a scholarship deal in January. He’s also played at the U17 World Cup and has captained NZ at age level.
Van Fitzharris – Only joined the AFC Reserves for the National League phase of the 2025 season after being a regular starter for his hometown Tauranga City throughout the Northern League. Like Vicelich, once they got him in-house they clearly loved what he brought so he’s moved swiftly up the ranks to where he was sitting on the bench for a grand final having gotten on the pitch late in the semi one week earlier. Expect a scholarship offer to come his way soon.

That’s ten players. Two of them are teenagers (18yo) signed originally to the Reserve team who developed fast enough to already be in the first team framework (Vicelich, Fitzharris). Two were capped All Whites playing in the NZ National League at the time (Howieson, De Vries) while another two were uncapped younger National League standouts (Randall, Gillion). The other four were capped All Whites playing either in lesser situations overseas (Rogerson, Pijnaker) or good situations where they were out of favour (Woud, Elliot).

Every one of them is a superior player now to when they first joined AFC. Every one of them has improved their standing with the All Whites. None of them, except maybe Pijnaker, were seen as glamorous additions at the time. We don’t need AFC to even bother chasing any first-choice All Whites because they’ve shown both with the opportunities they offer to established players and the development they’re providing for younger players that they can create new (or reinvigorate old) All Whites.

Finally, gotta give an extra word for Cam Howieson who has been a back-up midfielder for most of his time with Auckland FC yet absolutely shone during this entire finals run, deservedly getting the decisive goal in the grand final. Already mentioned him in that last bit but I wanted to properly highlight what’s been an excellent and unique career for the 31yo so far, since a few too many people seem to think that the NZ National League is some kinda wilderness as if Howieson wasn’t playing Club World Cups and winning championships that entire time. Here’s Cam Howieson’s career in snapshot:

Represented Aotearoa at U17 World Cup, U20 World Cup, and Olympic Games (U23s)

Debuted for All Whites at 17 years and 4 months in May 2012 and has earned 21 senior caps, appearing under each of the past five coaches (Herbert, Hudson, Schmid, Hay & Bazeley)

Joined Burnley on a scholarship as a teenager and made two league appearances for them in the EFL Championship. Also spent time with Doncaster Rovers on loan before joining St Mirren where he scored on his league debut (against Rangers, no less)

After a stint with Team Wellington, he joined Auckland City in 2017 and spent seven years there during which time he did all this:

Three NZ Premiership/National League championships (2018, 2020, 2022)
Three NZ Premiership/National League runners-up (2017, 2021, 2023)
Four OFC Champions League titles (2017, 2022, 2023, 2024)
One Chatham Cup title (2022)
192 games played, 42 goals scored

Now he’s won an A-League Premiership (2024-25) and an A-League Championship (2025-26) with Auckland FC, scoring the winning goal in the final and being awarded the Joe Marston Medal for Player of the Game - the first NZer to ever win that award.

Musical Jam...

White Ferns & NZ-A Women Update

The Niche Cache — Fri, 22 May 2026 21:03:04 GMT

Good Knocks

The Niche Cache — Thu, 21 May 2026 04:46:35 GMT

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Scotty’s Word

NZ Warriors have three games vs Dragons on Saturday. Here’s how they match up...

NRL

Warriors: 2nd | 8-2
Dragons: 17th | 0-10

NSW Cup

Warriors: 8th | 5-5
Dragons: 5th | 5-4

Jersey Flegg Cup

Warriors: 7th | 5-4
Dragons: 1st | 7-1

NZW absorb the absences of Mitchell Barnett and Kurt Capewell rather easily with Jackson Ford and Jacob Laban slotting into starting roles. This flows down to Tanner Stowers-Smith and Eddie Ieremia-Toeava filling bench roles, giving NZW a tremendous concentration of local juniors for this game. Most of whom grew up within a few kilometres of each other in South Auckland and all of whom played 1st 15 rugby union...

Ali Leiataua: Papatoetoe/King’s College
Leke Halasima: Mangere East/Southern Cross Campus
Jacob Laban: Te Aroha/St Bernard’s College
Tanner Stowers-Smith: Halswell/St Bede’s College
Demitric Vaimauga: Otahuhu/De La Salle College
Eddie Ieremia-Toeava: Otahuhu/De La Salle College

This is amplified by Taine Tuaupiki thriving at fullback and Samuel Healey playing in all 10 games. Both were recruited at the reserve grade level coming from Queensland Cup/New South Wales Cup and then starting in NSW Cup for NZW before building into greater NRL roles.

Add in how Luke Hanson, Kayliss Fatialofa and Makaia Tafua fill three spots on the extended bench. All three have played U21s for NZW. Hanson joined from Panthers at that level, Fatialofa’s worked through the full pipeline and Tafua returned to Aotearoa from a stint in Queensland at the U19 level.

