Wizards of Fakes & Feints
Warriors vs Panthers hype, Chatham Cup/Kate Sheppard Cup final previews, Israel Adesanya & UFC 293, NZ-A cricket, Wellington Phoenix Women & more
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Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Kalani Going Debut For NZ Warriors (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Tohu Harris Celebration (Rugby League)
Kiwi-NRL Finals Week One Preview (Rugby League)
Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Finals Preview vs Panthers (& NSW Cup vs Raiders) (Rugby League)
2023 NRLWahine: Round Eight Preview (Rugby League)
Further Impressions From The Wellington Phoenix Lads In The Aussie Cup (Football)
Flying Kiwis – September 5 (Football)
Recapping Tall Ferns Exploits at the 2023 Asia Cup (Basketball)
Reviewing The Aotearoa Tall Blacks At The 2023 FIBA World Cup (Basketball)
Meet Michael Wilson, The Closest Thing To A Kiwi In The NFL Right Now (NFL)
Aotearoa A vs Australia A (The Re-Up): Game One Debrief (Cricket)
Five Things From Blackcaps T20 Tour Games In England (Cricket)
Scotty’s Word
One thing I've been pondering since publishing the NZ Warriors vs Panthers preview is whether Warriors can go full funky razzle dazzle. Throughout the Panthers dynasty it has been near-impossible to got set for set with them and the thread of disrupting the Panthers grind is often thrown up as a ploy to defeat them. The weird thing is that Warriors are 17th for offloads and they are the only team with fewer than 170 offloads this season.
Panthers lead the NRL for a bunch of stats including set completion on 83% ... while also being fifth for offloads. That's Panthers for ya as they are fabulous at everything and it's highly unlikely that Warriors increase their offloading to upset the champions. Losing Shaun Johnson may help this though as Johnson has been immense in directing the structure/attacking shape. Perhaps this will lead to a fresh game plan, something we haven’t seen much of this season.
What do NZ Warriors do to disrupt Panthers? That's the key thing I'll be tracking for this encounter.
Warriors can generate points from their structure and this is similar to Israel Adesanya's fighting style, which will probably help him defeat Sean Strickland at UFC 293 on Sunday. Warriors shape has been so enjoyable to watch this season because every passer has a short pass option, a longer option out the back and the running threat. Each variation helps disguise what the outcome will be and defenders are often left frozen as they bite on the wrong option.
This happens at every key point in the shape. Whether it's two, three or four passes, each little block has multiple options. Much of this has led to Dallin Watene-Zelezniak's tries and while it can be shut down by an aggressive defence that keeps moving forward, most defences struggle to make correct reads and end up leaving a hole in the middle or space out wide.
(Watch out for attacking shapes at the Rugby World Cup. ‘Pods’ are the trendy thing. Some teams have two pods set up (two-three players) as well as the long pass to the backline. Teams who offer the most creativity in shapes/styles that every team uses will usually win)
Under the City Kickboxing style guide, Adesanya is a wizard of fakes and feints (the equivalent of shape in rugby league). Adesanya twists his hips to fake a kick, leans this way and that way to draw out a false strike as well as switching stances with ease. All of which is trickery to land precise strikes. Like Warriors exploring multiple options in their attacking shape, Adesanya has the largest quiver of strikes available to him in the UFC.
Strickland may wrestle Adesanya but it's hard to go for takedowns when Adesanya controls the distance between each fighter. Adesanya controls distance through his variety of striking options and fakes which dictate where his opponent moves, as well has hammering his opponent’s front leg with kicks to keep forcing them back. When Adesanya comes up against an inferior opponent they are usually frozen by his movements and they can't figure out how to fire off their own strikes.
No matter what Strickland thinks he can do, he will need time to adapt to Adesanya's twitchy fakes. By then it will probably be too late and Adesanya will be kicking Strickland's legs, landing blows from distance and generally dictating terms.
Blood Diamond and Shane Young have fights early in UFC 293, both have lost their last two fights. Kevin Jousset will also make his UFC debut representing France while rising through City Kickboxing. Jouset has two MMA wins this year and has an 8-2 record, entering the UFC as a welterweight.
