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Joined January 2019
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Expat Western Australian living in Wellington, New Zealand. Supporting the West Coast Eagles, Western Force, the Wellington Phoenix and (unfortunately?) the Wallabies. Casual BlackCap supporter.
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The warm-up races for the 36th America’s Cup kicked off last week in Auckland, New Zealand, with barely a whimper despite Team New Zealand…
New Zealand Police have issued a warrant for the immediate arrest of Gary Stead. Leaving Conway out of the Test XI for Nicholls is criminal…
West Windies vs New Zealand: Five talking points
Looking forward to seeing Cubelli and Montoya in Blue next year! Go the Force…
Argentina remind us why we love rugby
Agreed. Very happy with the squad Ufuk is building at Wollongong (Oops I mean Wellington). Just a shame we won’t be having any home games again this season.
A-League anticipation grows on the back of new signings and familiar faces
Foster is amazing. He’s doing brilliantly… Sign him up for the next ten years please…While you’re at it you could get Raelene back to run NZRU. Would be a fantastic combination. Sweet As!
There's no way around it anymore – Ian Foster must go
Totally agree. Excellent article. It will be great to see more young talent coming out of the Phoenix academy and also the ISPS Handa Premiership on this side of the Ditch. One only needs to look at the rise of many young All-Whites to see that the home-grown approach is the best approach.
Why 2021 is about to put the A back in the A-League
Wellington Phoenix has enough players in the ISL to warrant us switching from the A-League…. Hooper, Taylor, Singh, Williams, Tratt, Andrija Kaluđerović, Mandi and Vidosic just to name a few.
A-League players reject clubs' CBA offer
I love cricket. I grew up following the Western Australian teams of the 80/90s who dominated domestic cricket and were stronger than most International test sides. I lived in Zimbabwe during the late 90s and early noughties and had the privilege of watching pretty much every international side, including Afghanistan and Netherlands, grace the picturesque Harare Sports Club and the Queens Club in Bulawayo.
In short more is less. What we want is tough, relentless and absorbing cricket over five fabulous days or 50 overs for ODIs. We want the best players playing for their countries and their States/Provinces. We want touring sides to play the full-strength state sides and we want full length three or five test series.
We want cricket unions to retain their best players – especially countries like Zimbabwe, South Africa and the WI. How many of players from these 3 countries alone have been lost to international cricket because of poor administration and/or financial mismanagement. Players from smaller/developing nations should be supported by the ICC to enable them to remain in the country of their heritage whilst earning decent coin compared to other international cricketers. Otherwise the big three will just continue to dominate. Alistair Campbell’s article on the struggles of smaller cricket nations is an excellent read.
We don’t need this awful BBL hit and giggle stuff on Foxsports and Channel 7 . Especially if it doesn’t involve any international stars because of MIQ requirements.
Administrators have killed the sport in their absolute glut for profit… We need wholesale change both in Australia and at ICC level to fix the game.
How Cricket Australia killed my interest in the professional game
The fact that many of the decent players in the A League are choosing to go and play in a third-world Country with 4.93 million cases of COVID 19 says everything that needs to be said. Players are voting on the future of the A-League with their feet (and travel plans!).
A-League players reject clubs' CBA offer
Wasn’t there another former Glory coach who tried playing his kids all the time? Funnily enough that didn’t work out well either. Certainly didn’t work for Rado and Dario Vidosic at The Phoenix. Coaches, leave your kids at home when you come to work!
Is three Popovics a few too many?
Really enjoyed reading that Ben. I think a bloke called Jesus said something about a prophet never having honour in his own country. Peter Norman must have felt a bit like that. It’s sad that his contribution to Australian athletics was only recognised after his death.
Standing for something: Peter Norman at the 1968 Olympics
Same old Aussies, same old cheats! 🙂 Without VAR the Nix have been at the wrong of far too many iffy decisions by the A-League’s inconsistent amateur Australian referees… Would gladly welcome back the VAR despite all its inconsistencies. It’s not one-eyed like the Australian officials. (Tongue is firmly stuck in my cheek).
Western United clear favourites, Melbourne City looming and Sydney FC making up the numbers
The Nix and Talay have been deliberately foxing in the lead up to the finals. It’s all those extra fitness session’s Ufuk Talay had them doing during their 14 days in quarantine. Even with Hooper on the way back to the UK and Tim Payne sidelined for the rest of the season, the Nix will comfortably make the final and lift the A League trophy.
Western United clear favourites, Melbourne City looming and Sydney FC making up the numbers
Add Twiggy’s Western Force to the five existing SuperRugby Aotearoa franchises and you’ve got the perfect trans-Tasman competition. Allow Tiggy to utilise Australian, New Zealand and International players to ensure Force are strong enough to compete with the five kiwi sides. The rest of the Australian squads simply aren’t up to SuperRugby Aotearoa standard and their administrators are still living in the amateur era when NSW and QLD called all the shots…. The Western front is where the battle will be won 🙂
The folly of Super Rugby 2021
Think you will find that the Greater Wellington Region (Wellington, The Hutt Valley and Porirua has combined population of between 300,000-400,000 people. We also draw a large number of supporters from the Kapiti Coast and the Wairarapa… So our population is similar to that of the Central Coast.