Keep this stuff in mind when pondering how NZW view their talent and their recruitment plans. There are too many examples of excellent player development and recruitment at the U21 level or below in the two Andys era for me to list. All of the guys mentioned above are examples and there are deep cuts all through our NZW coverage.

As expected, Te Maire Martin is selected at halfback. I don’t think this will change as long as NZW win and/or Martin’s doing his job. The noise will increase with any detour from that track though. Martin is one of many players who have taken their opportunity this season, hence there are so many selection battles across the squad.

Martin had 194 kick metres vs Broncos. He has averaged 100+ kick metres per game in just one other NRL season (10 total). Kicking has been Martin’s weakest spot but he is an eager runner, excellent passer and rips in without the footy. Chanel Harris-Tavita can step up as a kicker as well and he’s a lefty which keeps the balance on both sides of the ruck.

Harris-Tavita averages 165 kick metres per game in his career and has averaged 170+ in the last three seasons. He has two games over 200 kick metres this season with 231 vs Eels followed by 372 vs Broncos. Harris did most of the kicking vs Broncos and has always stepped up to do more kicking when required.

The most notable stat zone for this game is how Dragons love offloads but don’t score many tries. They are second for offloads per game on 11.2 and 17th for tries scored per game on 2.2. These are the opposite for NZW as they are 14th for offloads on 8.5 and second for tries with 5.5.

Bailey Carmichael is the most interesting Kiwi-NRL junior for Dragons at the moment. He seems to be from Te Puke and he played 1st 15 for Rotorua Boys High School before moving into the Knights system. The middle forward had three years with Knights and played 17 games of U21s for them last year before moving to Dragons where he’s come off the bench for most of his eight games.

The Dragons NRLW squad has Kiwi Ferns Brooke Anderson after her move from Sharks, as well as veteran hooker Nita Maynard. They also have Trinity Tauaneai (Wainuiomata) in the NRLW squad while younger sister Paige and Seriah Palepale (Mangere East) are also in the system as young forwards.

Two Kiwi-NRL wing combos this round featuring two different rugby union wrinkles...

Dolphins - 1st 15

Jamayne Isaako: Eastern/Shirley Boys High School/St Bede’s College
Tevita Naufahu: St Kentigern College (NZ Schools in 2023)

Storm - Sevens

Will Warbrick: Ngongotaha
Moses Leo: Takapuna RU

If you didn’t know about Kaikohe’s Mason Barber he is 19yrs and on the cusp of NRL footy for Cowboys. He made the Australian Schoolboys team soon after leaving Aotearoa and is always in the Cowboys wider squad, having flashed his talent in NRL preseason earlier this year.

Barber has played nine games starting at centre in Queensland Cup for Mackay. He’s only got one try but he has six try assists, 33 tackle breaks and 18 offloads. Tackle breaks in all but one game and offloads in every game. Barber and Eels utility Te Hurinui Twidle are two excellent youngsters on the rise, both of whom can cover key positions for NZ Kiwis moving forward.

For paid subscribers

Spotlights on Taine Tuaupiki, Ali Leiataua, Jacob Laban, Samuel Healey
NZ Warriors NSW Cup deep cuts
White Ferns stats
Spotlights on Izzy Sharp, Bree Illing, Brooke Halliday, Rosemary Mair
Long list of emerging FC seamers

White Ferns lost the first T20I vs England and are 7-2 this year. Izzy Sharp scored with 26* @ 130sr and she is now on 53avg/136sr in T20Is this year with the third highest batting strike-rate for White Ferns. Sharp has been far more effective in T20Is than ODIs and she has now had four innings batting seven with 33avg/132sr, which seems to be the ideal role for her at the moment.

Sharp has either scored 20+ runs or been not-out in seven of her nine T20I innings since her debut last year. While staying consistent in both years, Sharp’s strike-rate has jumped from 104 to 136 and she had a socre of 29 runs @ 138sr vs South Africa earlier this year. That’s two good knocks down the order against two good teams and Sharp is 21-years-old coming off her best season of Super Smash.

Bree Illing took the most wickets for White Ferns with 2w @ 4.7rpo and the 22-year-old has also had a strong start to her T20I career. Illings on 23avg/5.7rpo in T20Is and she now has wickets in five consecutive innings for White Ferns with the four prior to this outing being ODIs which is the best phase of her ODI journey so far.

Illing is the most economical White Ferns seamer who has played more than one game this year (5.23rpo). Lea Tahuhu (5.44rpo) is right behind Illing and I’m curious if these two can play together, bumping out Rosemary Mair. Mair has been the worst T20I bowler for White Ferns this year and is averaging 97 since the start of 2025.

Mair is the third most expensive bowler for White Ferns in T20Is this year, behind Sophie Devine and Suzie Bates. They are all over 6.5rpo and the only bowlers over that mark. Devine’s tied for the second most wickets so no dramas there, but Mair and Bates aren’t taking wickets and are the only bowlers averaging over 30.