Carlos Ulberg has four wins in a row and will fight Da Woon Jung. Ulberg has showcased the CKB striking recipe in his recent wins and with Jung averaging twice as many takedowns per 15mins as Ulberg, this fight could challenge Ulberg's defensive grappling. Here are the stats for Ulberg vs Jung...
Strikes Landed per Min
Ulberg: 8.13
Jung: 3.39
Striking Accuracy
Ulberg: 62%
Jung: 42%
Takedowns per 15mins
Ulberg: 0.92
Jung: 2.1
Takedown Defence
Ulberg: 100%
Jung: 80%
Last summer there was a tinge of negativity around Blackcaps cricket and I've observed this in patches for a few years now, to the point where I wonder if folks want Blackcaps dramas. Compared to White Ferns, the Blackcaps system is fantastic and they are consistently one of the best teams in major tournament. Regular readers know that Blackcaps routinely make World Cup semi-finals while White Ferns have stumbled out of this perch in the last five years.
This year Aotearoa A has won three of their four games against Australia A. Two of those wins have been in Australia after a win and a draw in Aotearoa last summer. Let that simmer.
I'll dive into the latest win for the website tomorrow. Here are the best performers from the second unofficial Test which was a day/nighter in Mackay...
NZ A - 277
Nick Kelly: 64 runs
Australia A - 275
Jacob Duffy: 2w @ 2.5rpo
Sean Solia: 2w @ 3.6rpo
William O'Rourke: 2w @ 2.8rpo
Adithya Ashok: 2w @ 4.6rpo
NZ A - 299
Sean Solia: 62 runs
Dean Foxcroft: 53 runs
Tom Bruce: 105* runs
Australia A - 233
Scott Kuggeleijn: 3w @ 3.1rpo
Jacob Duffy: 2w @ 4.4rpo
Sean Solia: 2w @ 3.8rpo
William O'Rourke: 3w @ 4.2rpo
Here are the best performers from the series...
Batters
Tom Bruce: 221 runs @ 73.6avg
Sean Solia: 198 runs @ 49.5avg
Nick Kelly: 129 runs @ 32.2avg
Scott Kuggeleijn: 114 runs @ 38avg
Bowlers
Scott Kuggeleijn: 13w @ 17.9avg/3.7rpo
Sean Solia: 9w @ 12.5avg/3.1rpo
Jacob Duffy: 7w @ 28.4avg/3.1rpo
Will O'Rourke: 5w @ 22.4avg/3.5rpo
If there is a stinky vibe, we explore it. There is nothing but lovely aromas coming from the Blackcaps system.
Kiwi-NRL juniors named in QLD/NSW U21 finals...
Townsville: Jeremiah Matautia (Otara), Henry Teutau (Marist)
Brisbane: Samuela Vakadula (Bell Block), Braydon Seu-Easthope (Otahuhu)
Redcliffe: Taniela Otukolo (Otahuhu), Elijah Rasmussen (WBHS)
Cronulla: Chris Veaila (Waitemata), Salesi Ataata (Otahuhu)
Parramatta: Te Hurinui Twidle (Turangawaewae)
Roosters: Tavita Henare-Schuster (Kia Toa), Salesi Foketi (Manurewa)
Bulldogs: Karl Oloapu (Randwick), Fahmy Toilalo (Otahuhu)
Musical jam…
Wildcard’s Notebook
We’re in for an absolutely stacked weekend of sport, folks. From the Warriors to the UFC to another packed few days of kiwi footballers overseas (although many of the blokes are on international duty – could have been even more stacked if the All Whites had a fixture). There’s an U23’s Men’s footy final, NZ vs Fiji, for a spot at the Olympics. The Tall Blacks are already done but the last few games of the FIBA World Cup should be belters. Oh and apparently there’s some rugby thing happening too?
Amongst all that, don’t forget about Cup Final Day. Sunday afternoon at North Harbour Stadium we’ve got Wellington United vs Western Springs in the Kate Sheppard Cup Final and then it’s Christchurch United vs Melville United in the Chatham Cup final. Women’s game kicks off at 1pm, Men’s game kicks off at 4pm. For what it’s worth it’ll also conclude the 100th edition of the Chatham Cup. Hard to imagine what kiwi football looked like back in the Roaring Twenties. Let us now preview the four teams involved…
Western Springs
WSAFC was in the news earlier in the year over an equity dispute between the women’s first team and the club board but now here they are a few months later having qualified for National League and competing in a Kate Shep final. That’s because the mediation process seems to have actually been conducted with a genuine spirit from both sides and adjustments have been made and Maia Vink’s been hired to oversee the women’s programme and basically that’s how these things are supposed to go. At least that’s the impression from the outside.
