Mount Olympus
Neil Wagner in the Blackcaps, All Whites/Football Ferns reactions, Auckland vs Aotearoa Maori rugby league, MNL Team of the Week & more
Podcast
Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Youtube
Reading Menu
How Aotearoa Kiwi Ferns Defeated Australia And Continue The Resurgence Of Wahine Rugby League (Rugby League)
Aotearoa Kiwis Defeat Australia: The Black and White Toa From Aotearoa (Rugby League)
Some Of Best Kiwi-NRL Junior Big Boppers To Watch Out For In 2024 (Rugby League)
2023/24 Kiwi-NRL Train And Trial Breakdown (Rugby League)
2023/25 World Test Championship: Blackcaps Tour Of Bangladesh Preview (Cricket)
Assessing The Blackcaps Pipeline After The 2023 World Cup (Cricket)
2023/24 HBJ Shield: Round One Notebook (The Young Wave) (Cricket)
Scotty’s Word
Neil Wagner has taken Matt Henry's spot in the Blackcaps Test squad. While Wagner's recent Test bowling stats are moving in the wrong direction, Wagner did help Northern Districts win their most recent Plunket Shield game with 4 wickets and Wagner's Blackcaps mana is undeniable.
Neil Wagner's last 5 years of Test bowling...
2019: 43w @ 17.8avg/2.8rpo
2020: 18w @ 24.2avg/2.6rpo
2021: 10w @ 28avg/2.7rpo
2022: 18w @ 33.2avg/3.2rpo
2023: 11w @ 40.9avg/5.7rpo
This is a fascinating phase for Wagner. Injuries seem to be impacting the 37-year-old more these days and he simply isn't as good as he used to be. Then again, the best version of Wagner tends to come when he plays lots of cricket. Sporadic Test/Plunket Shield appearances don't help Wagner find his groove. Wagner is better suited to Test bowling in Bangladesh than Henry, or any other Blackcaps seamer because of his workhorse style which relies more on mana than seam or swing.
Aside from Wagner, this is a learning moment about the Blackcaps pipeline. There are lots of young seamers in Aotearoa on the rise and there is a strong cluster of seamers who have performed well on the fringes of the Blackcaps mixer. Blackcaps Test cricket isn't a development zone though and I'm enjoying the urgency of Blackcaps cricket.
Blackcaps need a Test series win in Bangladesh to get this World Test Championship cycle started and Test wins, let alone series wins, are really hard to get in Asia. Seam bowling for Tests in Bangladesh is not a development pocket, but don't worry because there is ample space for development in Plunket Shield/Ford Trophy/Super Smash and the various 'A' tours. Add in random ODI/T20I series where lads like Dean Foxcroft, Adithya Ashok, Ben Sears, Ben Lister, Henry Shipley etc have already featured.
Don't expect youngsters to get promoted to the Test squad anytime soon. Last summer Scott Kuggeleijn and Blair Tickner were selected, meanwhile Doug Bracewell is still one of the best cricketers in Aotearoa. If Blackcaps need a Test seamer for the home summer, Kuggeleijn and Bracewell are the leading candidates. Rachin Ravindra's Test call up a few years ago was weird because it bucked this trend.
None of which diminishes the young seam talent in Aotearoa. Zak Foulkes is my favourite cricketer from the Plunket Shield's first stanza as he is a slick batter, fields at second slip, and offers a funky seam package. Will O'Rourke, Nathan Smith, Kristian Clarke, Matt Fisher, and Ray Toole are other notable seaming youngsters to tap in with - especially during the Super Smash which is on telly.
Not many runs from the White Ferns in WBBL recently...
Sophie Devine: 4, 12, 15
Amelia Kerr: 11, 8, 36
Suzie Bates: 1, 11, 5
Devine didn't take a wicket in Scorchers loss to Thunder. Heat had two losses this weekend with Kerr taking 1w and 2w, while Bates's Sixers had two losses as well. Scorchers are still top of the ladder while there is a battle between Heat, Hurricanes and Sixers for the last finals spot. There is a chance that Kerr and Bates don't play finals which would be a bummer.
The Auckland vs Aotearoa Maori game had three NZ Warriors juniors playing: Harry Durbin (Pikiao), Sefanaia Cowley-Lupo (Bay Roskill) and Makaia Tafua (Linwood). All three played U19 SG Ball before sliding into men's footy and this was the most notable wrinkle from the game as all three looked comfortable against men, even in a niggly contest like this.