Bates was the most economical bowler vs England with her only over going for 4rpo. She’s also the only White Ferns bowler over 8.3rpo and the more England face her, their comfort in scoring off Bates will probably increase. Meanwhile, Nensi Patel is the most economical T20I bowler this year but that featured T20Is against Zimbabwe and she will need to snap up her opportunity when it comes to put pressure on Bates.

Mair has at least had many good years of T20I bowling and averaged 22 prior to the start of 2025. Brooke Halliday has struggled in this format despite being an awesome ODI batter and has never really shown any juice in T20Is. She has a career record of 14.7avg/98sr and is on 17avg/102sr this year, having had two 30+ scores in 43 T20I innings.

Halliday is a 1st 11 player and, based on selections, she is locked in with 1st 11 status through the T20 World Cup. She is a good fielder and has bowled two overs since the start of 2025, both of which were in 2025. Halliday’s not a bowler for White Ferns and has the lowest strike-rate for batters with 10+ runs this year, with the second lowest average.

That’s a pretty low baseline for locked in 1st 11 status. Mair is also in this zone and there is tremendous competition for selection, unlike previous years for White Ferns. Halliday has played every game this year and Mair’s played eight of the nine, so it’s going to be interesting to see if they can do something soon to ease the pressure.

Blackcaps Test bowlers since the start of 2024...

Matt Henry: 68w @ 16.3avg/3rpo
Will O’Rourke: 39w @ 24.2avg/3.6rpo
Jacob Duffy: 25w @ 16.2avg/2.3rpo
Zak Foulkes: 13w @ 28.3avg/2.8rpo
Nathan Smith: 10w @ 39.8avg/4.6rpo
Michael Rae: 8w @ 28.2avg/3.4rpo
Kyle Jamieson: 6w @ 15.5avg/2.9rpo
Ben Sears: 5w @ 32.2avg/4.8rpo
Blair Tickner: 4w @ 8avg/2rpo
Matt Fisher: 2w @ 19avg/3.2rpo

Smith and Sears are the only guys over 30avg. Smith has improved from 48.4avg last year to 19.6avg this year. Sears’ only Test was against Australa and he was solid against a good team. That list has 10 bowlers on it showing the depth available to Blackcaps and the lowest ranked guys in Michael Rae and Matt Fisher both took wickets on debut.

Jamieson and Tickner have only played a few Tests in this period. They are also the only bowlers who played before 2024 on that list with Jamieson averaging 19.7 in his career and Tickner averaging 29.1.

Musical jam...

Nick’s Notebook

Three Questions For Auckland FC’s A-League Grand Final Quest...

1) Does Steve Corica Keep The Same Team?

He bowled a bit of a doosra last week with the back three from the outset... only the third time that Dan Hall, Nando Pijnaker, and Jake Girdwood-Reich had all started together… and one of the others was with JGR as a left-back in the first game of FDV’s absence (then Sakai took a turn, then Elliot settled in smoothly). Goign back three from the start was a very rare goose.

The back three stuff was a successful late-game tactic last year but it’s been pretty sketchy this time around. However it worked to perfection away to an Adelaide team that struggled to pick the lock with that extra man back, allowing the backline to cover more width without losing shape. It also kept AFC cautious and their fine away form this term suggests that’s actually when they’re at their best, when they’re a little more conservative (especially through the midfield). Start by shutting down the opps and then build from there. Set pieces and counter attacks should mean that they still create a few chances even with a more defensive outlook.

It’s a grand final so we’re in ‘win by any means necessary’ territory and Steve Corica knows how that goes better than most. Don’t worry about trying to be expansive for the home fans, they’ll be cheering regardless, treat it like an away game and play spoilers first and foremost.

2) Where Does Francis De Vries Fit Into That Chat?

But there should be one change to the line-up because if FDV is fit enough then he’s gotta start. They didn’t need him last week, sweet as, but he’s the pipeline to Jesse Randall and he’s the best corner taker in the team. That’s basically where the counter attacks and set pieces stuff comes from, right? The question is whether he’s fit enough to go a potential 120 minutes because if he starts he probably needs to be, otherwise it might be wiser to sub him on after 60 mins or something. FDV has only played a combined 25 mins since his return so he’s pretty undercooked. Here’s some proof about that Randall Pipeline idea...

Jesse Randall Overall:

9 goals from 8.79 xG | 8 assists from 8.60 xA

Randall when FDV Starts (22 games):

9 goals from 8.46 xG (0.39 xG/game)
6 assists from 6.22 xA (0.28 xA/game)

Randall w/o FDV Starting (7 games):

0 goals from 0.33 xG (0.05 xG/game)
2 assists from 2.38 xA (0.34 xA/game)

His expected assist numbers actually get slightly higher without FDV… which you can entirely put down to him taking corner kicks in FDV’s absence (they love their inswingers so Randall will still be taking the left-sided ones, most likely, even with Franny back). But the goal scoring chances have shrivelled up into nothing, damn. He’s got less combined xG in the seven games since the last international break than he was averaging every one game before that.