Springs were third in the NRFL Prem. They also made the grand final of the Nats a year ago. They have lost some players since then but they still have a solid spine in the form of Sofia Garcia up front, Jess Innes and Lily Taitimu in the midfield, and Lily Jervis at the back. They’ve also had capped Ferns international Liz Savage out there this season and she’s won a few of these things in the past. Hugely valuable experience. Garcia was their top league scorer with eight although Taitimu, Sam Tawharu, and Lara Colpi each chipped in with five apiece.
Colpi was part of the U19s squad that swept through Oceania qualifying earlier in the year. Good chance she’s off to the U20 World Cup next year, having also been a part of the U17 World Cup squad in 2022. She’s a top prospect, as are Ela Jerez and Charli Dunn who’ll soon be playing for the U16s in the Oceania champs... so soon that they probably won’t be available for this game but that does illustrate that Western Springs are bringing through plenty of talent. Good mahi from one of Auckland’s largest clubs.
They’ll probably be the favourites for this tie based on the relative strength of the NRFL division, as we saw in the 2022 National League, however two of the last four KSC’s have been won by clubs outside of Auckland - after only 2 of 22 before that.
Western Springs’ Path to the Final...
Round One: BYE
Round Two: 12-0 vs Lakes Football
Round Three: 3-0 vs Auckland United
Quarter-Final: 3-1 vs Fencibles
Semi-Final: 5-1 AET vs Coastal Spirit
Wellington United
Don’t discount the Diamonds, this lot have been bossing it in the Capital Premier Division for years (although they were runners-up to Waterside Karori this year) and have more recent KSC pedigree than Western Springs. Springs won in 2007 and also made the final in 2006. Wellington United won the 2021 edition where they beat Hamilton Wanderers 1-0 in the final. Emma Main won the Maia Jackman Medal that day, she’s now with the Wellington Phoenix (teammate Michaela Foster played for Hamilton in that game too – a weird one for her because that final was delayed into the start of 2022 and Foster then transferred to Northern Rovers and lost a second KSC final that same year).
The National League format is being tweaked once again this year with two Capital teams included as well as the Wellington Phoenix Reserves. Those two Cap teams are going to be run by clubs as a sort of half-and-half between the franchise and club model to prepare for fully club-based qualification from Capital in the future. Wellington United are one of the clubs that’ll have that honour so they’ll effectively follow on into the National League from here.
Quite a number of their players were with Capital footy last year anyway. Zoe Barrott at the back, a brilliant defender and leader. Molly Simons in goal, very good shot stopper. Attackers like Dani Ohlsson with her dribbling and Pepi Olliver-Bell with her pace. Jemma Robertson too, younger sister of Mickey Robertson and a very similar player. Sarah Alder scored the goal that got them to the final directly from a corner kick away to Eastern Suburbs (who finished a spot above Springs in the NRFL table), just as she scored the winner in the 2021 final. Hope Gilchrist is a superb defender, while the talented Jemma Catherwood is back between her USA college commitments.
It’s hard to compare teams who play in separate competitions (at least until we see them in the Nats) but the suspicion is that Welly Utd’s defensive solidity, which blanked Eastern Suburbs on their own pitch, will keep this as a low scoring game which probably suits WU a lot more than WS. Don’t ask me to make a prediction though.
Wellington United’s Path to the Final...
Round One: 3-0 vs Kapiti Coast
Round Two: 4-0 vs Moturoa
Round Three: 3-0 vs Seatoun
Quarter-Final: 2-1 vs Petone
Semi-Final: 1-0 vs Eastern Suburbs
Christchurch United
The Chatham Cup has a clearer favourite thanks to the dominance that Christchurch United have laid down upon the South Island (and beyond) this year. Big things are happening at that club. They’ve got plenty of funding from their wealthy Russian owner but that’s not simply going into hoarding everyone else’s best players and pumping up the first team – there’s a real emphasis on the club’s youth academy and these days we’re beginning to see that shine through not only into their own first team but in national age grade squads too.