Durbin is a prop who has played SG Ball, Fox Memorial, NZRL National Premiership and Aotearoa Maori this year. Regardless of performances, this is a fantastic indicator of Durbin's talent as he has rolled through these levels nicely. He's big in SGB but small in the rep fixtures, so this year will be highly beneficial for him.
Tafua is a hooker from Christchurch who settled with Otahuhu after playing SGB. NZW also have Etuate Fukofuka who is on a development contract and Fukofuka is more powerful with a better kicking game than Tafua. Tafua is smooth however, making good decisions and playing in slow-mo around the ruck. He's also a big dummy half who handled middle niggle nicely vs Maoris.
Cowley-Lupo was a half for Warriors-Redcliffe last year and then SGB this year, before playing wing for Auckland. Cowley-Lupo has genuine outside back size and appeared taller than most players in this game, hence he earned a spot on the wing. As a half playing wing, Cowley-Lupo wasn't as powerful running the footy as others but he did the job in a winning team.
Cowley-Lupo, William Piliu and Phranklyn Mano-Le-Mamea covered halves for NZW SGB this year. All three played other positions in Fox Memorial/NZRL rep footy with Piliu playing fullback for Mt Albert, Cowley-Lupo playing wing for Auckland and Mano-Le-Mamea playing fullback as well as middle forward for Counties Manukau. Seems useful in their development.
Patrick Sipley could earn a promotion into the NZW wider mixer along with Lani Graham-Taufa. Sipley dabbled in NSW Cup footy this year and appeared slimmer in this fixture than he did all season, which could flow into summer training with NZW. Sipley could offer size to the middle forward ranks as a more mature lad in a cluster of young forwards.
The Graham-Taufa twins (Lani and Moala) left Auckland to develop with Roosters, then both returned to Auckland during the pandemic with Moala playing NSW Cup and Lani playing for Marist in Fox Memorial. Moala is likely to progress through the NZW pipeline and Lani has spent this year playing various levels of rep footy, which is aligned with the pedigree evident in Roosters recruiting them.
Don't stress too much about contracts. I noted that Kalani Going doesn't have an official contract and he featured in an NZW pre-season snap. We have no idea about contracts apart from those listed and there are various channels to ensure that players are taken care of when deeper down the NZW depth chart.
This is amplified when pondering how deep the NZW wider mixer could be. Below are the outside backs in this wider mixer as an example...
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Marcelo Montoya, Rocco Berry, Adam Pompey, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Edward Kosi, Ali Leiataua, Sanele Aukusitino, Patrick Moimoi, Sio Kali, Setu Tu, Moala Graham-Taufa.
That's 12 lads, with eight spots available at centre/wing in NRL and NSW Cup. This depth is present in most positions for NZW and much of it sits outside the official top-30.
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
The All Whites lost 2-0 to Greece on Saturday morning in a game that has proved quite tricky to write about. That’s for logistical reasons as well as intellectual ones. The last round of the National League took place on the weekend so I should be able to pick up my wider writing scopes again after this week (Wellington Phoenix women, NZ Breakers, Steven Adams, All Whites & Football Ferns articles are all on the short term list plus National League Finals and Team of the Seasons and all sorts more stemming from there) but the bastards put eight of the ten games on Sunday which means 24 fewer hours to catch up which means that I’m not convinced I’ll get a Flying Kiwis done this week. We’ll see how it goes... the men were on international break but there was a Paige Satchell goal.
I’ve not had a lot of spare time to digest that All Whites vs Greece game but that’s not always an issue. Sometimes the ideas simply flow directly onwards. This was not one of those times. Something about a 2-0 defeat where you’re comfortably beaten but not thrashed, where you’re competitive but not good enough to challenge the result.
Which is also why I just can’t vibe with a lot of the negativity I seem to be seeing about that performance. Greece are really good. They’ve beaten Ireland, who the All Whites play on Wednesday, twice during qualifying and they very nearly got something off the Netherlands. That’s a deep squad of professionals and they didn’t rotate the team as much as I’d hoped... in fact the All Whites did as much rotation as Greece did, cancelling out that potential helpline.
It clearly wasn’t the best that the NZers could muster. Conceding a sloppy goal as they did, Michael Woud misreading the flight of an in-curling cross/shot (Woud was otherwise really good... but that’s not what folks will remember now), and having more trouble than usual building up in possession kept them from applying much pressure. And I certainly don’t think the selections were all up to scratch.