3) Sam Cosgrove vs Harrison Devenish-Meares

A lot of Auckland’s season has boiled down to how they’ve used their Big English Striker. Sometimes they’ve overused him, putting crosses on his head that he frustratingly doesn’t convert. Sometimes they’ve used him brilliantly for lay-offs and flick-ons and allowed him to go hunting for second-phase chances where he’s an excellent poacher, bringing him into the play earlier and then working around him rather than making him the destination. Other times he’s gotten completely into the niggle with his markers and there have been games where that’s backfired and others where it’s worked massively in his team’s favour. Depends how much he’s able to wind them up.

There’s also an odd fact about how Cosgrove, who has 12 goals this season, has not scored after the 60^th minute of any match. His penalty against Adelaide – the one that just dribbled over the line (although he thumped in the rebound anyway) – was in the 58^th minute which is the third time he’s scored on 58’ having done so in two separate games vs Central Coast.

He’s the main man up top, the point of the arrow, and even with a sore ankle he’s not being subbed off in a grand final unless things go completely awry. That already makes him a key figure... but he’s up against the best goalkeeper in the league according to PFA Team of the Year. Harrison Devenish-Meares got more votes from his fellow players than anyone else in that team (including Cozza himself). Devenish-Meares has already had a couple of blinders against AFC this season and Sydney have only conceded four goals in their last seven matches (including extra time vs Newcastle). Every now and then, Cosgrove has one of those games where he can’t seem to figure out where the goal is and HDM is the type of goalkeeper who might just exacerbate a day like that. Fascinating match-up.

Also, the prior form is very good: Auckland FC have never lost to Sydney FC before

They had a 1-0 win (home) and a 2-2 draw (away) last season. This season has been a similar story where they won 1-0 at Mt Smart in February thanks to a Sam Cosgrove goal (20’). Next time they met was in Oz where Alex Popovic put Sydney ahead in the 84^th min only for a Rhyan Grant own goal in the fifth minute of added time to salvage a 1-1 draw. That was the game immediately after Oli Sail’s injury when Michael Woud’s redemption arc began in earnest. Third time they met followed a similar pattern where Popovic again scored around a similar zone to make it 2-1 only for Guillermo May to grab an equaliser in the 90^th... his second goal of the day. That was in Sydney.

Auckland’s Possession Percentages vs Sydney this season:

37% | 44% | 40%

When AFC have over 60% of possession they are 0-2-3 (W-D-L)

When AFC have over 50% of possession they are 2-6-5

When AFC have 50% or less of possession they are 10-5-1

When AFV have 40% of less of possession they are 4-0-0

That’s another way of saying the same thing: that Auckland FC do their best mahi from a foundation of Defence First.

For the Paid Subscriber Brethren & Sistren:

Charlisse Leger-Walker’s rising WNBA form
Southland Sharks NBL recruitment
Would Gianni Stensness & Tyler Boyd make the current All Whites?

The NZ Breakers have got their head coach and he’s a doozy. Gordon Herbert is a 67yo Canadian, currently the head coach of the Canadian national team (which possesses the two-time reigning NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the frontman of a golden generation) and before that won the World Cup with Germany in 2023. He’s won trophies coaching domestically in Germany, France, and Finland... in fact he’s even got dual-nationality in Finland after having played and coached there for a long time. Obvious connection there with Petteri Koponen, the Finnish legend who previously coached the Breakers. Herbert has also been an assistant coach with the Toronto Raptors at another stage of his career so he’s done the NBA thing too.

You never know how these things will go, the fits aren’t always as easy as you’d hope, but compare this to Koponen for a sec. Koponen had never been a head coach, having only recently retired and moved into the youth coaching space. Herbert has coached in different countries with different languages at the top level both domestically and internationally for multiple decades. Never in the NBL but you’d imagine the cultural connection is easier for a Canadian in New Zealand/Australia than it would be in Germany or France yet he clearly didn’t have any trouble there either. This is the coaching coup that the previous ownership tried to convince us was true of Dan Shamir.

The Breakers have also confirmed another signing with Kuoat Noi given a two-year contract. He’s an Aussie-South Sudanese forward who joins from Sydney Kings where he was the Sixth Man of the Year two seasons ago and has won two championships in the past four years. This signing has a lot in common with Dejan Vasiljevic who is also a former Sydney Kings player (though was playing against them for Adelaide in the 2026 finals) and has also won two NBL championships in his career. Vasiljevic is 29 years old and Noi is 28 years old. They both bring leadership, they both bring experience, they both bring winning reputations in this league. Neither are turning up for their retirement tours, still with many years of top class ball to offer.