Scott Morris kept goal for the NZ U23s in their first game of Olympic qualifying. He’s a very tidy young keeper who already has a year of National League experience behind him. Oliver Colloty is from Dunedin originally, I think, but did spend some time with Chch Utd before playing for Melville in 2022. Would be a great derby except he’s now an Auckland City player. But he’s a good example of how Christchurch United are building up a much-needed hub for the best South Island talent in an attempt to rival the high-performing academies in Wellington and Auckland.
According to their own website, 10 of their 24 first team players are direct CUFC academy graduates while 30% of their minutes have gone to U20s players. 15 of them are Christchurch natives. 19 are permanent South Island residents. Only three were foreign players (not sure if that counts coach Paul Ifill, who popped up and scored in one of their last Southern League matches). They’ve also had Jackson Cole, Nick Murphy, and Sorasit Mac Prathumphithak involved in the NZ U17s squads lately.
Those guys might be around the first team for this cup final, we shall see, but the one you really want to watch for is Sam Philip. He’s a former Welly Nix academy dude who did the college thing in the States then returned this year to win the Southern League Golden Boot with 29 goals in an 18-game season. Remarkably he only beat Garbhan Coughlan of Cashmere Tech by one goal. Irishman Eoghan Stokes (15 goals) and Englishman Dan MacLennan (8 goals) also chip in handily while Matt Todd-Smith provides the engine in the midfield. Riley Grover is a talented local defender too. Plus Eddie Wilkinson, their best attacker during the previous National League, is now back from Aussie. Hopefully he’s eligible to play.
In fact this team didn’t lose a single game all year until... last week. There they went down 3-1 to Cashmere Tech in the last game of the Southerns having already wrapped up their title defence. It wasn’t a rotated team but perhaps they had one eye on this cup final. They drew with Tech in the other meeting but won all 16 games against the rest of the division. They’re also going to meet Cashmere Tech in the English Cup final (for Christchurch teams) so it could be a treble on the cards... unless Melville have anything to say about it. The Rams did knock CT out of the Chathams in the fourth round and will meet again in the National League.
Christchurch United’s Path to the Final...
Round One: 9-0 vs Parklands United
Round Two: 3-1 vs Universities of Canterbury
Round Three: 1-0 AET vs Ferrymead Bays
Round Four: 3-0 vs Cashmere Technical
Quarter-Final: 3-0 vs Hamilton Wanderers
Semi-Final: 2-1 vs Eastern Suburbs
Melville United
Little old Melville United don’t have the finance/population of their opponents here nor many of the clubs they face on the regular in the Northern League. Yet they’re here in their second Chatham Cup final in the space of four years (not counting the covid year where it was canned), they qualified for the National League in 2022, and they’re consistently bringing through youth players at a rate that shames many other clubs. All whilst seemingly operating in the kind of volunteer-heavy, community-driven way that football clubs used to back in the day. It’s a beautiful operation they’ve got going there.
Melville were beaten 3-2 by Napier City Rovers in the 2019 final. They also lost to Uni-Mount Wellington in 2003... although they did win the 1962 edition as Hamilton Technical Old Boys (which was later absorbed into Waikato United which was later absorbed into Melville United). Christchurch United have won six Chatham Cups in their history although none since 1991 which was also their most recent final.
MU only finished ninth in the Northern League this year so they won’t be back in the Nats, hence this game is the culmination of their entire season… and also of inspirational skipper Aaron Scott’s career. The 37 year old, who has 8 All Whites caps, is hanging up the boots following this game (discounting a testimonial game in a fortnight) so he’ll want to exorcise a few demons from the 2019 final defeat – of which he, goalie Max Tommy, and defender Liam Hayes are the three remaining figures.
Around those blokes you’ll see plenty of youth. Melville lost three of their very best young lads from the 2022 National League stint between seasons in Oli Colloty (Auckland City after trials in England), Josh Galletly (Eastern Suburbs after a trial with Melbourne City), and Ryen Lawrence (Miramar Rangers). Yet they have remained one of the youngest squads in the Northern League.