But also they lost to a better team. A much higher ranked team. A team who are comfortably playing at a level above what the All Whites can offer right now. That’s how those types of fixtures tend to go. They didn’t make progress but they also didn’t go backwards. It was a nothing kinda game and hopefully the lads will learn a few things of value from it.
There’s also a Football Ferns squad that’s been named for the upcoming tour to Colombia. A fascinating selection of 24 players which I’ll get deeper into in a day or two on the website but know first that there are only 13 of the 23 World Cup squad players who’ve been selected in this one. NZF’s press release was very shy on details but I think I can account for most of them.
Hannah Wilkinson is suspended for two more games after her red card vs Chile (this one was mentioned by NZF). Milly Clegg and Claudia Bunge are both injured having missed recent club games (as is Grace Wisnewski who might’ve been there as a promoted reserve). Olivia Chance is pregnant. Erin Nayler has yet to make a matchday squad for Bayern Munich and that move did kinda feel like a step back from her in a competitive sense, given how rare her game-time would be.
Liz Anton missed the start of the ALW season with injury and has been playing as a left-back since – she’s been overtaken by other defensive utility options. Ria Percival is probably having her workload managed given the serious knee injury. Same deal for Annalie Longo who apparently opted out of the tour having only played off the bench for the Nix so far. Gabi Rennie? She’s probably been dropped. CJ Bott? Well, believe it or not she also seems to have been dropped.
That’s a controversial one and I can’t say I agree with it (even though there are definitely things she needs to improve upon – winning the ball she’s world class, the stuff that comes next not so much), but hey it worked for Meikayla Moore who has been in career-best form since missing the cut for the World Cup. It’s only a November tour to Colombia. It’s not a major tournament. If you feel the need to make a point about such things then this is a low-risk time to do so.
Don’t say Jitka Klimkova doesn’t make the big calls either. Not only with the occasional dropping of a high-profile player but also with bringing in fresh blood. These are the players that JK has given debuts to since October 2021:
Jacqui Hand, Ava Collins, Amelia Abbott, Ashleigh Ward, Kate Taylor, Ally Green, Indi Riley, Mack Barry, Grace Neville, Grace Wisnewski, Deven Jackson, Tayla O’Brien, Michaela Foster, Milly Clegg... and potentially soon Macey Fraser, Katie Kitchings, Brianna Edwards, and Ruby Nathan who are the uncapped players in this squad.
At the very least, Hand, Riley, Foster, and Clegg should continue to be regulars for the next many years. Wisnewski, Taylor, Barry, Fraser, Edwards, and Nathan have the same potential. We’ll see what we’ve got with Kitchings because that was an out of the blue selection. Even Sunderland fans didn’t seem to realise she had dual-eligibility... but you know what? She was a teammate of Grace Neville’s at London City Lionesses last season. Two English-born Championship players with kiwi eligibility.
No doubt we’ll find out more about Kitchings in the coming weeks. She was mostly only a bench option for LCL, where she signed after a stint in the USA going to university, but she’s been an excellent and regular starter for Sunderland this term. A technically talented midfield distributor by the looks. Stick her next to Malia Steinmetz and let them run rampant.
As for Ruby Nathan and Macey Fraser, I just wanna say I told you so.
Saturday was a rough day for kiwi football as the All Whites loss was followed that evening by a Wellington Phoenix women’s defeat (1-0 away to Central Coast, a close game that got away from them mid-second half in their sloppiest performance for a few weeks) and then a 4-0 loss by the U17s Men against Mexico.
It wasn’t good. The scoreline’s a bit misleading as they did have some chances but once again they looked stretched at the back and ultimately couldn’t withstand it. All three other teams from NZ’s group have advanced to the knockouts (it helps that they got to play us, to be fair). That all sounds pretty rancid but it’s not the worst effort the Men’s U17s have managed. We have made the knockouts three times, in 2009, 2011, and 2015. But there have also been three other instances of losing all three games (1997, 2007, 2013). And in those other three we didn’t even score a goal, as well as conceding more than they did here. These age grade things can be hit or miss. Here’s an updated look at how the squad was used...