And they’re also both three-point shooters for a team that was terrible in that regard last season and whose two best players, Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Sam Mennenga, are both subpar jump shooters. Both are coming off down years from range. Noi hovered around 36% through his Sydney spell, peaking in that 6MOY season where he shot 39.2% but NBL26 saw him drop down to 33.5%. Better than the Breakers team average though not what he’s capable of. Vasiljevic shot 36.2% from threes last season... fairly steady with the year before though when he was in Sydney he was knocking them down at 41.5%, 37.1%, and 38.5% - those were his first three years out of university. But DJ in particular also has range beyond the perimeter, willing to try and capable of burying crunch shots from the logos, and as I’ve said before that reputation is even more valuable than the percentages (as long as the percentages stay good enough not to burst the reputation).

This has told us so much about how Dillon Boucher is trying to build this roster. Three-point shooting and championship pedigree are the priorities. Less of a priority is signing kiwi players at all costs but the thing about that is the Breakers have tried and failed to recruit the very best kiwi talent. Flynn Cameron chose Adelaide last year. Sam Waardenburg chose Melbourne this year. They didn’t land Taine Murray out of college. Finn Delany and Shea Ili and Tyrell Harrison weren’t available to them. Tai Webster was a nice mid-season get last time albeit an imperfect fit. However, they have landed Carlin Davison on a fresh deal and that’s massive not only for the team’s talent levels but also for the box office value of his dunks. Crowds weren’t good last season. This should be a much more entertaining team.

NZ Breakers in NBL27

Head Coach: Gordon Herbert

PG – Parker Jackson-Cartwright | Preston Le Gassick
SG – Dejan Vasiljevic | Izayah Le’Afa
SF – Reuben Te Rangi
PF – Kouat Noi | Carlin Davison
C – Sam Mennenga

That’s 8/11 roster spots filled, with room for a Next Star if they so desire. They inherited one last year so we’re not really sure if that’s something the current ownership are bothered with. Two of those three players will be imports – likely another forward and probably a ball-handling shooting guard. One more local player on top of that and development players as well. Those DPs will probably be pretty similar to last year’s crew of: Alex McNaught, Tukaha Cooper, Liam Judd, and Jack Andrew. All of them are having class seasons in the NZ NBL right now... but then so are a lot of dudes.

Remaining Free Agents from last season: Izaiah Brockington (Import), Karim Lopez (Next Star), Max Darling, Sean Bairstow, Rob Loe, Tai Webster, Taylor Britt, Rob Baker (Import).

Lopez is going to the NBA. Loe is probably retiring again. Britt has already had his option declined and Preston Le Gassic pretty much replaces him on the roster. Doubtful over Brockington and Baker returns though wouldn’t rule it out just yet. They definitely need a back-up centre so that could be a target for an import, though Mennenga’s starting position would mean that guy would need to be able to get minutes at PF so as not to come all that way only to pack a sad on the bench. That’s why I suspect that backup five role is the one to use the last local spot on. Plenty of kiwi options there... they might even want to upgrade Jack Andrew and clear room for another DP.

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Forecasting Future All Whites Depth With A Squad Of U25 Prospects

The Niche Cache — Thu, 21 May 2026 04:42:19 GMT

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Scotty’s Word

Great win for NZ Warriors vs Broncos at Magic Round. The halves situation got even more confusing with Tanah Boyd’s knee injury but NZW scored all of their 42 points after Boyd departed with Te Maire Martin plugging that hole and making the most of his opportunity.

I think too much of the NZW spotlight has been put on the halfbacks. They physically dominated Broncos and everyone from Taine Tuaupiki to Demitric Vaimauga adds something to how the team is firing on attack and defence.

NZW are winning by playing James Fisher-Harris footy and have done so all season. They plow through defenders and then pick at the gaps that open up, starting around the ruck with Wayde Egan and then working out towards the edges.

NZW score tries all across the field. They don’t have complex attacking structures, they just pounce on the space created by their brutal carries.

Same goes for defence. NZW controlled the ruck vs Broncos by driving them back and winning the wrestle. Broncos only scored two tries and that should be their baseline with Adam Reynolds and Reece Walsh in the team. Again, that’s not the halfback. That is a team working together to give fans the kinda defence they have always craved.

A bonus popped up in NSW Cup as well with Jye Linnane playing his first game for NZW. He played centre and was super slick, having been the second young half from Newcastle to move to Mt Smart after Jack Thompson.

Both are awesome young players. Thompson is a pure half who looks just as good as Jett Cleary. Linnane is more of a runner and that’s probably why he played centre, which could lead to game time at fullback as well.

The NSW Cup squad had all four young Aussie halves in their 46-4 win vs Storm. Cleary and Luke Hanson were the halves, with Linnane at centre while Thompson was 18th geezer. Linnane and Thompson are both eligible for U21s as well.

This reserve grade team was meant to take a hefty step backwards after losing so many good players from last year - many of whom have played NRL this year. NZW are 5-5 in NSW Cup and eighth on the ladder. A dip but nothing crazy when most weeks their team is full of guys 25yrs or younger.