Jerson Lagos bagged a double in the semi-final victory (then produced a very unique celebration), he’s got skills for days. Fullback Ry McLeod and forward Keagan Thompson have played a lot. Ethan Richards in midfield too, amongst others. Doubt he’ll make the cut for this squad but know also that Matt D’Hotman-De Villiers has been repping Melville in NZ U17s squads recently.
The task for Melville is a brutal one. They’ve got to contain one of the most free-scoring teams in the country, whilst knowing that only the two relegated teams scored fewer goals than them in the Northern stuff this year. Hope will come from potentially being more battle-hardened due to the deeper quality in their regional league although CUFC did knock Eastern Suburbs out in the semis and the Lilywhites were undefeated in Northern League action. You know what though? Kinda get the feeling that Melville United will enjoy a good old fashioned underdog tag. Should be a cracker of a game. Two cracking games, in fact.
Path to the Final...
Round One: BYE
Round Two: 7-1 vs Otumoetai
Round Three: 1-0 vs Takapuna
Round Four: 2-0 vs Fencibles
Quarter-Final: 1-0 vs Western Springs
Semi-Final: 3-1 vs Waterside Karori
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Who wants to see some accumulated Tall Blacks stats from the World Cup? Yeah okay then...
The Wellington Phoenix Women began preseason training today but just before that happened came an announcement: Kelli Brown is back in town. KB has signed on with the Wellington Phoenix a year after being released. That release happening after she’d been limited by injury and concussion to only six games in the club’s inaugural season.
But Brown remained one of the top goal-scoring talents in the country, hitting bundles for Northern Rovers in the last National League, before heading over to Australia to play NPL for Macarthur Rams (not to be confused with Macarthur Bulls, the men’s A-League team which is a separate club) where guess what? She’s scored bundles of goals.
With 23 goals to her name in only 26 matches for the Rams she’s second on the Golden Boot standings in a league that features lots of A-League players. Macarthur also finished second on the ladder so that means they have a semi-final coming up on Saturday and potentially a final to follow. After that she’ll join the Nix for preseason, hence she will miss the early stages. As will her Waikato mate Michaela Foster who has been granted leave to support her old man at the Rugby World Cup.
2018 U17 World Cup Players With Pro Contracts…
Anna Leat - Aston Villa, England
Blair Currie - South Georgia Tormenta, USA (semi-pro)
Mackenzie Barry - Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS
Marisa van der Meer - Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS
Macey Fraser - Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS
Maya Hahn - Turbine Potsdam, Germany
Grace Wisnewski - Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS
Kelli Brown - Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS
Notice a pattern there? Also got high hopes for Gabi Rennie, Maggie Jenkins, and Amelia Abbott, all of whom have been capped as senior internationals, to at least bag A-League gigs once they finish up their USA college stuff. Also don’t forget Georgia Candy who was with the Nix as a scholarship player last year but hasn’t been re-signed. Maybe she’ll move to Oz for a bit and do a Kelli Brown.
The Welly Nix also confirmed that captain Lily Alfeld’s injury troubles have continued and that she’ll now need surgery in order to get back to playing. That’s ruled her out of the upcoming season although she may yet have some other role at the club. That brings them up to 20 players in the squad with a maximum of two more to follow.
They definitely need to sign another goalkeeper and there are rumours out there of Canadian import Rylee Foster being linked. Foster was a teammate of Meikayla Moore’s at Liverpool though suffered a very serious car accident in which she broke her neck in several places. Since then she’s recovered enough to return and trialled with Celtic recently, impressing in a preseason tournament but failing a medical (for a new injury, not crash-related). We’ll see if that happens or not.
NZ Goalscorers in NPL NSW:
Kelli Brown (Macarthur Rams) – 23
Charlotte Lancaster (Bulls FC Academy) – 8
Ava Pritchard (Sydney University) – 5
Rebecca Lake (Northern Tigers) – 1
Te Reremoana Walker (Northern Tigers) – 1
Overall stats for the Women’s NPL leagues isn’t the easiest to collate so attempts to find a list of kiwi players proved too frustrating/futile. But I did notice Tayla Christensen of Canterbury with 10 goals for South Melbourne in the Victoria league.