XI vs Venezuela (L 3-0):
Matt Foord | Anton Isaako (Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues 62’), Dylan Gardiner, Noah Dupont | Nicholas Murphy, Marley Leuluai (Jesper Edwards 83’), Anaru Cassidy (Luke Mitchell 62’), Matt D’Hotman-De Villiers (Athan Thompson 83’) | Nathan Walker, Adam Watson, Luke Supyk (Stipe Ukich 62’)
XI vs Germany (L 3-1):
Matt Foord | Luka Coveny (Jesper Edwards 87’), Dylan Gardiner, Noah Dupont | Nicholas Murphy, Marley Leuluai (Paris Domfeh 87’), Luke Mitchell, Athan Thompson (Ryan Lee 61’) | Stipe Ukich (Nathan Walker 77’), Adam Watson, Luke Supyk (Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues 77’)
XI vs Mexico (L 4-0):
Matt Foord | Luka Coveny, Dylan Gardiner, Noah Dupont (Jesper Edwards 62’) | Nicholas Murphy (Nathan Walker 55’), Marley Leuluai, Luke Mitchell, Matt D’Hotman-De Villiers (Ryan Lee 70’) | Stipe Ukich (Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues 55’), Adam Watson (Anaru Cassidy 70’), Luke Supyk
Support The Niche Cache
Join the Patreon whanau or jam a paid Substack subscription for an extra podcast each week.
Make a sporadic donation through Buy Me A Coffee.
Tell a friend.
Men’s National League Team of the Week #9
GK – Frewan Watts (Christchurch United) - In a week in which there were no clean sheets and many, many goals were scored it was hard to pick a goalie. So with respects to Regan Diver and Ernest Wong who were the other contenders let us, for the second week running, lean upon the gloveman who beat Auckland City at Kiwitea Street. Watts is usually backup behind Scott Morris. Don’t think he didn’t make a few key saves along the way.
RB – Haris Zeb (Christchurch United) – First half wasn’t amazing but he was fantastic in the second as CUFC sprung the comeback. Zeb was a dribbling fiend from the back and set up the winning goal in stoppage time.
CB – Jackson Jarvie (Eastern Suburbs) – Hard to pick goalies and hard to pick CBs so let’s chuck another fullback in here. Jarvie went to the U20 World Cup earlier in the year. His attacking wing-back efforts for Suburbs are getting to be very consistent and he bagged another assist in the win vs Cashy Tech.
CB – Semi Nabenu (Auckland United) – That’s two weeks in a row that the 19yo Fijian defender has impressed. Enough that he’s got himself a TOW spot (his bro Takahashi would’ve got it but for the mistake he made leading to a goal). Nabenu reads the game well and can win headers until the cows come home.
LB – Mohammed Muzakkir-Nabeel (Manurewa) – One goal was a scramble, one goal was a beauty of a finish. Both went in at the same bottom corner and combined they earned Rewa a fourth win of the MNL. Two young Fijians in this team... is it too late to get them into the Pacific Games squad?
CM – Oliver Middleton (Auckland United) – One of the blokes who started every game... and he saved his best for last. Middleton’s been quality throughout but what he did in the first half against Napier raised the bar, covering all sorts of turf with the attack largely flowing through him. Pity he had to move into a more defensive role in the second half.
CM – Ryan Verney (Eastern Suburbs) – The Lilywhites absolutely crushed Cashmere Tech 5-1 (it was 5-0 after 50 minutes) and they did so because they were sharper, more aggressive, and more clinical. Midfielder Verney helped set that precedent by rushing first to pretty much every loose ball... oh yeah and he scored two goals as well.
CM – Finn KcKenlay (Eastern Suburbs) – Let’s put another Suburbs midfielder in there. McKenlay is 18 years old on loan from Birkenhead and with a goal and an assist in this final round he let everybody know who he is.
FW – Eddie Wilkinson (Christchurch United) – It was Wilkie who really sparked that win away to Auckland City. His brilliantly taken goal was the start of it and from then on any time they needed to release pressure his teammates knew they could send the ball up the line and Eddie would do something cool with it. He changed the game.
FW – Deri Corfe (Napier City Rovers) – Scored a spectacular free kick and had a bunch of classy touches dropping in and getting involved. The Englishman has been a wonderful addition to the league this year, here’s hoping he’s still around in 2024.
FW – Joel Steven (Wellington Olympic) – They have so many weapons that it’s not always obvious but mate Joel Stevens has been in such immaculate form for the Greeks lately. Mount Olympus level form. It’s assist after assist – two more in the comeback win against the WeeNix means he’s up to seven overall, overtaking his buddy Jack-Henry Sinclair for first overall... and there’ll probably be more in the grand final at this rate.