Three players have debuted as 17-year-olds and two have kept their spots with Jeremiah Lemana (centre) and Bishop Neal (edge) now regular team members.

Most importantly right now, all the halves depth is busy. Martin showed what he is capable of and Linnane is a fresh wrinkle who oozes x-factor, while the other three are tracking supremely well ... to the point where I think Cleary is now underrated and he could play NRL this year if the stars align.

But NZW win by effort, intensity, and aggression. That is the best thing about NZW footy at the moment and we saw it laid out clearly on one of the biggest stages of the regular season.

There’s some amazing stuff happening in New Zealand sport right now - including the World Surf League in Raglan. Something sneaky was the Kieran Foran vs Benjamin Marshall coaching battle. Having two hearty kiwis coaching against each other in the NRL wasn’t something I was thinking about before the season started.

Foran’s Sea Eagles were too slick for Tigers at Magic Round. Marshall has had a tougher task than Foran at Tigers and they were missing a few key players, plus things haven’t been tracking well since Jarome Luai took his trip to Papua New Guinea. Marshall has had an impact at Tigers though and much of the vibe switch there is thanks to him.

There aren’t many Kiwi-NRL juniors in the Sea Eagles system under Foran but Zach Dockar-Clay played his first game of the season against Tigers. Dockar-Clay is a Bell Block junior from New Plymouth who has been around NZ Kiwis squads recently because he’s capable of playing halves and hooker, starting at hooker at Magic Round.

I forgot about Dockar-Clay while putting the spotlight on Taranaki with Jensen Taumoeapeau’s debut for Titans. There’s a funky split between the Bell Block and Western Suburbs juniors. WS have more top-tier talent in Taumoepeau, Mawene Hiroti and Kahu Capper leading the way but Bell Block have two excellent youngsters in Jake White (Sharks) and Charley Lahmert (Knights Women) on the rise.

D’Jazirhae Pua’avase is a Manurewa junior who moved down from Cowboys during the Anthony Seibold era and has settled into a starting middle forward groove in NSW Cup with Foran in charge. Ezekiel Paulo is a Papanui junior from Christchurch who has played U21s and NSW Cup for two seasons now, going from nine U21 games and two NSW Cup game to two U21 games and four NSW Cup games.

Paulo’s an edge forward and he has played 80 minutes in his last three NSW Cup games. NZ Warriors forward Jason Salalilo is another notable Papanui junior and they both came through the tremendous St Thomas of Canterbury College wave.

Sea Eagles also have Mangere East juniors Kalani Peyroux-Donaldson and Francis Tuimauga in their U21s group. Both are forwards who started with NZ Warriors.

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Blackcaps Test bowler stats
Blackcaps Test bowlers as batters
White Ferns podcast update
Spotlights on Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Izzy Gaze, Rosemary Mair
White Ferns ODI stats this year and vs England

White Ferns won the third ODI vs England to give them a series draw and a 6-2 record in ODIs this year. They won all three games vs Zimbabwe and then had a 2-1 series win vs South Africa to finish the summer. Remember that last time they were in England they were swept in the ODIs and T20Is (8-0).

6-2 without Sophie Devine or Lea Tahuhu. Suzie Bates is averaging 9 with the bat and 87 with the ball this year. Plus players like Fran Jonas, Eden Carson and Hannah Rowe have dropped down a tier.

The switch in captains shouldn’t have been such a key moment for White Ferns but there is a clear difference with Melie Kerr as captain. There’s vibey stuff that is picked up watching the group play cricket. White Ferns have also won more games than they were and a bunch of players who have played under multiple captains, are doing their best with A-Kerr as captain.

Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Izzy Gaze and Rosemary Mair are among the best White Ferns this year and are playing at higher levels than they were under previous captains. They were the best players in the win vs England…

Bree Illing: 2w @ 4.1rpo
Rosemary Mair: 2w @ 5.8rpo
Melie Kerr: 1w @ 6.6rpo
Maddy Green: 37 runs @ 86sr
Brooke Halliday: 42* @ 78sr
Izzy Gaze: 22* @ 96sr

Meanwhile the captain has a big improvement in her bowling and a solid jump in her batting...

Captain: 49.8avg/87sr | 15.4avg/4.5rpo
Not captain: 41.9avg/82sr | 30.7avg/4.6rpo

All the younger players have looked comfy under Melie Kerr but the solid bowling mahi of Bree Illing and Nensi Patel vs England deserves a salute. Illing quickly settled into the international arena with her pace, bounce and swing as a lefty giving White Ferns x-factor. She too wickets in both games and five consecutive one-dayers including the warm up game in England and two ODIs vs South Africa.

Illing was the most economical White Ferns bowler vs England and only bowler under 4rpo (3w @ 20ag/3.6rpo). Patel was the only spinner below 5rpo with 2w @ 28.5avg/4.3rpo and she has snapped up her opportunity with Jonas/Carson out, as well as offering good batting and fielding.