Save the Mariners or it just ain't the A-League
We’re the WELLINGTON Phoenix. Auckland had their chance with the Knights and the Kingz. Both were abject failures. 🙂
Ufuk Talay believes the Phoenix have won some respect
Only an Australian would think it was logical to get rid of a financially stable team, playing in a different time zone, with a guaranteed telecast partner in Sky. A team that recently had one of its players recruited to Bayern Munich and who will probably lose another play at the end of the season to a Serie A club. This same team has developed two AUSTRALIAN players in Piscopo and Devlin who will mostly likely represent AUSTRALIA at the Tokyo Olympics. Maybe you need to look in your own backyard at a few owners who are squatting on their license.
Next you’ll tell me that Australia’s going to win the Bledisloe…
Who could replace the Phoenix?
Thank goodness the JPdM (a.k.a the Slapper) slapped his way out of a contract with the Nix. Had he kept his hands to himself we’d have missed out on Rudan and then Talay. Luck is a fortune.
Is he planning to slap the WSW back into form?
The Wanderers need a reset - and so does the rest of the A-League
It’s great that some pundits are still writing off the Nix, even against a mediocre team like Brisbane… We’re quite happy playing the underdogs and flying under the radar. Great to have Ball back to partner with Davila and Hooper.
The Roar's A-League expert tips and predictions: Round 15
Ulises Davila 9 goals in 13 games… The Nix are on a nine game streak… Surely that’s hot?
A-League Round 14 hot and cold
Shame that Young is still injured and that Conway has to wait until September 2020 for his New Zealand passport. Both would be automatic inclusions in this Blackcaps XI. Blundell will struggle just as much at the top of the order as Raval. It’s not worth tinkering with the batting order to promote Henry Nicholls, as stats clearly show he scores the most runs when he bats at #5. The problem is magnified by the fact that Latham also prefers to bat down the order. Apart from Williamson, he’s the best player of spin. Given the limited options I’d go with Raval at the top of the order for now. If nothing else, he has a solid defensive game and if he puts his mind to it, can block the Australian new ball combination for long enough to tire them out. Williamson, Taylor and Nicholls can then (hopefully) cash in on some tired Australian bowlers. Optimistic I know.
I also believe that Somerville should have played instead of Santer in Perth. I guess given the current batting frailties, Santer was also going to get the nod, especially after his debut century against the Poms.
Big questions need to be asked of the NZC administrators. Surely there should have been a warm up game against a CA XI or a Western Australian XI? Why did they agree to a D/N fixture first up? Why agree to a D/N fixture in Perth? I feel like they’ve been bullied into a second-rate arrangement by CA because for whatever reason NZC still behaves like the little brother in the trans-Tasman relationship. They should have pushed back on the itinerary for a more equitable outcome.
Raval liability exposes Black Caps on the biggest stage
Maybe a bit harsh on Rudan. I recently heard a job applicant say, clear is kind, unclear is unkind. If Rudan had no interest in hanging around he should have been clear about the reasons why. He certainly shouldn’t have been approaching perspective players (i.e Kurto, Durante and Burgess) either verbally or contractually. He seemed to change his excuses for leaving depending on the weather. He’s great at the spin but underneath I don’t know if that will be enough for him at Western Bitumen. He’ll get found out at some point I think.
Mariners and Phoenix competitive, but Brisbane and Newcastle have real concerns
Kia ora from across the Ditch. We’re pretty happy with how the first 1/3 of the season has played out. Ufuk Talay is proving to be an inspired choice of coach to replace Judas Rudan. He’s done an excellent job patiently shaping the squad into a proven match-winning combination. Once Hooper gets a few extra miles under the belt, he along with Ball, McCowatt and Davila will be an excellent strike-force upfront. Great to see the way that some of the youngsters like Payne, Waine and Devlin are developing nicely as part of the squad. With the Nix looking to re-sign the core of this squad for the next few seasons, it’s good times ahead in fair Wellington town!
Mariners and Phoenix competitive, but Brisbane and Newcastle have real concerns
Quote; “The Wellington Phoenix have always struggled to generate big attendance figures. They haven’t cracked the 10,000 mark since Round 1 in the 2016-17 season against Melbourne City.” I think we put that to bed on Friday night with 22,684 people in attendance for the game against MVFC. There’s plenty of other clubs I’d accuse of sitting on their licence before I picked on the Phoenix. Take the City Group in Melbourne for example….
How to get better A-League crowds and TV ratings
Tough result for the Nix. No Durante, Mandi or Long Pins Taylor. You can’t judge our season on that performance. As an expat West Aussie (living in Wellington) it’s great to see the Glory playing well this year. I’d love them to get a good crack at the AFC Club Championship with this squad. Pity more people in Perth aren’t getting to the games.
Six talking points from A-League Round 17
I’ve been to the occasional ‘free’ SuperSmash game in Wellington. There were about 200 people there. I’d say T20s about as (un)popular in New Zealand as it is over the Ditch in Australia. There were far more people at the Basin Test Match against the WI on Saturday than I’ve seen at a SuperSmash game… Maybe the BBL should consider a token Kiwi side to add some trans-Tasman rivalry…
Electrifying format of Test cricket to lure new markets to dreary BBL