Which leads into fascination about Bates moving into T20Is. Patel has been far better than Bates (1w @ 87avg/6.6rpo) in ODIs this year and they are competing for the lower order role in T20Is. Patel’s on 6w @ 9.5avg/3.5rpo this year and Bates is on 2w @ 35.5avg/8.8rpo, while Patel’s only batted once for White Ferns with 12 runs @ 171sr in an ODI.

Bates is on 9.2avg/52sr in ODIs this year and her strike-rate in both formats has been steadily decreasing each year. Lower order batting slots in T20Is are all about strike-rates and Patel has grown into a quick scorer in recent seasons, plus the others in this zone are all good hitters (Jess Kerr, Izzy Sharp, Flora Devonshire, Lea Tahuhu).

Patel is the most notable riser for White Ferns this year. She has overtaken three other spinners in Jonas, Carson and Bates. Patel’s also a better batter than all of them and has been cooking in the development system for a few years, so she is ready to keep building towards a major tournament role.

Big ups Gaze for her crazy mahi in both formats this year…

ODI: 242 runs @ 48.4avg/110sr
T20I: 219 runs @ 43.8avg/166sr

Best players for NZ-A women in one-day series vs Sri Lanka A…

Bella James: 20 runs @ 133sr
Kate Anderson: 19 runs @ 76sr
Bella Armstrong: 13 runs @ 130sr | 2w @ 3rpo
Emma Black: 16ov, 4w @ 5.8rpo
Hannah Rowe: 18ov, 3w @ 4.5rpo

Musical jam...

Nick’s Notebook

It wasn’t entirely unexpected but the A-League grand final away to Melbourne City proved a step beyond the Wellington Phoenix Women. It’s been a brilliant season under Bev Priestman but most of the Bevolution has occurred on the mental and physical side of things, getting these players to believe that they deserve to be winning games and then convincing them to work their arses off to make it happen. Some quality recruitment too. In a tactical sense… they can come across as a bit one-dimensional with their reliance upon pace in behind and set pieces (okay, then: two-dimensional). Usually that’s enough to win them games but Melbourne City are on another plane. They won the minor premiership without ever really reaching full capacity, saving that for the grand final. They’re also trying to win the Asian Champions League (which they were runners-up in last year with a similar squad) so they know how to play these big games.

The other thing Melbourne City have is Holly McNamara, possibly the best player in the competition, who is capable of scoring crazy goals. Both of her goals in this final were preventable but it goes to show how slim the margins often are in a game of that magnitude. Brisbane didn’t punish them but Melbourne City did. The Nix conceding a second time straight after the first break was another example of them not being 100% on top of the occasion – you can’t allow your errors to be compounded like that.

When Leticia McKenna then scored a banger early second half it looked like game over but credit to this Phoenix group because they pulled one back through Makala Woods and from there they barged their way back into the game with a series of crosses and corner kicks that finally, more than fifty minutes into the game, disrupted the previously immaculate defensive shape of Rebekah Stott and her girls. The Nix needed to score again during that spell though. They didn’t and therefore they had to settle for silver medals.

Hard to be too bummed out when the better team obviously won. The Phoenix went further than they’ve ever gone, becoming the first NZ team to contest an A-League grand final (winning that race by one week), and capped out in second place. Fair enough. There were little instances where they sold themselves short: the tracking/marking for the first goal, getting split for the second, conceding twice in a row like that, et cetera... however the overall result was way more about Melbourne City being really good than it was about the Wellington Phoenix underperforming.

Here’s Wellington’s pass map from the grand final...

Very condensed... and you can see there was just nothing there from the two assisters for the Makala Woods goals last week. Pia Vlok (24) was pretty much shut out of the game. Brooke Nunn (23) battled away on the left but didn’t have much joy. Neither of them was able to combine with Woods at all, who found herself dragged from side to side seeking to get her touches. The effort was there but the opportunity was not thanks to the way that Melbourne City set up (Stotty specifically said afterwards that they’d planned to shut down those passes in behind that Woods loves to run onto... and they did).

What this reminded me of was Auckland FC’s blokes falling short in their first finals series last year. They were knocked out in the semis, one step earlier than this Nix side, but what we saw from them on Friday night shrugging off their uneven recent form to convincingly win away in Adelaide is a great example of the old cliche: gotta lose one before you can win one. The Phoenix Women have lost one now... but this is a two-year project with Bev Priestman who will be back to seek revenge next season and so will the spine of her squad (at the very least).

Contracted For Next Season:

Brooke Nunn, CJ Bott, Makala Woods, Sabitra Bhandari, Grace Jale, Ellie Walker, Emma Main, Tiana Jaber, Mackenzie Barry, Marisa van der Meer, Macey Fraser, Pia Vlok

Off-Contract:

Vic Esson, Manaia Elliott, Lucia Leon, Tessel Middag, Emma Pijnenburg, Zoe Benson, Mikaela Bangalan, Mackenzie Anthony, Lara Wall, Daisy Brazendale, Alyssa Whinham, Aimee Danieli, Brooke Neary, Ela Jerez, Ella McMillan, Ella McCann

You’d have to think they can pretty much take their pick of those uncontracted players too. Bangalan and Neary will settle back into Reserve team footy over the winter, most likely, while a few others like Jerez and McMillan never seemed to be in Priestman’s plans for whatever reason so they may try something else. Elliott and Pijnenburg could draw attention from foreign clubs if the Nix aren’t quick about it, though they have an import spot spare to replace either of them if need-be.

But hold up, wait a minute, let’s go no further without acknowledging the A-League’s legend among legends Rebekah Stott who, along with her Footy Ferns teammate Deven Jackson, just added an ALW championship medal to her very extensive collection...

Rebekah Stott’s A-League Career

2011-12: Lost in the semis with Melbourne Victory
2012-13: Lost in the grand final with Melbourne Victory
2015-16: Champions & Premiers with Melbourne City
2016-17: Champions with Melbourne City
2017-18: Champions with Melbourne City
2018-19: Didn’t make the playoffs
2019-20: Champions & Premiers with Melbourne City
2021-22: Lost in preliminary final with Melbourne City
2023-24: Premiers & lost in grand final with Melbourne City
2024-25: Premiers & lost in the semis with Melbourne City
2025-26: Champions & Premiers with Melbourne City

That’s 11 seasons that she’s played in this league, in amongst a bit of time spent overseas including with Brighton in the English WSL, along with overcoming cancer, and in those 11 seasons she has won five championships and five premierships as well as contesting two other grand finals and she’s only once missed the finals. Seven grand finals in 11 attempts is unreal. And that’s not even including when she was a youth player with a championship Brisbane Roar side back in 2011, albeit she never actually played for them.

Bonus yarns for the Paid Subscribers:

Charlisse Leger-Walker’s WNBA journey
Some All Whites stray ideas

As for Auckland FC, they were the Melbourne City in their equation, pulling out a brilliant away leg performance to beat Adelaide United 3-0 and book their own spot in the grand final... which they’ll now host thanks to Sydney FC’s penalty shootout win vs Newcastle Jets in the other semi. Tickets sold out pretty much immediately – if they can expand the capacity as they’ve done in the past for the derbies then they might get more fans to that grand final than to their previous two finals games combined. A bit of momentum and a shot at glory and the punters come roaring back, that’s how it works. Although that does remind me of this statistic...

Auckland FC at Home in 2025-26

Auckland FC Away in 2025-26

They began with two home wins so it’s worse than it looks like too. Haven’t won a game at Mt Smart since the Warriors NRL season kicked off. AFC’s last six home games (most recent first):

Drew 1-1 vs Adelaide (semi-final first leg)
Drew 1-1 vs Melbourne City (elimination final – advanced on penalties)
Lost 0-1 vs Central Coast
Drew 2-2 vs Melbourne Victory
Lost 1-2 vs Macarthur

I’ll get into forecasting the final more in Thursday’s edition though. That stat may be a warning for what’s to follow but it’s also a glowing example of how they got there because you can see how they’ve been notably better defensively in away matches where the game plan is a little more conservative and they don’t feel as much pressure to play up to the crowd. Nobody’s leaving disappointing if the away team sits back a little deeper... and AFC happen to be a more commanding team when they begin from that place of blunting the opposition. Steve Corica has stepped on some banana skins this season – the early back three substitution in the elimination final vs City was one that backfired on him. But he’s an excellent coach and that win in Adelaide ranks up there with his finest ninety minute masterclasses.

They gave the Reds nothing. 62% possession and they could only muster 0.94 xG from 15 shots (almost half of those shots coming from outside the box) with only one of those 15 shots requiring a save from Michael Woud. Auckland had fewer shots, only 12 of them, but their xG was 2.26 thanks to the far greater chances they created (including a Cosgrove penalty and a Rogerson tap-in).

Every game that Adelaide has played against the kiwi teams this season has been scrappy, they’re biters and scratchers that lot... except for this one where Auckland set a physical tone from the start with Sakai getting booked after only four minutes and Pijnaker lucky to avoid the same treatment. The foul count was 14 by AFC and 4 by ADL. It was Auckland doing all the roughing-up. Surprisingly there was very little targeting of Cosgrove that we saw in the first leg where every joker in an Adelaide jersey wanted to give him a serve... ironically Cozza still won himself a penalty, albeit a cheeky one.

Timely goals, flawless defence, aggressive from the outset, playing to their strengths, conservative in the right ways, clinical when they needed to be. The only question is whether they can do it against Sydney FC in front of a huge home crowd.

Musical Jam...